Towards feminist and anti-racist philanthropy

At Calala we say enough is enough to racist violence. Today, more than ever, it is essential to build a feminist and anti-racist philanthropy.

Racism is not a novel, isolated, individual issue.

We take a stand against the Aliens Law, The crisis, which daily plunges hundreds of thousands of people into precariousness. For more than 35,000 domestic and care workers who have not received benefits after 5 months of the pandemic. For sex workers who are constantly invisibilised and violated. No more police persecution which in 2018 cost the life of Mame Mbaye. Enough of the criminalisation of protest who removed anti-racist activist Daniela Ortiz from the country. We say stop to the extermination of indigenous peoples and the expulsion from their ancestral territories in Abya Yala.

From Calala we join in solidarity with all those who are organising and protesting against the racist system and patriarchal violence that rule the world. The current political situation and recent racist events challenge us to take a stand. However, we are aware that racism is not a new, isolated and individual issue, but is part of a colonial system that transmits a hierarchical worldview in which some lives matter more than others. This vision also materialises through the people and entities - public and private, local and international - that are part of the system; and we know that philanthropy is not exempt.

Since our beginnings in 2009, our way of sharing, doing and working has been imbued with an anti-racist vision.

As the only women's fund in Spain, Calala mobilises economic resources and promotes capacity building for migrant feminist activism, domestic and care workers, and sex workers. We also strengthen their efforts for the right to abortion and universal healthcare, community feminisms in Central America, the vindication of ancestral knowledge, and the defence of criminalised activisms.

Calala is a women's fund that grew out of the dreams of Central American and Spanish feminists. Dreams in which our collective way of seeing the world involves recognising and integrating into our institution the knowledge and genealogies of feminisms from there and here. We are a mixed team, made up of women from different parts of the world. Even today we continue to reflect on the coloniality of power in our practices, making Calala a foundation in constant revision, striving to make our relationships from care, loving and horizontal.

Aware of our privileges and the fact that we will continue to be challenged by our colleagues to continue learning

We know that by being located in the global north and financing groups in Latin America, there are logics of power that we reproduce. and from which we are not exempt; and that we still have a long way to go. Conscious of our European, white and class privileges, and of all that remains to be worked on within our foundation, we are convinced that it is it is essential to banish racism from our way of being. We rely on the situated knowledge and life stories that make our team a diverse and rich group. We are confident that we will continue to be challenged by our partners to keep learning of the strength, courage and bravery of all those who denounce racism on a daily basis.