Feminists are organising around the world, and they need our support!
Every year, Mama Cash invites self-led groups of women, girls, and trans and intersex people to submit funding applications to share their plans and dreams for change. Their work, often in the face of repression and threats to their safety and even their lives, is inspiring, and keeps us coming to work every day.
From 2016-2018 Mama Cash received 5,470 letters of interest (LOIs) from virtually every corner of the globe: feminist movements are active everywhere. Our team recently analysed data from these applications, and we have created a graphic report, Resourcing Feminist Activism, to share our initial findings and impressions.
Feminist activism is vibrant and growing worldwide
We reviewed all LOIs to determine which ones met our funding criteria, and of the nearly half (46%) that did, we closely reviewed the 624 applications that best met our funding priorities and thematic portfolio strategies.We were struck to learn that a majority of the groups that shared data about when they got started had been founded within in the last ten years: 61% had formed since 2010. Regardless of the difficult, often dangerous, contexts in which they are working, new groups are coming together all the time to meet challenges as they arise.
The need for resourcing is great
Another important finding is the scope of the need. Of the 2,532 eligible LOIs, we were able to fund 78 new groups, a little over 3 percent. That leaves a huge amount of unfunded work that deserves and can absorb financial support.
We recognise that this means that many great feminist groups are putting in effort to apply to Mama Cash without receiving funding. We take this seriously and are working to transparently share information with potential applicants. For example, we now include information on the LOI application form about how many new grants we expect to be able to give in the year in which they are applying. And we provide personalised feedback to groups that meet our criteria and priorities but were not selected to receive a grant.Mama Cash also urges other funders to join us in resourcing feminist activism. No one donor can respond to the need alone; we need a community of funders supporting feminist organising globally with generous and flexible funding.