We published the report “Achieving Gender Equality through Feminist Grantmaking. The Women's Fund Model”.”

The document has been produced in the framework of the Erasmus+ project with the coordination of the Mediterranean Women's Fund and Calala and the participation of the European Women's Funds.

The Women's Funds Model

Women's Funds Europe (WFE) is the European branch of Prospera - International Network of Women's Funds. We are a coalition of 13 Women's Funds based in 11 countries. Over the past years, we have worked together to advocate at the European level and to position Women's Funds as key actors to strengthen grassroots feminist collectives and movements.

To this end, one of the tools developed has been this report where we collect good practices of the 13 women's funds in Europe through specific success stories. The document has been elaborated through a participatory process with the WFEs. It includes examples of aspects in which the Women's Funds are experts, such as funding, capacity building, research and advocacy, strengthening feminist philanthropy with an intersectional perspective, and collaboration and networking.

In addition, we also provide eight recommendations as lessons learned from our long experience in contact with the needs of grassroots feminist groups:

1. Support organisations led by those most affected, as they are the experts in their field.
2. Link with grassroots organisations that may not have access to other sources of funding.
3. Forge strong relationships with partner organisations to enhance collaboration and networking and empower the next generation of women leaders.
4. Balance long-term flexible structure funding with emergency funds to boost sustainability and manage crisis situations.
5. Break down funding silos to increase access and promote intersectionality.
6. Experiment with creative methods of learning and evaluation to better assess, reflect and communicate positive outcomes.
7. Invest in comprehensive security and collective and individual care to protect activists and prevent burnout.
8. Engage in quantitative and qualitative research to enable political and social change.

You can consult the document at Spanish  o English