Decision-making in grantmaking processes is often done in closed boardrooms, far away from communities that are at the forefront of intersecting crises. Traditional grantmaking usually follows a top-down approach where donors (often from the Global North) decide what the objectives and impacts of a given program will be and who will be the main beneficiaries of the funds. This often protects the status quo, sidelining those who are most impacted by sociopolitical issues and funding cuts. Despite this traditional and top-down approach, more and more international non-government organizations are challenging this status quo such as FRIDA, Mama Cash, and Prospera International, three intersectional feminist organizations that work with grassroots women, girls, trans, and intersex groups by providing them with grants and resources to advance their causes and fight for gender justice through feminist participatory grantmaking (FPG).

In feminist participatory grantmaking (FPG), communities are treated as active partners who can provide significant insights, expertise, and lived experience that support more effective decision-making, promote robust conversations, and foster mutual accountability (Evans 2015; Villanueva 2021). FPG recognizes that justice in philanthropy requires redistribution of power in decision-making and recognition of community-based knowledge as a legitimate source of evidence, and not just an afterthought.

FPG deepens our understanding of diverse perspectives and realities and how to most effectively support feminist organizers across political, social, and economic contexts (FRIDA, 2022). In these critical times, where civic spaces are shrinking and progressive movements are being met by increasing backlash by right-wing groups, many public and private donors are shifting their priorities to other “urgent” agendas. FPG becomes even more pivotal as vulnerable communities are being pushed further to the margins. Feminist funding models hold the key in ensuring that these marginalized voices are prioritized and heard in crucial decision-making processes.

Speakers:

Erika Sales is a feminist activist and strategist with over 18 years of experience. She began her journey in social movements, working in feminist research, advocacy, and cross-border campaigning before moving into feminist philanthropy and grantmaking. She supports movements across the Asia-Pacific and globally through strategy development, partnerships, and resourcing. She currently works with Mama Cash and has previously worked with organisations including the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA), Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and the DAWN Feminist Network. Across these spaces, she focuses on redistributing resources more equitably, strengthening movement ecosystems, and building partnerships grounded in trust, care, and feminist values.
 

Jessica Horn is an (East) African feminist, ideamonger, futurist and strategist with 20+ years in philanthropy and work for social change with a feminist vision. An innovator by inclination, Jessica pioneered the African Women’s Development Fund’s Futures initiative and contributed to the design of FRIDA and UHAI-EASHRi, early models of participatory grantmaking. In 2021, she became the first African woman to lead the Ford Foundation in Nairobi. Trained in women’s health rights, she served on the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health. Jessica is the author of African Feminist Praxis: Cartographies of Liberatory Worldmaking, which explores generations of African feminist organising. 

Moderator:

Anne-Di Berdin has worked for Global Forest Coalition, an organisation that advocates for forest protection and indigenous land rights, and at Mama Cash, one of the pioneers in global feminist funding. She is a gender justice advocate with experience in program coordination, monitoring and evaluation, research, and training facilitation. Originally from the Philippines, she is now based in the Netherlands and is an active member of the EADI Gender Justice Working Group.

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