Resources from Funders and Allied Organisations Supporting Sex Workers’ RightsWe have organised the growing community of organisations supporting sex worker rights and provided brief introductions to strengthen the support available to the sex worker rights movement.
We have categorised them (funders, sex worker-led networks, and allied organisation) as well as created tags for key topics that intersect with our work.
The craigslist Charitable Fund (CCF) “provides millions of dollars each year in one-time and recurring grants to hundreds of partner organizations addressing four broad areas of interest.” The organization is known for donating heavily to nonprofit journalism outlets, gun control groups, and environmentalist groups.
The Digital Defenders Partnership offers support to human rights defenders under digital threat, and works to strengthen local rapid response networks. From 2012 to 2019, DDP received its funding from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom; along with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the United States Department of State. DDP operates in a manner that is independent from its donors and is managed by the Humanist Institute for Development Co-operation (Hivos), a non-profit organisation headquartered in the Netherlands that provides funding and implements programmes to innovate for social change worldwide.
“ELAS Social Investment Fund (ELAS+) is the first independent fund that is dedicated to promoting and advancing the rights of girls and women in Brazil. “”ELAS transforms innovative ideas of thousandas of women from different ethnicities, races and sexual orientation into reality. ELAS launches “call of proposals” to select and support innovative projects of women’s groups working for women’s empowerment and rights.
We have built a pioneering methodology based on meritocracy where women’s groups and organizations use pseudonyms when submitting their proposals. We aim at brake a culture of favoritism and to ensure transparency. All groups and organizations selected participate in capacity building and dialogue meetings that promote knowledge and encourage the creation of joint strategies so its impact goes further.”””
Fondo de Acción Urgente (FAU-AL) is “a regional feminist fund for Latin America and the spanish speaking Caribbean, which contributes to the sustainability and strengthening of activists and their movements, with quick and agile support in situations of risk and opportunity. We support the resistances, struggles and demands of the defenders in the transformation of injustice and inequality systems, putting feminist integral protection and care in the center” They are apart of the Urgent Action Fund global consortium and provides rapid response grants.
“Fondo Semillas is a non-profit feminist organization focused on improving women’s and trans* people lives in Mexico. We dream of a country where all women, indigenous, mestiza, black, young, migrant, heterosexual, lesbian, mothers, and students alike, can make their own decisions and have access to health services, education, a decent job, justice, and happiness.
To achieve this, Fondo Semillas:
* Mobilizes resources from institutional, corporate and individual donors, both in México and abroad.
* Works together with groups and organizations, providing them with financial resources, strengthening their capacities, and connecting them with other organizations, networks, and movements.
* Promotes and disseminates themes of the feminist agenda.
* Seeks to help organizations to carry out their work freely and safely, with a feminist perspective, even during emergencies.
* Establishes horizontal relationships with donors in order to achieve redistributive justice.”
Foundation for a Just Society (FJS) “advances the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI people and promotes gender and racial justice by ensuring those most affected by injustice have the resources they need to cultivate the leadership and solutions that transform our world.” Learn more about what they fund on their website.
Global Fund for Women offers “flexible feminist funding and support to fuel collective action and create meaningful change that will last beyond our lifetimes.Over the course of 30+ years, Global Fund for Women has supported feminist movements and grassroots organizers to end civil wars, get female Presidents elected, and secure laws giving new protection to millions. Today, building on historic wins and the latest research, we are doubling down on supporting movements. By shifting towards a movement-led approach, Global Fund for Women will harness and fuel rising people-power globally to increase their impact and accelerate change.” Information about their grantmaking is available on their website.
Hacking//Hustling is a collective of sex workers, survivors, and accomplices working at the intersection of tech and social justice to interrupt violence facilitated by technology.
Hispanics in Philanthropy is strengthening Latinx leadership, influence and equity by leveraging philanthropic resources, and doing so with an unwavering vision on social justice and shared prosperity across the Americas.
Hivos is a humanist organization that strives for a free, fair and sustainable world. Hivos seeks new and creative solutions to persistent global problems; solutions created by people taking their lives into their own hands. Hivos has a global office in the Hague, The Netherlands and provides support to civil society organisations working in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
The Numun Fund is “a feminist technology response during COVID-19. It aims to support feminist groups, organizations and networks led by women, non-binary and trans people who use technology to advance feminist organizing and gender-just outcomes.” Feminist groups, organizations and networks led by women, non-binary and trans people are eligible to apply to Numun Fund.
“The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is an independent non-profit organization committed to advancing global Internet freedom. OTF supports projects focused on counteracting repressive censorship and surveillance, enabling citizens worldwide to exercise their fundamental human rights online. Through the research, development, implementation, and sustainability of technologies that facilitate the free flow of information, increase at-risk users’ digital security, and enable free expression, the OTF community is working to shape the Internet as a platform that fosters unimpeded connection and collaboration – facilitating positive social progress and reinforcing core democratic values.
Open Technology Fund has four different funds including Internet Freedom Fund and Rapid Response Fund.”
“The Peace Development Fund is more than a grantmaker: our model of philanthropy involves direct funding, advocacy where appropriate and partnerships built around mutual respect, sharing of resources, and transparency of planning and decision-making. We endeavor to be a key “go-to” foundation on issues of peace, human rights, social justice and environmental protection. We work to counter-balance dominant power structures by moving resources and sharing decision-making with activist groups and communities.
PDF has five programs including grantmaking, technical assistance, fiscal sponsorship, and rapid response funding. They fund in the United States and Mexico.”
Red de Mujeres Trabajadoras Sexuales de América Latina y El Caribe (REDTRASEX) [The Network of Women Sex Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean] was born in 1997. RedTraSex is made up of organizations of women sex workers and/or former sex workers. The network is made up of organizations from 14 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Mexico). Their communication language is Spanish.
“The Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund is an innovative partnership empowering local women to be a force for crisis response and lasting peace.
We galvanize support from across the globe to support the efforts of women working on the frontlines of the world’s most intractable conflicts. From Jordan to Burundi, the Solomon Islands to Colombia, we aim to amplify the voices of women and support their vital work to prevent conflict, respond to crises, and accelerate peace in their communities.””
They provide funding including urgent or rapid response funding to sex workers’ rights projects and related civil society groups in specific contexts of conflict and crisis worldwide.”
