How Global Fund for Women is Fueling Feminist Movements with Unrestricted Multi-Year Funding and Real-Time Data
PeiYao Chen, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
is the President & CEO of Global Fund for Women, a leading funder of gender justice organizations, initiatives, and movements worldwide. Since 1987, Global Fund for Women has given nearly $240 million in grants to more than 5,000 organizations in 179 countries.
What does being a feminist mean to you?
Being a feminist means recognizing and challenging the power dynamics that perpetuate inequality and injustice. It’s about advocating for equality and justice, and actively working to dismantle systems of oppression that impact women and marginalized groups. Feminism strives to create a fairer, more equitable world for all.
Global Fund for Women is the leading funder of gender justice organizations, initiatives, and movements worldwide! Can you tell us more about the funding gap for feminist organizations?
➡️ In 2024, only 1.9% of all charitable giving in the U.S. went to organizations dedicated to women and girls. (Source)
➡️ In 2021-2022, 43% of bilateral allocable ODA by OECD DAC members had gender equality as a policy objective. Yet, only 1% went to feminist organizations and movements. During the same period, while DAC members’ volume of humanitarian aid has grown, the focus on gender equality has decreased, from 19% to 17% over the same period. (Source)
To address the funding gap, how did Global Fund for Women shape its approach to feminist funding?
➡️ Providing unrestricted funding to grassroots feminist organizations that are driving change in their communities has been part of the Global Fund for Women’s DNA since our founding.
➡️ Grassroots feminist activists are driving change in their communities, especially during crises. They often work tirelessly without financial support. However, with adequate funding, they can create a much bigger impact.
➡️ We prioritize providing unrestricted, multi-year funding that allows organizations to plan for the long term and respond to emerging needs at their discretion. By offering unrestricted funding, we signal to our grantees that we believe in their mission, want to invest in their organizations, and trust them to use the resources effectively to meet their community's needs.
➡️ Since 1987, we have awarded nearly $240 million to more than 5,000 groups in 179 countries. Our current priorities focus on climate justice, ending gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive justice, and crisis response. We provide grants internationally, covering all regions outside the U.S. To ensure we meet local needs effectively, we select our grantees using two approaches: participatory grantmaking, where a committee of movement partners makes the decisions, and direct grantmaking, where our Global Fund for Women staff makes the decisions.
The Global Fund for Women also has a Gender Justice Data Hub which conducts research on gender justice initiatives. What are some of the key findings to come from this research?
➡️ Global Fund for Women has developed a series of tools, including a Gender Justice Data Hub, to enhance our understanding of gender justice movements and provide strategic and timely support. Gender Justice Data Hub helps us monitor mobilization activities (i.e., protests on the street and online) in real-time, allowing us to anticipate and respond to movements with greater precision and agility.
➡️ Since its launch in 2023, we have identified and supported fourteen movements with flexible, timely funding to fortify their mobilizing efforts. For example: Afro, campesino, and indigenous movement for land defense in Colombia; Indigenous women-led movement to protect democracy in Guatemala; Movement of women searchers looking for the disappeared in Mexico; Movement for maternity leave rights in Thailand; Movement to include femicides in the criminal code in Kosovo; Movement to combat sexual violence as a weapon of war in DRC; Movement of women advocating for justice for victims of the exception regime in El Salvador; Movement reforming Morocco’s Family Code in Morocco; Indigenous/rural resistance for freedom from violence in Paraguay.
What would a world with gender justice look like to you?
A world with gender justice would be one where every individual has the freedom to define their own identity, love whom they choose, marry who they wish, and shape their future —including deciding when, how many, or if they want to have children—without fear of discrimination or oppression.
As President of the Global Fund for Women, what do you think are the most urgent gender justice issues the world is facing today?
One of the biggest threats to gender justice is the aggressive crusade led by anti-rights movements, which seek to undermine the rights and bodily autonomy of women and gender-diverse individuals. Despite significant progress over the past three decades, we have yet to achieve full gender equality. Tragically, many of the hard-fought gains of these years are now under attack, putting the progress we’ve made in jeopardy.
How can the FEMINIST community support gender justice through individual action?
The FEMINIST community can support gender justice by building widespread public support for gender justice, while actively engaging and inspiring the next generation of advocates to carry the movement forward with passion and purpose.
