Panel Recording: Funding Women-Led, Women-Focused Organisations

Panel Conversation: Funding Women-Led, Women-Focused Organisations

On Tuesday, 24 October 2023 Giving Women hosted a panel discussion on how should we be funding women-led, women-focused organisations. A stellar panel of representatives from funding foundations and an INGO discussed with our star panelist Amisa Rashid, in Kenya,  the founder of Nivishe Foundation, a Giving Women Project. The discussion was dynamic and very enlightening. Thanks to brilliant moderation and the honesty and deep reflection of all the panelists, we dug deeply into how grassroots organisations run by and for women would like to work with grantors and receive their funding. A relationship of trust was essential element of successful partnership.

Some of the key take-aways were:

• As donors and supporters, we need to listen more and prescribe less
• It is important to understand the cultural contexts of the clients and ensure that our support is respecting it
• Money is not the only support needed, helping to better structure the  organisations and to develop clear parameters with in which to act are also essential
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning needs to be revisited – Accountability is very important to understand and recognise when things need to be adjusted. Regular conversations are key. Ticking the MEL box is not enough
• Multi-year unrestricted funding should be a given

The conversation was rich, granular, fun and inspiring. Please watch the recording, you will learn so much.

An enormous thank you to our favorite moderator Katharina Samara Wickrama from Oak Foundation, and the thoughtful panelists, Amisa Rashid, founder and director of Nivishe Foundation, Muriel Guigue from the Cartier Philanthropy and Danny Sriskandarajah from Oxfam UK