Feminist funding collaborative Fenomenal Funds has awarded $10 million in grants to women’s organisations committed to shifting power and consolidating a firm commitment to advancing feminist movements worldwide.

Fenomenal was funded as a women’s fund collaborative and launched in 2019 through a pooled fund established by Foundation for a Just Society, Open Society Foundations, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Fund aims to help strengthen the infrastructure of women’s funds – organizations that provide financial and other support to advance the rights and opportunities of women, girls, and LGBTQI people in countries around the world.

‘Despite increasing global commitments to fund gender equality, gender justice movements remain severely under-resourced. If feminist movements are to continue to realize wins for women’s human rights, they need more and better resources,’ said Zanele Sibanda, Fenomenal Funds Director.

The collaborative’s work took off at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which placed a new set of demands on women’s funds. Women’s funds found themselves faced with intersecting crises: a global health pandemic, closing of civic society spaces, an economic downturn, and increased demand for resources as women had to bear the brunt of these crises. As the main funders to grassroots feminist movements, women’s funds rose to these challenges by being responsive to the emerging needs of movements.

For more information about their work, visit fenomenalfunds.org.