A Silent Crisis: How Funding Shortfalls Undermine Gender Equity
As I scroll through news feeds and social media posts and engage in conversations within the feminist sector, I am encouraged by the passion we have in our collective fight for gender equity. There is much to celebrate—countless efforts have moved the needle toward a more just and equitable world. Yet, despite these successes, a pressing concern remains: we are facing a serious funding crisis. The ongoing lack of funding for feminist organizations is causing instability, discouraging work environments, and severely limiting our ability to make sustainable progress in this crucial sector. According to a report by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), despite new funding commitments made on global stages, women’s rights organizations (WROs) receive only 0.13% of the total Official Development Assistance (ODA) and 0.4% of all gender-related aid.
The impact is palpable. I have witnessed prominent and respected organizations publicly confront the harsh realities of layoffs, a process that not only disrupts their vital work but also devastates the lives of individuals who have committed themselves to advancing gender equity. It’s a frightening space to be in when many of us are uncertain about where our organizations will stand in the next year or two. The anticipated shifts in government priorities, paired with reduced corporate and individual donations due to inflation and recession, have left us as a collective sector clinging to every grant application and fundraising campaign as a lifeline for our survival.
Pictured above: Fora's 2023 Rise on Boards Cohort — a strong example of our program participants who are directly impacted by our ability to keep our work funded.
All of this threatens Systemic Change
At the same time, this funding crisis goes beyond just the survival of individual organizations. It strikes at the core of the feminist movement, undermining our ability to collectively push for systemic change. Feminist organizations are the backbone of the gender equity movement, and without adequate funding, we risk losing the very structures that have been painstakingly built over decades to create the systemic change required. This shortfall has led to precarious employment — impacting not just organizations, but individuals, especially young people and those from marginalized communities. According to TD Wealth’s Women and Philanthropy Report (2023), of the 3.5 million people employed in the sector, around 2.7 million are women. Many of these individuals are hired on a contract-to-contract basis, with little opportunity to plan for their future, as contracts typically span only 1-2 years.
When asked about the most challenging aspect of being a CEO, I often say it’s the heart-wrenching conversations with talented, dedicated team members, where I must tell them I’m not sure we can keep them employed. Even worse is when the funds run out, because informing someone that their job is ending is no less painful, no matter how common this experience has become. While this is not a new phenomenon, it doesn’t make these conversations any easier — and begs the question of why this is the industry norm.
“This uncertainty wears on our teams, diminishing morale and making it harder to attract and retain the skilled individuals we desperately need. We face an additional challenge as a result: losing our most talented and committed individuals to other sectors due to low salaries, limited benefits, lack of pensions, and the uncertainty of precarious employment. ”
Pictured from left to right, Maxime Matthew, Previously Fora's Senior Officer, Global Programs [2021-2023], and Cari Siebrits, previously Fora's Communications Manager [2022-2024].
The emotional toll on leaders and staff alike cannot be overstated. Beyond the professional impact, there’s a personal weight carried by those working in these spaces, knowing their future is uncertain despite their dedication to advancing gender equity. This uncertainty wears on our teams, diminishing morale and making it harder to attract and retain the skilled individuals we desperately need. We face an additional challenge as a result: losing our most talented and committed individuals to other sectors due to low salaries, limited benefits, lack of pensions, and the uncertainty of precarious employment. One respondent of Fora’s Young Feminist Economy Report shares, “I really want to work with a lot of orgs and NGOs — but because of inflation — not a lot of people are able to pay me for my expertise or for whatever I can bring to the table”. This constant turnover forces us to start over repeatedly, refocusing our efforts to align with the goals of new, restricted grants that dictate our priorities for the next 1-3 years, making it increasingly difficult to tackle our most urgent issues.
This constant realignment not only impacts our ability to focus but also limits the long-term vision needed to achieve transformative change. How can we build sustainable solutions when short-term funding cycles dictate our priorities and prevent us from fully addressing the deep-rooted inequalities we’re fighting against? How can we truly address the most pressing issues when we are constantly readjusting our staffing and goals to fit our funders’ priorities?
Fora’s Challenges:
I’ve grappled with how much vulnerability to show in sharing Fora’s circumstances, knowing that our story is far from unique. Many nonprofits are facing the same reality. However, these challenges are all too familiar to us at Fora. We take pride in being a small but scrappy team, making a significant impact on the lives of young women and gender-marginalized youth globally, often on an annual budget of less than $1 million. For some, this might seem like a decent amount, but when you consider the breadth and depth of our programs—such as Rise on Boards and Global Summit, which aim to change systemic leadership inequalities and provide consciously curated programming for young people—this is a tight budget. The constant need to secure funding continues to cast a shadow over our efforts—with each grant feeling like a lifeline, yet never erasing the uncertainty we face as an organization while we navigate from one major grant to the next.
It’s clear that while passion drives much of our work, passion alone cannot sustain an organization. We need stable, reliable funding to continue our mission and support the change we believe we can make happen.
So how do we fix this?
As a sector, we must come together to address this funding crisis that threatens the future of so many of our organizations. How can we better work together to push for more sustainable funding? How do we better resource our work by galvanizing our current collective resources? What operational synergies can we explore to collaborate on potential cost-saving measures? These are the questions I want all of us to answer together.
For government bodies and foundations, we must collaborate to ensure funding reaches where it’s needed most. We live and breathe this work and have a deep understanding of the most pressing needs — but we cannot take on the responsibility of solving some of the world’s most critical issues without your financial support.
For supporters of this work, whether you are an individual or a corporation, I urge you to donate when you can. Whether it is a donation of $10 or $1000, these contributions are vital to our success and sustenance. While grant-based funding keeps us floating, it is often tied to specific program requirements and deliverables — making unrestricted support incredibly valuable. These contributions are critical, whether one-time gifts or small monthly commitments. In addition to sustaining our work, they serve as an understanding that we are best positioned to know our participants and communities and allow us the ability to directly support and respond to their needs.
Finally, for those who cannot contribute financially at this time, I urge you to consider other ways your support can strengthen sustainability in this sector — whether it’s amplifying these conversations, sending funding opportunities, or connecting organizations with the right people.
This call to action is not just about survival. It’s about ensuring that the feminist organizations stay funded, so they can continue to thrive, adapt, and create lasting change, particularly for those historically left behind. While this conversation is a continued one (and long from over), I leave with a longstanding proverb that I believe reflects our goals for gender equity: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.’ The only way we solve this is if we work together to find sustainable solutions so we can create a world where gender-marginalized folks, especially those who lead this work, have fair and equitable opportunities to realize their full potential.