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New Case Studies Published: Reflecting on a Learning Journey with Fenomenal Funds

KIT Institute, as the Learning Partner for Fenomenal Funds, is launching ten new case studies today that provide critical insights into the power of core, flexible, and pooled funding in strengthening feminist movements. Developed in collaboration with six women’s funds and four collaboration groups, these case studies explore how participatory grant-making fosters resilience, partnerships, and strategic impact. 

Fenomenal Funds is a feminist funding collaborative that challenges traditional philanthropy by centring shared governance and equal decision-making. Since June 2023, a team of KIT Institute advisors: Anne Karam, Ana Victoria Portocarrero Lacayo, Camilo Antillón and Rebecca Rosario Hallin, have been accompanying Fenomenal Funds and its stakeholders on a joint-learning journey. As part of this, KIT Institute designed by a process of co-creation a Learning Plan, which is rooted in feminist principles of participation, care, and inclusivity and has been implementing this over the course of 2024.  

These newly launched case studies mark an important milestone in this collaboration, offering evidence, storytelling, illustrations and deep dives from the experiences of women’s funds within the Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds (INWF). They are available in English, French and Spanish to reflect the diversity of the stakeholders. The insights will contribute to a final report, to be published in May 2025, which will further explore the impact of this feminist funding model. 

The case studies will be officially launched on Tuesday, 18 March, at the ‘Proven Pathways: Collaborative Funding that Shows Impact side’-event to CSW in New York. KIT Institute will join representatives of women’s funds who have participated in the case studies and explore insights on the significance of this joint-learning process and the Fenomenal Funds model.

Explore the case studies here and learn how feminist funding is driving systemic change.

Case Studies Fenomenal Funds

  • Strengthening Feminist Futures

    • Institute
    • Publication

    Feminist movements around the world comprise diverse actors and stakeholders, ranging from global organizations to local grassroots groups. Within this vibrant ecosystem, women’s funds play a crucial role as feminist philanthropic organizations. Different from women’s organizations, the primary purpose of women’s funds is to mobilize resources rather than providing direct services and programmes. Women’s funds […]

  • Building resilience in a shifting political climate

    • Institute
    • Publication

    This case study tells the story of how the Fenomenal Funds Resilience Grant supported the work of the Taso Foundation in Georgia. A membership-based national women’s fund that contributes to the feminist and social justicemovement in the country, it is focused on grantmaking, educational, and capacity building programmes. This case study tells the story of […]

  • From surviving to thriving: the transformative impact of flexible funding

    • Institute
    • Publication

    This case study highlights the transformative outcomes of the Fenomenal Funds Resilience Grant on Women’s Fund X, a small women’s fund operating under anonymity due to restrictive funding environments. The fund faced significant challenges prior to receiving the grant—including financial instability, constrained growth, and a lack of confidence among the team in its long-term sustainability. […]

  • Bridging the feminist funding gap in a region with multiple crises

    • Institute
    • Publication

    This case study tells the story of the Doria Feminist Fund, an emerging Beirut-based fund in the SWANA region. Established in 2021, the fund’s inception and resilience were enabled by the Fenomenal Funds’ Resilience Grant.

  • Building narrative power for gender justice in Latin America

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    • Publication

    This is a case study of the collaboration group Alliance of Women’s and Feminist Funds of Latin America and the Caribbean (‘Alianza’), whose members—unlike in many other collaboration groups—had been working together for more than 17 years before partnering with Fenomenal Funds. The group’s collective initiatives, led by eight funds, all of whom are members […]

  • Funding that prioritizes institutional resilience is critical

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    The backlash against gender justice initiatives in recent years has further highlighted the importance of feminist funding and resource mobilization. Mama Cash has both led and participated in efforts to support the global ecosystem of women’s funds and enhance the feminist funding architecture, partnering with likeminded organizations to influence philanthropy and encouraging government donors to […]

  • Increasing visibility and impact in the face of insecurity

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    • Publication

    This case study tells the story of the women’s fund Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises (FFC), a national feminist fund working across the Democratic Republic of Congo, with offices in Goma, Kalemie, and Kinshasa. A myriad of challenges hamper the fund’s field work and presence, including national and regional contexts of insecurity and violence, an […]

  • Transformational institutional strengthening through collaborative learnings on financial resilience

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    This case study shares the story and effects of funding collaboration on the financial resilience of two women’s funds: Women’s Fund Tanzaniaand Women’s Fund Z (WFZ), who joined to form the Feminist Financial Resilience group. The two funds collaborated with the aim of enhancing their financial resilience through a holistic approach, which they define as […]

  • Investing in operational improvements and knowledge management: a feminist strategy

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    This case study highlights the transformative journey of nine women’s funds who, through Collaborative Grants, significantly strengthened theirindividual and collective resilience. Together, they have invested in systems, processes, and knowledge management to establish effective feminist operational systems for grantmaking, while simultaneously unlocking the power of shared learning and mutual support. The work of this collaboration […]

  • Healing as a means of resistance

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    • Publication

    What does feminist healing have to do with political turbulence and war? Or with providing financial sustainability to the feminist movement and the fightfor gender justice? These are some of the questions that the Feminist Healing Spaces collaboration group—comprising FemFund Poland, Women’s Fund Armenia, and Women’s Fund in Georgia—set out to examine with the support […]

  • Growing, adapting, and resisting in times of COVID-19 and political uncertainty

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    • Publication

    This case study uses the example of Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (FMS) to explore how grants designed to support resilience can strengthen thecapacity of women’s funds in adapting to challenging contexts and building sustainable impacts. Based in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with 17 years’ experience and a regional reach across LatinAmerica, FMS has experienced […]

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