Philanthropic institutions span the globe, comprising over 260,000 foundations. Foundations contribute to educational, humanitarian, and cultural organizations of all kinds. Grant-giving foundations are intermediaries between the individual donors who fund them and the various social enterprises that they, in turn, support.
Grant-giving organizations have the potential to make more effective use of scarce resources than either individual donors or the government. Free from political pressures, they can explore new solutions to social problems with independence that government can never have, and compared with individual donors, foundations have the scale, the time horizon, and the professional management to create benefits for society more effectively.
All human rights initiatives as important as they are, with their contributions and world-changing influences in several aspects would be limited and unable to affect much without employing resources. Over time, the opportunities to convert ideas into actions have been made possible through grants and donations by local, national, and international organizations providing support by tangible funding towards the actualization of these causes.
In the coming weeks, we will be sharing organizations that fund such causes, however, in this article, we share organizations that specifically fund women’s rights objectives.
The African Women Development Fund(AWDF)
Available to a large number of African countries, it focuses on organizations with causes towards women’s human rights, HIV/AIDS, and also reproductive health and rights among other goals.
It is intended to help build a culture of learning and partnerships within African women’s movements by giving priority to programs that develop and promote women’s leadership and advocacy across regions. The organizations that qualify for this grant sizing up to $50,000 must have been running for about three(3) years, must describe how their work fits into a local or international for African women empowerment and should have a clear evaluation for sustainability and evaluation for the projects.
Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF)
The UAF-Africa is a rapid response grant that protects and promotes women’s human rights through rapid response grants accorded based on decisions made by a board of international advisors.
Amongst other objectives covered by this grant, it focuses on women in civil society by offering emergency funding to respond immediately to the needs of women human rights defenders at risk. The grant size for UAF is valued at $8000 and usually does not exceed this amount.
Projects that would qualify should be unanticipated with a sense of urgency and the actions proposed have to promote the advancement of women’s human rights using nonviolent strategies and must be women-led and supported by other women’s rights organizations.
Global Fund for Community Foundations
The Global fund for community Foundation provides funding to community philanthropy organizations including women and human rights projects that work directly with the locals to use grantmaking as a tool to delegate power and resources to grow a local support constituency for community issues increasing civic participation and horizontal accountability by the locals.
Grants awarded by the foundation run up to $35,000 and in fact, the Zambian Governance Foundation received $65,000 from the grant in June 2021.
The Wallace Global Fund
This grant provides funding for activists with causes that bring about significant changes in the areas of advancements in human rights and empowerment as a means to defend and renew democracy, promote truth, and create freedom in the media.
Such causes as funded by the foundation include ones that illuminate issues affecting women’s human rights and the global economy. Instances are the abandonment of female genital mutilation.
They make sure MDGs that get the grant, valued at up to $50,000, prioritize reproductive health grants proposals and are reviewed and processed continuously on a quarterly basis.
Kitchen Table Charities
This trust focuses on health and sanitation problems, child and mother care, and clean drinking water for countries in Africa, particularly the smallest charities.
They have funded projects like the training of midwives, cervical cancer screening for women in Ghana, and promoting some women in a women’s community-based Cage Fish Farming for employment and income generation in Uganda.
Perhaps you have been wondering where you can find funding opportunities for women empowerment projects. Look no further then, find out what opportunities these organizations are offering this year and if you fulfill the requirements, apply and get all you need to impact your community.