Money and power: How feminist funding can change the game

Women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and human rights are under threat worldwide. In a world where conservative forces are – often successfully – countering the progress that feminists have made, with less and less funding and means, it is important to shed light on those working at the forefront of feminist movements, striving for an equal and just world for all. In this interview, Lilith Magazine talks to feminist and former diplomat To Tjoelker and Mama Cash co-executive director Saranel Benjamin about why feminist funding is so important. Finally, they speak to each other for the first time and discuss better and more feminist ways of funding.

Women and LGBTQI+ persons have long been left out of the conversation on topics that can directly affect or influence their lives. When it comes to decisions about foreign policy, these issues – i.e. security, peace and climate change – are often addressed in spaces only a few have access to. When you add the colonial power dynamics between the Global North and the Global South into the mix, you get a cocktail where those who often know what is needed best, don't have a say. 

Lilith Magazine invited Saranel Benjamin and To Tjoelker to discuss why feminist funding is so important, how governments should take radical steps to address inequalities through reliable and flexible funding, and putting the views and expertise of those who are affected by foreign-policy decisions, at the center of it all. 

To Tjoelker by Ruby Cruden

• To Tjoelker

  To Tjoelker is a feminist and a retired civil servant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. Social justice has been the foundation of her 40-year career as a development sociologist and diplomat. She was responsible for the design and implementation of the civil society strategic framework at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including funding mechanisms like Voice for Diversity and Inclusion and Leading from the South, aimed at strengthening social movements and women’s rights organizations.

  Tjoelker grew up in Sudan and Tunisia. She moved to the Netherlands when she was 17 years old. She has always had a strong feeling for social justice and equality, and she became involved in the feminist movement when she was confronted with patriarchal structures. In 2024 Tjoelker joined Both Ends, a movement connecting people for change, as a member of their Supervisory Board.

• Saranel Benjamin

  Saranel Benjamin is the co-executive director of Mama Cash, an international women’s fund dedicated exclusively to advancing women’s, girls’ and trans and intersex people’s human rights globally. Benjamin was born and raised in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Living under this colonial and racist system gave rise to her anti-racist and feminist activism. In South Africa, Benjamin worked with the trade union movement, particularly with women, and with new social movements that emerged in post-apartheid South Africa, focusing on women leaders.

  Later, Benjamin moved to the UK and worked with various NGOs and INGOs, striving to get closer to the source of power regarding decisions about how money moves. Her last role before Mama Cash was with Oxfam GB, where her mandate was to introduce racial justice and decolonization into all areas of work, including its feminist principles, fundraising and financial distribution. Benjamin joined Mama Cash in 2023 to work more directly with women and girls.

Saranel Benjamin by Niamh Walsh-Vorster

You both have worked in organizations that provide funding to feminist groups. Why is it important to focus on who receives funding and under what conditions?

Benjamin: “When I was working in South Africa in civil society spaces and being a recipient of funding, I just remember feeling like a circus animal jumping through hoops to please donors on compliance issues. Someone sitting in the Netherlands, Germany, or the UK was deciding how, when, and why you got the money, and how you could spend it – holding so much power. As a grantee partner in the Global South, you had no agency or power to make decisions about how to use the money, even though you were living day-to-day with the multiple, interlaced systems of oppression that largely stemmed from colonial powers. International aid and development almost enforce these colonial mentalities and structures. I chose to work in the UK development space because I wanted to change how funds were dispersed to organizations in the Global South.”

Tjoelker: “What I do recognize is the power relationship between the grantee and the one who’s providing the money. Some of the funding mechanisms are really based on mistrust instead of trust. If you are funding something, it is because you believe in the organization you’re funding. I’ve been in this funding field for a long time. And I think it’s important to clarify what is possible and what is not without playing a power game, and to recognize the power you have as a funder.”

How do you break this neocolonial way of thinking in the Global North when providing funding?

Benjamin: “The way Mama Cash approaches it is in how we make grants. We recognize that we hold a certain amount of power and privilege as a northern-based organization with direct access to policy decision-makers. 

Mama Cash, even though it comes from the feminist movement, is still a bit removed from the day-to-day lived struggles. We recognize that feminist activists from the communities we work with are best placed to make decisions about who and what to fund, because they are living the struggles and experiences daily. This is why all five of our funds are fully participatory. These include the Resilience Fund, which is our largest and provides long-term flexible core funding for up to ten years. Long-term core funding already disrupts the colonial model of short-term project funding. We also fund individuals through the Radical Love Fund, supporting feminist activists directly. This breaks the norm of only funding registered organizations that can provide certain audited statements. The Radical Love Fund allows feminist activists to continue to do their work or even take a rest if needed.”

“Mama Cash funds and advocates for the whole feminist funding infrastructure, because we believe that we are as strong as the ecosystem that we are part of. I think this is also a disruption of colonial modalities right now, because funding is becoming even more scarce for gender justice or gender equality. It’s getting scrappier and scrappier as people are trying to compete in a space that is becoming scarce by design.”

What is the importance of long-term funding? 

Tjoelker: “For specific activities, short-term funding can suffice if it complements core or long-term funding. For an organization fighting for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or environmental issues, core funding is the most crucial. An organization needs funding for its entire strategic plan based on its own vision and values. This includes core activities, lobbying, or costs that aren’t directly attributed to one activity – and for a long period.” 

“For example, my last assignment as ambassador was in Benin, where I was stationed for four years. In 2023 the country passed a law on sexual and reproductive health and rights, making abortion legal. The journey to this law took over ten years of work and advocacy by civil society organizations, health organizations, and women’s groups. How much more effective could they have been if they’d received long-term funding instead of losing time negotiating short-term funding?”

Benjamin: “Over the last two decades, Mama Cash shifted its funding from short-term project grants to long-term, core and flexible grantmaking. We did so because we recognized that established funding practices in the international development (aid) sector did not align with our feminist principles.”

“We know that the development model centers the power and interests of the Northern donor, and it is built on mistrust, risk aversion, urgency and control. This shift to long-term,  flexible and core funding aligned with our feminist principles of trusting that grantee partners know what they need, are able to name what they need and are capable of generating their own solutions to fit their context. This shift comes from the belief that grantee partners carry most of the risk in actually doing the work and putting their bodies on the line to fight for gender justice, and Mama Cash has the opportunity and not the risk of supporting these struggles. It also comes from the understanding that we got from listening to grantee partners, that change and impact take time to see and feel, that it is not linear and doesn’t fit neatly into a project plan. And so we adjusted our grantmaking to meet grantee partners where they were at.”

How is this way of working being perceived by donors? Is there any resistance against this?

Benjamin: “I think where you see resistance or reluctance is in not viewing gender justice and/or gender equality as central themes across multiple areas. We are also involved in spaces that focus on climate justice. We, feminist movements and women's rights organizations, are at the forefront of struggles for democracy and human rights. We’re engaged in economic justice too. I think this is where we tend to get pigeonholed. Now the world is erupting with authoritarian far-right governments who feel the need to move their money away from gender equality and the positive social justice change feminists are working towards.”

Tjoelker: “Governmental funding is always political, and it makes finding donors quite risky in certain ways. With the political context changing drastically in the Netherlands, funding will change, or there is a significant risk of it changing. So for organizations, it’s important to diversify. Don’t rely solely on governmental funding because it’s not always dependable due to political shifts. Another issue with governmental funding is that it’s public money, meaning there’s more bureaucracy, more accountability, and because of that, they are not good at funding movements. What helps is finding local resources and funding.

“I also worked a lot at the embassy level. There, you have funding that goes directly to women’s organizations or movements. Reaching out to embassies can be helpful. It also gives your movement more visibility and political pressure to strengthen advocacy at a national level.”

[Editor's note: Movements, as well as smaller feminist organizations without core funding, are less likely to be able to meet the high administrative and reporting requirements of governmental donors.]

Focussing specifically on the Netherlands, there is a far-right government considering cuts to development cooperation. How does this affect the work you do?

Benjamin: “It’s quite disappointing, but also terrifying. I think one of the most immediate side effects we saw with this far-right government coming to power is the return of a very dangerous version of nationalism. It follows a global wave, but specifically at this moment in the Global North this turning inward is serving to punish and exclude anyone perceived as different from the norm of whiteness. So, we are seeing violent pushback and repression of Black and brown people, particularly immigrants, women and girls, the LGBTQI+ community, sex workers, and people with disabilities. We can see it most visibly in how official development assistance is being used, but it’s also reflected in the shift in language and narratives.”

Can you give an example? 

Benjamin: “Within just a few months, we saw a shift happening, particularly with the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Aid, where the minister began making statements with an anti-civil society sentiment. Suddenly, civil society was seen as a threat to the government rather than a partner. This was matched with a cut in the ODA budget for international aid goals which will have a detrimental effect on Dutch civil society in general and specifically the global feminist movement risks losing six hundred million euros over five years [from the Dutch government alone, ed]. That’s a massive hit to the feminist funding infrastructure. You can see this narrative shift happening: money is being moved away from gender equality, civic space is shrinking, and anti-democratic and anti-human rights values are coming to the forefront. It’s creating almost the perfect storm for something very restrictive to take its place, making our work harder.”

• SDG 5

  Currently the Dutch government holds one of the biggest funds for women's rights: SDG 5 fund, 500 million for 2021 to 2025. The Netherlands is now supporting youth and feminist movements through 21 partnerships globally. With the current budget cuts of 2.4 billion announced and a shift in naming the Ministry “Foreign Affairs and Development Aid” there is a big risk that the current infrastructure will significantly collapse.

That means dealing with the ideas of this new cabinet. Several feminist organizations have recently pointed out that this cabinet (minister Klever to be exact) is removing the word ‘gender’ and changing it to ‘women’ in all communication with parliament. This weakening of language, or ‘norm spoiling’, could be a first step where large groups of people, in their diversity, are no longer recognized in decision-making and policy development. How do you navigate this shift?

Benjamin: “We’re seeing that we can’t use words like feminist anymore. We can’t talk about women’s rights. We can’t even talk about using the words trans and intersex. Not being able to use these words erases these groups of people from existence, it runs the risk of feminist and women’s movements/organizations being alienated and funding for these groups is going to disappear.”

Tjoelker: “But at the same time, I think the road to gender equality has always been bumpy. Progress isn’t linear. Yes, there is a backlash from the extreme right, but I also believe there is a lot of resilience in civil society organizations. We should be proud of that. It’s now important to look at how we can strengthen the funding system from within society and not focus solely on governmental funds. The political context is tough, but I am always hopeful about constructing and engaging collectively. Collective engagement is very important.”

Benjamin: “We know that many of the larger Dutch civil society organizations will be able to weather this. My concern is for smaller organizations here and in the Global South. I’m thinking about that small organization in Kolkata creating community spaces for the LGBTQI+ community to care for each other, organize and fight for their rights. The loss of funding for an organization like that could mean they have to shut down.”

“I understand that official development assistance is political. We’re seeing governments reduce funding, and we’ve seen it coming. But official development assistance is absolutely critical. It’s not the silver bullet to fix the inequality created by colonialism and the slave trade, but it is one mechanism we can use to redistribute the wealth accumulated through colonialism and the slave trade. We, civil society organizations in the Global North, must hold our governments accountable for making that happen.”

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This series of interviews about feminism in today’s polarized world and inspiring examples of grassroots activism is made possible by Hivos’ Walking the Talk program