Deadline:
As soon as possible
Location(s)
Worldwide
Overview
Mama Cash was conceived around a kitchen table in Amsterdam in 1983. Since then, we have grown from a group of five feminist activists into an international fund that supports women’s, girls’ and trans people’s movements around the world. Mama Cash believes in your collective power and ability to change the world. We want to support the revolutions you are creating. Apply for a grant!
Details
During this application window for new grantee-partners, we will focus on increasing support to organisations and initiatives that are fighting environmental injustices and are implementing alternative, environmentally-just, solutions. We plan to make new grants to self-led feminist groups and initiatives who are working on environmental justice.
Since our founding, Mama Cash has granted nearly sixty million euros to more than 6000 feminist and women’s rights organisations and initiatives led by and for women, girls, trans and intersex people in nearly every country in the world.
In that time, the work of women’s rights movements has led to revolutionary changes in public attitudes, law, governance, and in the private sector and civil society. Women’s movements have changed our understanding of violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and what counts as work. There is still much work to be done on these issues, and on addressing injustices of environmental degradation and climate change - arguably the most pressing issue of our time.
Women, girls, trans and intersex people experience not only the effects of environmental damage and climate change, they also encounter violations of their right to water, food, and a clean, healthy, and safe environment. Additionally, their rights to manage and preserve their communal land, wildlife and natural resources are constantly under attack. And when they resist, they experience gender-based violence such as sexual violence, harassment, intimidation and murder.
Despite the urgency of the situation, activists and groups who work on environmental justice are severely underfunded. In recent years, Mama Cash has supported a growing number of groups fighting the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on women, girls, transgender people and intersex people. This year, we are excited to boost our grantmaking in this area. We are looking forward to receiving applications from groups working on environmental justice during this grant application window.
We support those groups who resist the abuse of power by companies and government and their practices of over-exploitation. These groups fight for drinking water, for land to grow crops, and for other natural resources. They expose the impact caused by climate change, extraction, logging, mega plantations and mining.
We also support activist groups who introduce alternatives for the dominant model of economic growth: new ways of climate adaptation, or the revaluation of small-scale agricultureand food production, an equitable and sustainable approach to planet Earth.
Are you interested in applying for a grant?
Mama Cash is a fund with limited resources. Every year, more groups apply than we can fund. Last year, of the 1300 groups that applied for a grant, we were able to fund 15. We advise groups wishing to submit an LOI to consider our criteria and the frequently asked questions for more information.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Mama Cash supports groups and initiatives that:
- Work from a feminist and/or women's rights perspective
- Are self-led by the women, girls, trans people and/or intersex they serve
- Have the promotion of women’s, girls’, trans people's and/or intersex people’s human rights as their primary mission, and not just as the focus of part of their programmes;
- Push for structural and fundamental change
- Focus on issues that are under-addressed and/or contested
Mama Cash’s priorities and focus
Mama Cash has the flexibility to fund anywhere in the world. Even though contexts are significantly different, we found that concerns of some specific groups of women, girls, trans people and intersex people tend to be under-addressed and/or contested in most societies (and social movements). So these groups are often found among our grantees.
Mama Cash prioritises groups or initiatives that have an annual budget below 200.000 euros. Mama Cash does not prioritise providing financial support to larger groups. As a result, among our grantee-partners in the thematic portfolios you will find only very few groups that have annual budgets over 200.000 euros.
Dates
Deadline: As soon as possible
Cost/funding for participants
General information
- Through our Resilience Fund, Mama Cash offers core support grants, which can also include support for specific programmes, projects, or initiatives.
- Mama Cash gives both single-year and multi-year grants. Each multi-year grant period can run up to three years.
- Do note that for an organisation or initiative we have not supported before, Mama Cash starts with a single-year grant.
- Mama Cash’s grant size typically range from €5.000 to €50.000 per year. Our average grant size is between €20.000 and €30.000 per year.
- Mama Cash is open to supporting informal, unregistered groups of activists, or networks, or coalitions of organisations.
Accompaniment
In addition to funding, Mama Cash provides accompaniment to grantee-partners. In our accompaniment programme, Mama Cash works with grantee-partners to:
- Reflect on their areas of strength and weakness
- Strategise how to increase their influence, power, and the scale of their work
- Make decisions about what Mama Cash and grantee-partner can do to make this happen
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
