Resourcing Feminist Movements

The “Where is the Money?” #WITM survey is now live! Dive in and share your experience with funding your organizing with feminists around the world.
Learn more and take the survey
Around the world, feminist, women’s rights, and allied movements are confronting power and reimagining a politics of liberation. The contributions that fuel this work come in many forms, from financial and political resources to daily acts of resistance and survival.
AWID’s Resourcing Feminist Movements (RFM) Initiative shines a light on the current funding ecosystem, which range from self-generated models of resourcing to more formal funding streams.
Through our research and analysis, we examine how funding practices can better serve our movements. We critically explore the contradictions in “funding” social transformation, especially in the face of increasing political repression, anti-rights agendas, and rising corporate power. Above all, we build collective strategies that support thriving, robust, and resilient movements.
Our Actions
Recognizing the richness of our movements and responding to the current moment, we:
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Create and amplify alternatives: We amplify funding practices that center activists’ own priorities and engage a diverse range of funders and activists in crafting new, dynamic models for resourcing feminist movements, particularly in the context of closing civil society space.
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Build knowledge: We explore, exchange, and strengthen knowledge about how movements are attracting, organizing, and using the resources they need to accomplish meaningful change.
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Advocate: We work in partnerships, such as the Count Me In! Consortium, to influence funding agendas and open space for feminist movements to be in direct dialogue to shift power and money.
Related Content
Snippet - CSW68 - March 11 - EN
Day 1
11th March
Snippet - WITH - Reflects - EN

Reflects on the funding ecosystem and trends impacting feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements regionally and globally
Snippet - WITM Identify opportunities - EN
Identify and demonstrate opportunities to shift more and better funding for feminist organizing, expose false solutions and disrupt trends that make funding miss and/or move against gender justice and intersectional feminist agendas.
Can I access and fill the survey from my phone?
Yes, the survey can be accessed using a smartphone.
How many survey responses are you looking to collect?
Our aim is to reach a total of 2,000 responses, almost double the number from the last WITM survey in 2011.
Snippet - WITM To share - PT

Para partilhar a sua experiência vivida com o financiamento da sua organização;
English article
English article created from Spanish site
Snippet - WITM Why now_col 1 - RU
Почему сейчас?

Феминистские движения, движения за права женщин, гендерную справедливость, ЛГБТКИ+ и смежные движения по всему миру переживают критический момент, сталкиваясь с мощной негативной реакцией на ранее завоеванные права и свободы. Последние годы привели к быстрому росту авторитаризма, жестоким репрессиям в отношении гражданского общества и криминализации правозащитниц(-ков) с разнообразной гендерной самоидентификацией, эскалации войн и конфликтов во многих частях света, продолжающейся экономической несправедливости, – и все это на фоне кризиса в области здравоохранения, экологии и климата.
2. Frame your research
A framework for your research will guide throughout your research process, and the framing document you develop can also serve as a concept note to advisors and partners, and a funding proposal to potential donors.
Before conducting any research:
- Set the goals of your research
- List the key questions you want your research to answer
- Write out the type of data you will need to obtain and review to answer your key questions
- Define the final products you will produce with your research
Your research framing may evolve over time as you refine your questions and gather new information. However, building an initial research framing will allow you to work from a solid foundation.
Goals
To create a strong foundation for your WITM research, it is important to clarify what you hope to accomplish.
For example, one goal of AWID’s WITM global research was to provide rigorous data to prove what we already knew anecdotally: that women’s rights organizations are discrepantly underfunded. With this data, we felt we would be better positioned to influence funders in their decision-making.
Your goals could be to:
- Generate hard data on funding realities and trends to prove or disprove existing myths.
- Gain deeper insight into differences between the perspectives of donors and women’s rights organizations.
- Influence donors in grant-making.
- Add crucial input to key funding debates.
- Explore collaboration between donors and women’s rights organizations on issues that emerge from the research.
Key questions
Frame your research process with key questions that only your research can answer and limit those questions to a specific time frame (e.g. past five years, past year, etc.).
Consider the following points:
- What exactly do you want to learn more about and what is the hypothesis you would like to test? Writing this out will assist you in your thought process.
- Is there existing research on this? If research already exists, it may not make sense to conduct new WITM research unless you feel like the existing research is not extensive or specific enough.
- What time frame do you want to cover in your analysis? For example, will your research analyze only the past year, or several previous years, such as the past five years?
- Are you planning to repeat your survey to collect data in the future?
Choosing a specific timeframe for your research can result in more precise findings than working with an open-ended timeframe. Also, deciding whether you will repeat this research at regular intervals will allow you to set up data collection benchmarks for easy replication and comparison over time.
These were the key questions that guided AWID’s WITM research process:
- What is the current state of women’s organizations’ financial sustainability across the world?
- What external and internal trends are impacting donors’ funding decisions to support women’s organizations and movements?
Type of data
Now that you determined your key questions, you can determine what kind of data will help you answer your key questions. This will allow you to plan the rest of your schedule for your WITM research.
For example, will you conduct a survey that covers an extensive portion of your priority population? Will you analyze the applications that funders are receiving from a certain region? Will you also conduct interviews (recommended)? By determining the types of data you need, you can reach out to external parties who will provide this data early on, and plot out your full schedule accordingly. Some suggested sources of data could be:
- Surveys you create for women’s rights organizations and donors
- Application and grantmaking data from donors funding cycles
- Interviews of prominent activists, organizations, and donors
- Donor data from membership organizations and networks, such as the Foundation Center, regional or national donor affinity groups.
Diverse data sets are a great way to create robust and rich analysis.
The data from AWID’s 2011 Global Survey formed the backbone of our analysis in Watering the Leaves, Starving the Roots report. However, we also collected data from interviews and interactions with several actors in the field, ranging from donors to activists and women’s rights organizations.
Final products
In addition to allowing you to set your schedule, creating an initial plan of what products you will develop will also allow you to work out what resources you need.
For example, will you only produce a long research report or will you also create infographics, brochures and presentations? Depending on your products, you may need to hire a design firm, plan events and so on.
These products will also be the tools you use to achieve your goals, so it is important to keep those goals in mind. For example, is your WITM research exclusively intended as an advocacy tool to influence funders? In that case, your products should allow you to engage with funders at a deep level.
Some sample products:
- Long report for dissemination with key funders and organizations.
Historically, AWID WITM research has centered on a long report, from which AWID distilled other smaller products - see rest of list. - Infographic for viral distribution online
- Short animation demonstrating key findings
- Short brochure(s) distilling your findings and messages
- Articles and blog posts on key findings to draw interest to your larger report
- Seminars or webinars presenting key findings.
Conclusion: Framing your research will give you the big picture
Framing your research to cover goals, key questions, types of data, and final products will allow you to create a well-planned schedule, prepare your resources in advance, and plan a realistic budget.
This will make interactions with external partners easier and allow you to be nimble when unexpected setbacks occur.
Previous step
Next step

Estimated time:
• 1 month
People needed:
• 1 or more Research person(s)
Resources available:
• AWID Research Framing: sample 1
• AWID Research Framing: sample 2
Previous step
Next step
Ready to Go? Worksheet
Snippet - WITM about research - RU
Об исследовании «Где же деньги для феминистских объединений?»
Глобальный опрос «Где деньги для феминистских объединений?» является ключевым элементом третьего этапа нашего исследования, ориентированного на конкретные действия: «Где деньги для феминистских объединений» (короткое название – «Где деньги?»). Результаты опроса будут доработаны и обстоятельно изучены в ходе бесед с активистами и донорами, а также сопоставлены с другими имеющимися аналитическими материалами и исследованиями о состоянии ресурсов феминистских движений и инициатив по достижению гендерного равенства во всем мире.
Полный отчет организации «Где деньги для феминистских объединений?» будет опубликован в 2026 году.
Чтобы узнать больше о том, как AWID освещает вопросы финансирования феминистских движений, ознакомьтесь с историей инициативы «Где деньги?» и нашими предыдущими отчетами здесь.
Our Vision: Economic Justice in a Feminist World
As feminists struggling for gender, peace, economic, social and environmental justice, we know there is no single recipe for success but an array of possibilities that can and are making change happen. The menu of options is as diverse as our movements and the communities in which we live and struggle.
Before we dare to present some of the feminist imaginations for another world, here are the principles around which we base our propositions:
1. Self-determined development from the local to the global
We believe there is no one model for all and that everyone has a right to claim and contribute to building another world that is possible, as the World Social Forum motto puts it.
This includes the right to participate in democratic governance and to influence one’s future – politically, economically, socially and culturally.
Economic self-determination gives peoples the ability to take control over their natural resources and use those resources for their own ends or collective use. Furthermore, women’s economic agency is fundamental to mitigating the often cyclical nature of poverty, denial of education, safety, and security.
2. Rights, substantive equality and justice are at the core of the economy
The principle of substantive equality is laid out in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international human rights instruments. This principle is fundamental for development and achieving a just economy as it affirms that all human beings are born free and equal.
Non-discrimination is an integral part of the principle of equality that ensures that no one is denied their rights because of factors such as race, gender, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property or birth.
The inherent dignity of all persons without distinction must be upheld and respected. While States are responsible for ensuring the use of maximum available resources for the fulfilment of human rights, reclaiming rights and dignity is fundamentally a key space for civil society struggle and popular mobilization.
3. Just distribution for all, without monopolization (the anti-greed principle)
This principle, exercised through organized efforts to transform unjust institutions, guides the restoration of balance between "participation" (input) and "distribution" (output) when either principle is violated.
It puts limits on monopolistic accumulations of capital and other abuses of property. This concept is founded on an economy model that is based on fairness, and justice.
4. Feminist and cross-movement solidarity is key
In order to make change happen, we need strong and diverse feminist networks. We need movements building solidarity from the personal to the political, from the local to the global and back.
Building collective power through movements helps convert the struggle for human rights, equality and justice into a political force for change that cannot be ignored.
“Only movements can create sustained change at the levels that policy and legislation alone cannot achieve.”
See more on this at Batliwala, S: 2012 “Changing Their World. Concepts and Practices of Women’s Movements” 2nd Edition. AWID
See also
Почему мне стоит принять участие в опросе?
Есть много причин, по которым ваше участие в опросе очень важно. Это возможность поделиться своим опытом привлечения финансирования для деятельности вашей организации; заявить о себе как об эксперте в вопросах движения денежных средств и их получателей; внести свой вклад в коллективную и последовательную адвокацию среди доноров, чтобы привлечь более объемное и эффективное финансирование. За последние два десятилетия исследования AWID в этой области зарекомендовали себя как ключевой ресурс для активисток(-тов) и доноров. Мы приглашаем вас присоединиться к нам в реализации третьей части инициативы «Где деньги?», чтобы осветить реальное состояние ресурсного обеспечения, оспорить ошибочные решения и указать на то, как необходимо изменить финансирование, чтобы движения процветали и реагировали на сложные вызовы нашего времени.
TEST - MAP
WHRD Tribute - 2017
We can have an intro here
And maybe a little bit more text here
Nós redistribuímos recursos para os nossos parceires beneficiários e identificamo-nos como um fundo feminista e/ou de mulheres. Devemos participar no inquérito?
Não, apreciamos muito o vosso trabalho, mas atualmente não solicitamos respostas de fundos feministas e de mulheres. Encorajamos-vos a partilhar o inquérito com os vossos parceires beneficiários e as vossas redes feministas.