Over the past ten years, funding support for women's rights organisations has declined among almost all funding sectors. Bilateral and multilateral agencies channel resources to national governments rather than to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Some foundations are giving fewer, but bigger grants. Funding is directed to country-based work rather than to regional or international initiatives. As a result, many women's organisations are struggling to survive. However, support from corporate foundations, family foundations and individual donors is on the rise. This report is the result of an ongoing action research initiative launched by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). It aims to explore trends in the funding landscape to propose possible strategies for women's organisations to get the resources they need to advance in their work. Recommendations include that women's groups in donor countries should lobby their governments for increased support for the women's rights agenda, and women's organisations themselves should build more on their fundraising skills. Women's groups should think 'big and bold' in terms of their fundraising attitude and devise ways in which to measure and document the impact of their work and the social change they are aiming for.

Over the past ten years, funding support for women's rights organisations has declined among almost all funding sectors. Bilateral and multilateral agencies channel resources to national governments rather than to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Some foundations are giving fewer, but bigger grants. Funding is directed to country-based work rather than to regional or international initiatives. As a result, many women's organisations are struggling to survive. However, support from corporate foundations, family foundations and individual donors is on the rise. This report is the result of an ongoing action research initiative launched by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). It aims to explore trends in the funding landscape to propose possible strategies for women's organisations to get the resources they need to advance in their work. Recommendations include that women's groups in donor countries should lobby their governments for increased support for the women's rights agenda, and women's organisations themselves should build more on their fundraising skills. Women's groups should think 'big and bold' in terms of their fundraising attitude and devise ways in which to measure and document the impact of their work and the social change they are aiming for.