It is risky for organizations largely or solely to depend on one income source. A financially secure organization should have multiple sources of income, including, for example, from income-generating activities, foundation and government grants, and individual donations. An NGO that focuses on women’s empowerment, for example, may generate income by selling handmade crafts their clients have made, receiving government and foundation grants, and partnering with local businesses to offer training programs.
Investing in women is both a human rights imperative and an economic imperative. It is a human rights imperative because global economic, financial, political, and cultural systems too often are complicit in perpetuating gender inequality. It is an economic imperative because investing in women is key to individuals and communities thriving.
The importance of funding organizations that support and empower women, as human rights and religious freedom advocates and as leaders in their communities seeking to advance, for example, education, health care, employment, and development, cannot be overstated. In the fight for an equitable and violence-free world, women must be included in power structures, participate in analyzing problems and addressing issues, and have the authority to propose and implement solutions. As frontline champions, women are essential to the well-being, stability and economic development of their communities and countries
Although aid and development spending throughout the world has been falling gradually for years, the gutting of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is especially significant: the size and rapid implementation of these cuts have had drastically negative consequences on individuals, especially women and girls, communities, and nations.
FoRB Women’s Alliance has curated a list of organizations and entities that fund initiatives that seek to empower women. This list was curated from the Society for Nonprofits, LinkedIn, and bloomerang.com. (The funding sources cited below do not imply endorsement by FoRB Women’s Alliance.)
10 USAID ALTERNATIVES
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7302669935808327681/
BOULWARE FOUNDATION
The Foundation is a new family foundation focusing on increasing economic opportunities for women and girls. The Foundation seeks to fund domestic and international programs aimed at empowering women economically and moving them toward financial freedom. [More…]
CANADIAN WOMEN’S FOUNDATION
The Foundation focuses its grantmaking on women and girls because they face distinct barriers that require distinct solutions and because gender equality improves economic and social conditions for everyone. Grants are awarded in the following areas: gender-based violence, economic security, girls’ empowerment, inclusive leadership. [More…]
CIRCLE OF SISTERHOOD FOUNDATION
Formed in 2010 by individual alumnae and sorority communities on college campuses across North America, the Foundation supports organizations that share its vision of making education a reality for girls and women around the world. The Foundation is particularly interested in funding entities in developing countries where girls are kept from school. [More…]
DEVELOPMENT AID
https://www.developmentaid.org/news-stream/post/192040/donor-alternatives-to-usaid
DONOR FINDER
https://www.civicus.org/index.php/donor-finder
EWOMENNETWORK FOUNDATION
The Foundation exists to help small organizations make a big difference. In the spirit of “lifting as we climb,” the Foundation supports small nonprofits whose mission includes improving the emotional and financial well-being of women and children. [More…]
GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN
The Fund believes that women are powerful catalysts for change and that strong women’s organizations and movements make transformative shifts in power that are crucial to women realizing their rights and creating lasting solutions to the world’s problems. The Fund helps to advance the movement for women’s human rights by director resources and raising the voices of women worldwide. [More…]
IMPACT INVESTING – alternatives to USAID for NGOs
https://www.winssolutions.org/alternatives-to-usaid-for-ngos/
LEICA WOMEN FOTO PROJECT
camera company’s Leica Women Foto Project Award encourages diversity and inclusion in visual storytelling to amplify voices typically underrepresented in photography, discovering the breadth of shapes formed by a single story. The Contest is open to individuals legally residing in the 50 United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, or Canada (excluding residents of the province of Quebec) who are at least 21 years of age at the time of Contest entry. [More…]
MADRE
Madre is an international women’s human rights organization that funds visionary, innovative, and intersectional grassroots strategies that meet immediate needs and create lasting change. They believe that when grassroots women’s organizations provide vital services to their communities, women can build new skills, step up as leaders, and mobilize for rights-based policies. [More…]
MARY KAY ASH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
The Foundation’s mission is to enrich women’s lives around the world. Money for the Foundation came from the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. [More…]
MARY’S PENCE
This grassroots Organization directs donated resources to small women’s projects. Funding decisions are rooted in the Catholic tradition of social justice together with feminist values where all are welcome at the table. [More…]
OAK FOUNDATION
Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global, social, and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. [More…]
OPEN MEADOWS FOUNDATION
The Foundation supports projects that are led by and benefit women and girls, particularly those from vulnerable communities. The Foundation funds projects that don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity and expression, sexual identity and expression, age, or ability. [More…]
PIMCO FOUNDATION
The Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the investment management Firm. Its mission is to empower people globally to reach their full potential. [More…]
PROJECT INSPIRE
Launched in 2011, to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, the Project presents 18–35-year-olds with a five-minute platform to pitch their inspired idea for the chance to win a $25,000 grant. Project Inspire promotes projects that empower disadvantaged women and girls in the developing world through entrepreneurship and business literacy. [More…]
PULITZER CENTER ON CRISIS REPORTING
The Center is a nonprofit organization that supports independent global journalism. The Center’s Gender Equality Grants Program funded by investment firm PIMCO, supports reporting projects, education, and outreach, and community engagement on issues related to gender equality and the economic empowerment of girls and women. [More…]
SUNDARA FUND
The Fund’s social innovation fund, RISE (Rewarding Innovative and Sustainable Entrepreneurs), is designed to support budding female entrepreneurs in emerging economies working to improve water, hygiene, and sanitation in their own communities. Funded ideas or projects must directly benefit women in middle- or low-income countries across the globe. [More…]
THE ASSOCIATED COUNTRY WOMEN OF THE WORLD
The Organization supports women in their efforts to reduce poverty, improve health, and advance education through 460 member societies active in over 70 countries. The Organization has three main funding areas: the Water for All Fund, Women Feed the World Fund, and Projects Fund. [More…
THE CHANNEL FOUNDATION
The Foundation promotes leadership in women’s human rights around the globe by supporting organizations engaged in combating gender inequality. The type of work that the Foundation supports includes legal; legislative and policy advocacy; capacity, network, and coalition building; human rights education, training and leadership development; and other innovative strategies. [More…]
THE FINANCIAL RESILIENCE AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FUND
The Fund seeks to achieve economic empowerment and gender equity among adolescent girls and young women. Grants are targeted to help adolescent girls and young women to regain employment, set up small businesses, develop skills, enhance financial literacy and engagement, address unpaid work, ensure freedom from violence, expand influence, access health, create role models and networks, and tackle the lack of freedom of movement. [More…]
THE GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN
The Fund’s mission is to play a leading role in advancing women’s rights by making grants that support and strengthens women’s groups around the world. The Fund mobilizes and redistributes resources that enable women to develop creative solutions to local, regional, and transnational challenges. [More…]
TOGETHER WOMEN RISE
The Organization, formerly known as Dining for Women, is an educational giving circle whose members meet monthly, learn about featured and ongoing programs, and donate together to support grassroots international programs that empower women and girls living in extreme poverty. Eligible programs include those that foster good health, education, and economic self-sufficiency in developing countries and that are devoted to educating and inspiring individuals to make a difference and fight global poverty and gender inequality through the power of collective giving. [More…]
URGENT ACTION FUND FOR WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights offers two types of grants: security or opportunity. The fund is designed for fast turnaround when a situation threatens the safety of activists or organizations or when an unexpected opportunity arises that must be seized quickly or lost. All projects support women, trans, or gender non-conforming people. In addition, applying organizations must also be led by women, trans, or gender-nonconforming people, be supported by similar groups, and be focused on human rights for these people. They must also address an issue that was both unanticipated and time sensitive. Proposals may be submitted online at any time, and typically receive a response within 24 hours. Grants are small, for no more than US $8000, but are typically dispensed within 1-10 days.
[More…]
WOMEN’S PEACE AND HUMANITARIAN FUND
The Fund is an innovative partnership empowering local women to be a force for crisis response and lasting peace. The Fund is seeking applications for its Short-Term grants, under its Rapid Response Window. [More…]
WOMEN’S PEACEPOWER FOUNDATION
The Foundation’s grantmaking is focused on two areas: combating violence against women and teaching peace. Priority for the violence against women grants is given to organizations and people working to draw together the resources of knowledge on violence, increasing opportunities to speak out against violence, and creating new solutions addressing the problems associated with living and growing up in a violent home. [More…]
