Calling all feminist activists in the Netherlands and on the ABCSSS islands

Mama Cash invites you to apply for a Spark Fund grant between 1-31 August 2025

Are you a feminist activist in the Netherlands or on Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius or Sint Maarten (the ABCSSS islands)? Are you part of a group of women, girls, or trans or intersex people?

And do you need funding to power your work?

We support bold, emerging feminist* activism in the Netherlands and on the ABCSSS islands with grants ranging from €5,000 to €7,000 per project. These grants are intended to strengthen the bold work of self-led groups in the Netherlands and the ABCSSS islands working to secure the rights of women, girls, and trans people and intersex people.

Apply between 1- 31 August 2025, 11:59 pm CEST, and receive a decision by 16 October 2025. Please consider the Spark Fund selection criteria and priorities first.

The eligibility criteria are as follows. The Spark Fund supports:

• Groups led by women, girls, or trans people or intersex people. The people whose rights are at stake are the decision makers in the project.

Example: If a group is working on trans rights, trans people should decide on the group’s activities and how the funds are allocated. The spokespersons for the group, as well as those being paid, should be trans people. Non-trans people can also work for the group in various capacities, providing they are not the ones leading it.

• Groups working from a feminist perspective and/or focused on women’s, girls, or trans or intersex rights.

Example: Mama Cash understands “work from a feminist perspective” to involve the struggle against sexism and patriarchal gender norms, and/or the safeguarding of the human rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people. Under this criterion, only projects that centre the needs, experiences and rights of women, girls, and trans intersex people would be eligible. For example, a proposal for an eligible housing project would address the specific barriers women face in accessing decent and affordable housing. It would also need to address the challenges of different groups of women (e.g., both urban and rural, disabled, queer and/or employed in sex work) in accessing housing. The experiences and rights of women and the issues they face would have to be at the core of the project, rather than being included as just one of many elements.

• Groups working on urgent and contested political issues in the Netherlands or on the ABCSSS islands.

Example: A group of Muslim women organises to advocate for their rights and voices their concerns in an environment where wearing a hijab, niqab or similar covering is contested by both state bodies and members of the public.

• Groups working on structural and systemic change.

Example: A migrant women’s group provides shelter services to other migrant women to respond to their immediate needs, such as housing or health care. But the group also works to tackle the fundamental barriers to accessing these services, ensuring that other migrant women, even those they cannot directly reach, will benefit in the longer term.

In addition, the Spark Fund prioritises:

• Non-formalised/non-registered, new groups with limited resources (for example: no paid staff or office space) and budgets below €50,000 per year.

Please note that you don’t need an organisational bank account, residence permit or any other form of identification to apply. In addition, your organisation doesn’t have to be registered as a ‘foundation’.

Submit your application via an online form, video or audio recording in English or Dutch. If another language suits you better, contact us at spark@mamacash.org and we’ll explore possible accommodations with you.

Click here to learn more about the Spark Fund.

How to apply

Mama Cash’s 2025 online grantmaking window for the Spark Fund is open from 1 to 31 August 2025, 11:59 pm CEST. The links to the online application form, video or audio recording options will be available on our website on 1 August 2025.

In line with our commitment to sharing power and decision-making authority with activists, recipients of Spark Fund grants will be selected by members of Mama Cash’s Advisory Network. The selection will be based on a review of the applications against our eligibility criteria. The final decisions will be shared by 16 October 2025.

*We define feminism as being very multifaceted, but at its core we see it as work that addresses or combats sexism and patriarchal gender norms (relating to sexuality, class, ethnicity, race, migration status, ability, and more) with the aim of ending inequality and injustice.