As we approach the sunset of Fenomenal Funds in June 2025, we find ourselves reflecting deeply on the journey of this innovative feminist funding collaborative.
Tag: participatory grantmaking
Cross-pollinating knowledge: Feminist funds redefine what counts
What happens when feminist funds rooted in the Global South come together—not just to exchange knowledge, but to radically reimagine how it is created, valued, and used for accountability and learning?
Building a Feminist Case for Participatory Grantmaking: 7 Women’s Funds Deepen Practice in Collaboration
In a moment where we are seeing many funders retreat or redistribute funds away from social justice and where feminist movements continue to operate in precariousness, collaborations between funders that aim to bring accountability to the communities they serve by strengthening their practice remain important expressions of solidarity.
Participatory Grantmaking
The participatory grantmaking (PGM) collaboration involved four women’s funds—Women First International Fund, Women Win, Women’s Fund Asia, and Fondo Semillas. Their work was organic and evolved after the initial 13 groups were formed through the Collaboration Labs.
Out of Depth: The Challenges of Creating Collaborations Virtually
As part of the Fenomenal Funds Collaboration Grants (link to the intro blog), FemFund (Poland), Women’s Fund Armenia, and Women’s Fund in Georgia came together to form a collaborative on healing spaces. In this blog post, we tell you all about this collaboration and what it hopes to achieve. The work of this group is also connected to the broader theme of collective care, which is being addressed by three other collaboratives.
Feminist Evaluation and Learning
How do feminist perspectives transform the concepts, practices, and relationships in evaluation and learning? In this unique collaboration, eight movement partners and four national women’s funds explore a feminist approach to evaluation and learning to deepen insights into how gender equality change happens.
Explorations in Transformative Feminist Leadership by Women’s Funds
This blog brings together the reflections and discussions by the women’s funds working on transformative feminist leadership as part of the Fenomenal Funds Collaboration Grants.
Feminist Organizational Development in Women’s Funds: A Tool for Feminist Movement Building
How can feminist organizational practices reflect the politics of justice, care, and collaborative leadership? How can new models and ways of working and leading help women’s funds better support feminist movements and challenge patriarchal and colonial power imbalances in philanthropy?
Collaboration Over Competition: Learning and Strategizing Together to Strengthen Resource Mobilization
In a competitive environment, how can women’s funds learn and strategize together to drive more and better funds to feminist movements, including in challenging political settings? This question is at the heart of two collaborations supported by Fenomenal Funds.
Paving the Way: Collaboration as a Tool for Resilience
What happens when you hardwire resilience into collaboration? In this blog post, we will share what we’ve learned about the mechanics of collaboration and what it means to pave the way for collaboration as a tool for resilience.