Designed by women’s funds for women’s funds

As the world’s first international women’s fund, Mama Cash is deeply committed to strengthening the feminist funding ecosystem in general, and the women’s funds community in particular. Launched in early 2020, the Solidarity Fund is a dedicated pot of funding intended for the strengthening of women’s funds. 

Women’s funds support the world’s most innovative, courageous and transformative feminist movements. 

Women’s funds are a key part of the funding and support infrastructure needed for feminist movements to hold the line, advance their agendas, and resist attacks and backlash!

Participatory grantmaking designed in the spirit of radical trust and radical solidarity.

Participatory grantmaking can be a more equitable, just, transparent, and accountable form of grantmaking. The Solidarity Fund is designed to assist women’s funds as they collaboratively make the decisions that are best for our peers and that will strengthen the feminist funding ecosystem.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Work from a feminist, women's, girls, trans rights and/or intersex rights perspective
  • Self-led by the women, girls, trans people and/or intersex people they serve
  • Promotion of women’s, girls’, trans people's and/or intersex people’s human rights as primary mission
  • Women’s fund

Frequently Asked Questions

Only women’s funds are eligible to apply for Solidarity Fund grants:

  • The Solidarity Fund is a fund for women’s funds only.
  • The women’s funds we support must have as their primary mission the mobilisation of financial resources to provide grants to feminist groups, collectives, movements and individuals who are organising to defend and advance the rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people.
  • The women’s funds we support are autonomous (or on a clear path to being so). They are founded by and deeply rooted in the movements they support.
  • Applicants are not required to be a member of Prospera, the International Network of Women’s Funds to be considered for funding. Nascent and emergent funds are also welcome to apply.
  • Women’s funds who received a Solidarity Fund grant in the preceding year are eligible to submit an application for a Solidarity Fund grant the next year.
  • Solidarity Fund grants are designed to support the women’s funds themselves, and in turn the women’s funds ecosystem, and the global feminist movement;
  • There is no restriction on activities, but we will not support work that actively seeks to deny the rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people. We will not support anti-sex work activities, individuals, political parties, government agencies, or religious institutions.

According to Mama Cash’s definition, the primary activity of a women’s fund is making financial grants to support groups, collectives, and individuals organising to defend and advance the rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people.  Successful applicants to the Solidarity Fund must identify as women’s funds and make financial grants as the primary focus of their work. Women’s funds raise money to do their own grantmaking.

Mama Cash supports women’s funds that are led by the people they seek to support. Those directly involved in or affected by the issues the women’s fund is trying to address must be part of the fund’s leadership and decision-making.

We only support women’s fund that are not a programme of a larger entity. Eligible women’s funds must have independent decision-making power over the grants that they give and their resource mobilisation activities. If the women’s funds are not yet independent, they must have concrete plans to become autonomous in the short- to medium-term of two to three years. Autonomy and independence are important to ensure that those leading the fund have final authority in their decisions to ensure they are accountable to the communities they support.

To be eligible for the Solidarity Fund, women’s funds’ primary mission must be to resource women, girls, trans people and/or intersex people in their efforts to uphold their rights. Women’s funds must also have a vision and strategy to challenge and transform gendered power structures.

No, Solidarity grants are in addition to Mama Cash’s long-term core grants support for women’s funds and do not replace any existing funding.

Eligible women’s funds can apply for a Solidarity Fund grant individually or as part of a larger collaborative of eligible women’s funds. Applicants may not submit more than one proposal. If a fund is interested in multiple collaborations, they will have to choose and submit (or be part of) just one idea. Prospera regional chapters are exempted from this rule, because they serve a large number of funds.

Any women’s fund eligible for a grant is eligible to participate in the decision-making process, including women’s funds who received Solidarity Fund grants last year, and including those who are applying to the Solidarity Fund in the current year. However, it is not required that applicants engage in the decision-making.

Women’s funds do not need to apply separately to participate in the grant application review; they just need to indicate their interest in advance by sending an email to solidarityfund@mamacash.org. They will need to commit to reviewing at least 10 proposals of two pages maximum.

Grants will be made to the highest ranked applicants for grants of €40,000 each. To ensure geographical diversity, reviewers will be asked to take into account applicants’ geographical locations

Wonderful that you are interested in participatory grantmaking! We suggest you start with this Grantcraft Guide & resource center.

If you have any additional questions about the Solidarity Fund, contact us here.

Application window – During the Solidarity Fund’s grantmaking window – usually in the month Feb/March – applicants submit, by email, a filled-in application form or a video recording, and a filled-in budget form.  Application & budget forms are available in English, Spanish and French.

If you would like to write a grant proposal in another language and have it translated, please contact solidarityfund@mamacash.org

Participatory grantmaking Any women’s fund eligible for a Solidarity grant is eligible to participate in the review process of Solidarity Fund applications. This includes women’s funds that have submitted an application. Women’s funds interested in reviewing applications need to indicate their interest in doing so before the end of the application window.

Review of Applications Participating funds review at least 10 applications of approximately 2 pages each during the review period. Applications will be distributed amongst the reviewing funds at random. 

Voting & scoring – Reviewers receive 20 points each to vote on their preferred proposals that they would like to support. Alongside their scores, reviewers provide 2-3 sentences about each proposal they reviewed to give context for their scoring.

Award announcements – All reviewers’ assessments will be aggregated and shared back with applicants, alongside the final ranking.