2016 at a glance

We gave

147
grants

to
136
women’s, girls’ and trans
groups & women’s funds

in
65

countries
worldwide


a total of
5296784

We proudly hosted the Red Umbrella Fund, the first global fund guided by and for sex workers. The Red Umbrella Fund celebrated incredible growth, significantly expanding its income, grantmaking and efforts to persuade other donors to fund sex workers to advocate for their rights.

Association des Mamans Célibataires pour la paix et le développement, Burundi
Bishkek Feminist Initiatives, Kyrgyzstan
Malawi Human Rights for Women and Girls with Disabilities

Grantmaking and Accompaniment

Feminist social change takes time and commitment. Mama Cash’s grants are flexible and long-term so groups can plan ahead, respond to new challenges and opportunities, set their own agendas and use their resources as they see fit. Mama Cash accompanies grantee-partners as they strengthen their skills, knowledge and networks to build the just and free societies they envision. Thanks to partnerships with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we stepped up support to groups fighting for environmental justice and for activists who are confronting severe injustice in their communities, including women and girls with disabilities, lesbian and bisexual women, and those targeted by racism. With a special grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, we increased funding for women garment workers.

Grants per portfolio

29
Body
37
Money
27
Voice
20
Women's Funds
6
Opportunity Grants
3
Accompaniment Grants
25
Red Umbrella Fund

Amounts per portfolio

19%
1004643
Body
23%
1225000
Money
16%
861868
Voice
22%
1147000
Women's Funds
3%
133273
Opportunity Grants
4%
200000
Accompaniment Grants
14%
725000
Red Umbrella Fund

Our grantmaking is inspired by the conviction that groups of women, girls and trans people, working together and with the right support, can bring about profound social change. In 2016, our grantmaking increased by 46%.

Women’s Funds

Women’s funds around the world are building and sustaining the resource base for women’s, girls’ and trans rights activism. Mama Cash provided funds and accompaniment support to 15 national, regional and thematic women’s funds. In collaboration with Prospera (the International Network of Women’s Funds), we supported the African Women’s Development Fund, Fondo de Mujeres del Sur, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum and the South Asian Women’s Fund in their successful bid to manage the Dutch government’s new Leading from the South Fund.

Inception meeting of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action
International Women's Space, Germany
AWID Forum in Brazil

Influencing the
Donor Community

Mama Cash uses our knowledge, experience, visibility and credibility within the donor community to leverage more and better funding for women’s, girls’ and trans people’s rights groups. Joint lobbying with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development and the Dutch gender coalition WO=MEN resulted in the decision by the Dutch government to create the €40 million Leading from the South Fund and allocate another €5 million to its embassies to support small women’s rights organisations. The Leading from the South Fund focuses on activism that is devised, implemented and led by women’s rights organisations in the Global South – exactly what we mean by better funding.

Our donors contributed generously to Mama Cash, helping build a global movement to advance the rights of women, girls and trans people. Our overall income increased by more than a third.

2016 Financials

Our Income

9%
1211227
Individuals
18%
2540867
Private foundations
6%
900000
Third parties (Dutch Postcode Lottery)
34%
4723224
Governments
2%
252125
Other income
31%
4316361
Income for alliance partners
a total income of
13943804

Our Expenditures

56%
7429651
Expenditures related to objectives
10%
1297874
Income acquisition costs
2%
279644
Management and administration
32%
4316361
Expenditure for alliance partners
total expenditures of
13323530

Thank you for supporting Mama Cash and feminist activism around the world!

All figures in this document are based on preliminary financial reports and have not been audited. Find out more about Mama Cash’s work in 2016 and read our audited financial statement in April at www.mamacash.org/annualreport.