Feminist Review Trust

Archived Active citizenship Communities Gender equality and sexual orientation Human rights and equality Human rights and justice International issues People with disabilities Policy, advocacy and campaigning Refugees and asylum seekers Victims and survivors World issues Africa Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Asia and Middle East Australia Belfast City Causeway Coast and Glens Derry City and Strabane England Europe and Russia Fermanagh and Omagh Great Britain International Lisburn and Castlereagh Mid and East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne and Down North America Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland South and Central America Wales Micro (up to £1,000) Small (up to £10,000)

Track grant Notes

Overview

How much funding is available?

The maximum value of any individual award is UK £15,000 (or its equivalent). However, the Trustees rarely give out awards of this amount so when you prepare your application please bear in mind that you may only be offered partial funding. It is therefore helpful if you can identify different sub-elements in your application.

What can be funded?

In 2021 they will particularly welcome applications from non-OECD countries that focus on campaigning and activism in the following areas:

Lesbian and transgender rights
Violence against women and girls
Disabled women and girls
Refugee women and girls
Women, girls and environmental activism related to place and locality

The Feminist Review Trust will fund:

Hard to fund projects. Some types of projects are difficult to fund. Typically these projects have no other obvious sources of funding. This might mean, for example, that traditional academic sources are either not interested in the area or that it is an activist project or that it is too feminist for most conventional funding sources. For example the Trust supported the writing and publication of the history of Rape Crisis in Scotland and the translation and updating sections of ‘Women and Their Bodies’ into Arabic and Hebrew.
Pump priming activities. This means that they will provide a small amount of funding to help start an activity in the hope that it will then be able attract sufficient funding to continue. For example they funded a project in Argentina to strengthen the capacity of organisations promoting women’s rights and a project to provide audio visual equipment for a feminist social centre in Madrid. In each case these projects have hopefully helped to create a sustainable activity.
Interventionist projects which support feminist values. It is often difficult for projects around core feminist concerns such as abortion rights and domestic violence to find funding. For example the Trust has supported Asylum Aid (an independent charity workshop with asylum seekers in the UK) to promote its ‘Charter of Rights’ for Women Seeking Asylum. They supported the 40th Anniversary Campaign of Abortion Rights in the UK, a documentary about abortion in Trinidad and Tobago and a feminist art studio in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Training and development projects: they will fund projects which provide training in relevant areas. For example, the Trust has funded English lessons for sex workers in London; leadership skills training for women in the voluntary sector. and volunteer training as Glasgow Women’s Library.
One off events: they supported Cine25 as part of the celebrations of 25 years of Women’s Studies at the University of York (UK); a seminar for the Lileth Project (a violence against women housing related project), and a workshop on the gender dimensions of Bulgarian Immigration Policy.
Dissemination: they will fund the production and distribution of relevant material. Too often wonderful work has had a more limited impact than it should because it was not well of fully distributed The Trust will fund dissemination. For example they have supported the production of a booklet on Asian women’s experiences of higher education in the UK and the distribution of publications by the Rights of Women (a non-profit UK group)
Core funding: they realise that many groups struggle to raise core funding. The Trustees are willing to offer core funding to cover staff costs, accommodation etc., except in instances where applicants are seeking core funding to replace funding lost as a result of public sector cuts.
Other projects: if your application does not easily fit into any of the above categories they may still support it. For example, the Trust has funded a project to capture oral histories of women’s experience of the menopause. Contact the Trust to discuss eligibility prior to submitting your application.

NOTE The Trust rarely funds stand-alone research. Where projects include a research element, you will need to describe in your application the steps you have taken to ensure the research will be undertaken in an ethical manner. Please also pay careful attention to the costs.

To see previous awards click here

Why do applications fail?

They fall outside the funding guidelines outlined above
They are poorly written.
Poor description of the project proposal. For example not explaining how potential interviewees will be identified
Failure to describe in sufficient depth and details what you want to do. They like to know exactly what they will be funding and why it is important
Failure to have considered the longer term impact of the project. They ask about this on the application form and it is often poorly answered. You do need to think about longer term impact including the number of women likely to be affected.
Internal inconsistency: the application contains contradictory information

Success rates of Applications

The Trust receives a very large number of applications; far more than they can fund. The current success rate for applications is 1 – 2%. That said a significant proportion either fall outside their funding guidelines or are too poorly written to win support. So, a well written and relevant application is likely to be shortlisted.

Other Funding

The Feminist Review Trust also administers two other funds: The Irene Bruegel Bequest and the Mary McIntosh Award