Authoritarianism is on the rise globally and targeting the rights and safety of women, LGBTQIA+ people, racialised communities and other structurally marginalised groups. Social justice movements led by these groups are our most powerful defence. From pressuring governments for accountability to toppling dictatorships, history has countless examples of movements holding the line for democracy. Queer and feminist movements are often at the forefront of opposing authoritarianism and play a pivotal role in advancing democratic values and institutions. In the face of violent backlash, they courageously act to inform and mobilise their communities and the public, shift political outcomes, and hold powerful institutions – state and corporate alike – accountable. They contribute to advancing women’s political participation, anti-violence policies, reproductive rights, and access to inheritance and land rights. They successfully pressure political parties to initiate or renew peace negotiations in situations of conflict, and they are at the forefront of resisting environmental degradation and defending the rights of indigenous communities. Their intersectional, transnational, decolonial approach – linking gender justice with broader political, social, economic, and environmental concerns – makes them indispensable allies in the global struggle for democracy and human rights.
However, the scale and strength of social and political change are directly tied to how well these movements are resourced. Anti-rights funders recognise this and therefore invest vast, unrestricted financial resources into organisations and transnational movements that advance anti-gender, anti-environment, anti-poor, racist and xenophobic agendas. Progressive funders do not yet resource grassroots movements at the same scale as the opposition nor in ways that centre movements’ priorities and support their sustainability. Only 0.42% of foundation grants went to women’s rights in 2017, 0.39% to LGBTI issues over 2021-2022, and 2% to climate change mitigation and far less to climate justice in 2019. The fight to protect democracy demands deep investment and commitments towards the movements driving change; that means feminist, LGBTQIA+, and other intersectional movements fighting for human rights and justice across every front – social, racial, gender, economic, climate, and beyond. These movements are creative, resilient, and visionary, and they need abundant financial resourcing to succeed in protecting democracy. This is not charity. It is strategy. And it is how we win.
Funding is a political act
Funding is an unequivocally political act. It demands a disciplined commitment to resourcing grassroots movements so they can leverage their collective power, especially those led by and working with communities marginalised on the grounds of gender, race, (dis)ability, sexuality, and ethnicity, amongst others. CMI! consortium members do so by providing long-term flexible resources that support the core work of groups and activists, as well as rapid response funding that helps them avail of opportunities or tide over emergencies. We reimagine funding systems to shift the balance of power towards grassroots organisations. For example, in addition to practicing various kinds of participatory grant-making, our resourcing ethos includes funding for strategic planning, collective care and even donor influencing, therefore centring agency and self-actualisation within movements. In doing so, we build localised, autonomous funding networks that break away from capitalist and neoliberal donor-grantee relationships, towards structural change.
These principles are exemplified through the work of CMI! partner Red Umbrella Fund (RUF), a sex worker-led fund established in 2012 in response to the lack of funding available for sex workers organising against diminishing legal rights and retaliation faced under regressive political regimes. In ten years, RUF made 279 unrestricted grants to 180 sex worker-led organisations in 68 countries. At the foundation of this work are RUF’s trust in the agenda-setting and strategies of the movements, vision to strengthen and build them, and transparency and accountability towards them. Over 70% of RUF’s annual budget is distributed in core flexible grants, with many of the grantees being new and unregistered groups that are often unable to secure grants from larger donors. The expansion in long-term flexible funding for sex worker activists and alliances has led to material changes in violence reduction and stronger legal frameworks.
Fund movements with courage
Selma is a human rights defender who was threatened at gunpoint and detained by the military in her country for protesting arbitrary detentions. “We were told to stop everything, all of the activism we do,” she shared, “otherwise we would be taken away and nobody would know where we were.” Undeterred, she returned to her activism just a week later. Hana was assaulted for protecting a child from arrest during a non-violent protest and is still facing the profound trauma it caused her own child who witnessed the incident. Vera continues her environmental activism despite private security officers and police attacking her community’s peaceful demonstrations, showing steadfast determination in the face of severe violence. Supported by rapid response security grants from CMI!, Selma, Hana, and Vera are only three of the countless activists around the world who continue to organise for justice, even as the risks intensify. [The names of the activists and other identifying features have been changed for security reasons.]
Progressive funders need to match this courage by accelerating their efforts, taking bolder action, and providing more abundant and flexible funding that enables activists to respond and adapt to ever-evolving crises. Relationships with grantee partners must go beyond transactional models that prioritise funder perspectives and requirements. Instead, they must centre solidarity and mutual trust, amplifying and following the priorities of feminist and queer movements. In this global moment of polycrisis, donors must go beyond short-term and project-based funding. They must meaningfully recognise and invest in the leadership of movements on the frontlines, ensuring their holistic safety and collective care, and providing sustainable resources that allow them to continue their vital work.
Every day, activists are the ones facing immense risks – from threats to their safety, to the emotional and physical toll of organising in environments where repression is rampant. Philanthropy has a responsibility to share some of the burden of that risk by contributing the resources and support that movements need and deserve and using its position to amplify their voices. This is not a time to abandon movements with inaction and withdrawal. It is critical for funders to take a political stance, acting with boldness and solidarity – because if they fail to mobilise to support feminist movements, it is not just the future of those movements that is at stake, but everyone’s ability to enjoy democracy, rights, peace, and a habitable planet.
