At Mama Cash, we see women’s funds as foundations that support and fund feminist self-led solutions to the root causes of social injustice. They are a key resource base for feminist activism and feminist movements. By working nationally, regionally, globally as well as thematically, women’s funds respond to the needs of local feminist activists and their movements.
Like Mama Cash, women’s funds usually emerge out of the activist movements they serve. This puts them in a great position to identify and direct funding where it is needed the most. Women’s funds are often the first source of funding for groups that are overlooked by the broader philanthropic and donor community.
Women’s funds are playing a vital role in building a feminist, rights-based approach within the philanthropic sector through advocacy and networking; they are helping other donors, peer-foundations, corporations and governments, understand and value feminist activism and its contribution to social change. Women’s funds are pushing for more and better funding for women’s, girls’, trans and intersex people’s rights groups so they can pursue their own strategies to end injustices within and beyond their communities.
Why Mama Cash supports Women’s Funds
Mama Cash knows first-hand that women’s funds are supporting some of the most innovative, cutting-edge and vital feminist movements around the world. They are a key part of the infrastructure needed for feminist movements to sustain, advance their agendas, resist attacks and backlash. As the first international women’s fund, Mama Cash has played a pivotal and active role in the promotion and support of a growing number of women’s funds around the world.
We believe that a strong global architecture of women’s funds is a key strategy to build powerful, effective and sustainable women’s rights movements in all corners of the globe. Mama Cash believes that supporting feminist groups and movements is the most effective and lasting route to ending the inequality and injustice experienced by many millions of women, girls, trans and intersex peoples around the world.
For more about Why we fund Women’s Funds, read this article by Zohra Moosa and Sunny Daly
How Mama Cash works with Women’s Funds
Mama Cash is a peer, partner and donor to women’s funds around the world.
As a peer, we are part of an international network of women’s funds that shares experiences and learns together to improve our efforts. We identify and create opportunities, such as participation in special joint initiatives or thematic convenings, where women’s funds can discuss and strategise around emerging issues critical to women’s, girl’s, trans and intersex people’s rights.
As a partner, we collaborate with other women’s funds to influence the donor community, and together raise the profile of women’s funds to get more and better money to fund the feminist movement.
As a donor, we provide women’s funds with core, flexible, long-term and short-term funding to respond to their needs and contribute to the strengthening of the women’s funds community.
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Strengthening the Feminist Funding Ecosystem
