The Feminist Fund (FemFund)

Mission:

Created in 2018, FemFund is a grantmaking fund in Poland that was set up in the context of backlash in order to support feminist movements. FemFund provides flexible small grants for women-led and LBTQIA-led activism and organizing via a participatory grantmaking model. It also aims to encourage feminist philanthropy at country and community level to make feminist movements more resilient and resistant to attacks on women’s human rights.

FemFund News:

Channel Grants:

2023: Channel made a grant to The FeministFund (FemFund) in order to continue supporting their work making grants to women’s rights organizations in Poland, supporting feminist movements, and responding to the crisis in Ukraine and refugees within Poland.

2022: Channel made a grant to The FeministFund (FemFund) in order to support their work making grants to women’s rights organizations in Poland, supporting the feminist movement, and their response to the crisis in Ukraine.  

FemFund operates three complementary grantmaking programs: MiniGrants, Feminist Rescue, and Empowerment Grants.  MiniGrants are decided on via a participatory process by the co-applicants themselves. Feminist Rescue supports urgent needs on the part of feminist groups. Empowerment Grants are friendly and flexible funds for the basic needs of feminist organizations, their stability and financial security. FemFund also offers non grant support such as digital security trainings. 

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, FemFund has been reaching out directly to organizations and groups providing direct support to refugees and people on the move. The context involves a humanitarian crisis taking place in Ukraine and Poland. The needs are enormous and diversified, involving: evacuation, shelter, food, medicine, safe travel and border crossing, legal and psychological assistance, economic integration, protection and prevention of unequal treatment and violence (including trafficking), information sharing and coordination, school education & institutional care for migrant children, reproductive health services, sustainable activism support etc.  

FemFund’s strategy in this context involves three main activities:  

1. Direct humanitarian support to feminist/queer communities in Ukraine,  
2. Re-granting to Polish organizations and communities directly supporting people fleeing from Ukraine (on both Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian nationality),  
3. Providing shelter to refugees in Warsaw via FemFund spaces. 

Photos courtesy of FemFund.