Fenomenal Funds is a feminist funder collaborative using a shared governance model and participatory grantmaking to support the resilience of women’s funds who are members of the Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds.

2024-07-15 No Comments

Reimagining the Philanthropic Resource Chain: Lessons from Fiscal Sponsorship and Intermediary Funds

By Phoebe So, originally published on  The Center for Effective Philanthropy, July 2, 2024 In the philanthropic sector, intermediaries and fiscal sponsors play a vital role. They are the critical links that connect resources from donors to historically overlooked causes and marginalized communities. Pooling funds, providing back-office support, and absorbing risk enable grassroots groups to […]

2024-01-31 No Comments

Searching for a Learning Partner the Feminist Way

Learning log by Shama Dossa, MEL Manager   Acknowledgement: Fenomenal Funds would like to acknowledge the contributions to the article’s analysis from the following Learning and Evaluation Working Group members: Amy Arbreton (Hewlett Foundation), Diana Medina (Fondo Semillas), Nancy Akanbombire (Prospera Secretariat), Nina Madsen (Open Society Foundations), and Zanele Sibanda (Fenomenal Funds). “Learning something is […]

2023-12-11 No Comments

Learning Strategy

Learning in the context of Fenomenal Funds is an emergent, adaptive, and co-evolutionary process. We see learning as an integral part of the grantmaking process in both the design and implementation phases. In our bold experiment as a feminist-funding collaborative that combines pooled funding, shared governance, and participatory grantmaking, the stakeholders involved are interacting in […]

2023-11-28 No Comments

Learning in Partnership

Behind the scenes with Fenomenal Funds learning partner – the KIT Royal Tropical Institute team At Fenomenal Funds we see learning as an emergent, adaptive, and co-evolutionary process. In our experimentation as a feminist-funding collaborative, all stakeholders are interacting in a power-sharing process – responding and adapting to each other so that what emerges and […]

2023-08-03 No Comments

Notre théorie de la transformation

Notre théorie de la transformation Notre théorie de la transformation capture la façon dont nous voyons le modèle Fenomenal Funds contribuer au changement dans les écosystèmes philanthropiques. Dans notre cas, la transformation est encadrée par des valeurs et une éthique féministes centrées sur les besoins des fonds pour les femmes. Il est basé sur la […]

2023-07-18 No Comments

Estrategia de aprendizaje

El aprendizaje en el contexto de los Fondos Fenomenales es un proceso emergente, adaptativo y coevolutivo. Entendemos el aprendizaje como parte integrante del proceso de concesión de subvenciones, tanto en la fase de diseño como en la de ejecución. En nuestro audaz experimento de colaboración para la financiación feminista, que combina la financiación común, la […]

2023-05-18 No Comments

The Four Outcomes

So what does it mean to catalyze change in an ecosystem? When the board of the Hewlett Foundation invited their Global and Development team (since renamed to Gender Equity and Governance) to submit a concept for a special initiative, they joined forces with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to commission research to inform the […]

2023-04-12 No Comments

Decolonizing knowledge in philanthropy

By Shama Dossa What does it mean to use power-building and feminist approaches to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) in philanthropy?   This is the question we Shama Dossa, [Fenomenal Funds] and fellow feminist practitioners Clara Desalvo [FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund], Boikanyo Modungwa [Purposeful], and Ramatu Bangura [CRIF]) posed to funders at the […]

2023-03-08 No Comments

2022: A Year Living Into Our Values

Fenomenal Funds is a feminist funder collaborative that aims to strengthen the resilience and visibility of women’s funds members of the Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds (Prospera INWF). Fenomenal Funds is predicated on the recognition that, while feminist movements across the globe continue to make gains in challenging the norms, systems, and structures of […]

2022-12-16 No Comments

Fenomenal Funds Awards $5.2M in Grants to Strengthen the Feminist Funding Ecosystem

Fenomenal Funds is pleased to announce the award of $5,247,744 to 13 collaboration groups formed by 37 women’s funds members of the Prospera International Network of Womenʼs Funds. The Collaboration Grants support women’s funds to form deeper connections and stronger partnerships with each other. As they work to co-create solutions, they harness the community’s collective power, wisdom, and creativity to reimagine practices, […]

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