Issues Affecting Women Grant Programme

Issues Affecting Women Grant Programme

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Oak Foundation USA
Amount: More than US $25,000
Last Updated: November 05, 2025

Summary

The Issues Affecting Women Grant Programme aims to empower women and girls by supporting movements led by women that address violence and discrimination. By providing long-term support and connecting organizations, this program fosters solidarity and collaboration for systemic change. It envisions a world where women can thrive safely and freely, with equitable access to resources and opportunities. The program prioritizes rights-based approaches, ensuring that women's voices are at the forefront of advocacy and action.

Overview

NOTE: Despite the high number of requests, we only approve a few submissions through our online letter of enquiry process each year.Overview All women and girls should be safe, free, and have an equal chance to thrive. Yet every day, because of unequal power relations, women experience violence and discrimination and are denied the freedom to decide how they will live. This undermines their health, safety, dignity, and independence. We find inspiration and hope in strong and vibrant movements, built and led by women, which are transforming lives and communities across the world. Their shared purpose and collective power are sparking progressive attitudes and advancing a more just world – in ways that protect human rights and the future of our planet. Supporting these movements to live, breathe, strengthen, and grow – by enabling women’s agency, leadership, and capacity – is at the heart of what we do. We: Support women-led rights-based services that address violence against women.Provide primarily long-term support as an act of solidarity, helping movements to achieve the lasting change needed for us all to thrive.Connect organisations and movements, and resource them to learn from each other and work together, to develop knowledge and skills, and to plan, organise, and mobilise. We also engage with other donors and philanthropic actors to leverage more and better funding to advance women's rights around the world. Our Strategy We recognise that unequal power relations are created and encouraged by legal, political, economic, and cultural systems, but we also believe in their capacity to change. The Issues Affecting Women Programme supports women’s efforts to create this change – to build, lead, and grow strong, vibrant, and influential movements in order to achieve equity and justice. We envision a world where women have the capacity, resources, and opportunity to be safe and free, and to enjoy their human rights. Our Funding Principles We support women’s organisations and groups that: adopt a rights-based approach to services and advocacy; empower women to fully and equally participate in society;adopt a holistic approach, taking into consideration various contexts and cultures, and addressing root causes;promote systemic change by strengthening legal frameworks and holding governments and institutions to account;contribute to the broader women’s movement by complementing individual and community action with networking and joint advocacy initiatives;build evidence that contributes to best practices and catalyses innovation; andwork to change behaviour and attitudes to prevent violence.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. We provide funding to programmes in the Balkans, Brazil, Central America, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also support organisations in Moldova, Bulgaria, the North Caucasus, and India. Our movement-building grant-making has a broader geographic focus.Our movement-building grant-making has a broader geographic focus.

Ineligibility

We generally fund no more than 50 per cent of the costs of any project or 20 per cent of organisational/programme budget.We do not provide support to individuals, and do not provide funding for scholarships or tuition assistance for undergraduate or postgraduate studies.We also do not fund religious organisations for religious purposes or election campaigns.Except in special circumstances or in Zimbabwe, we generally do not provide programme grants under USD 25,000.