Aims/priorities: The Feminist Review Trust was set up in 2001 with funding from the Feminist Review journal. Feminist Review is a peer reviewed, interdisciplinary journal setting new agendas for feminism. The journal is committed to exploring gender in its relationship to other axes of power including race, class and sexuality.
The Feminist Review Trust has a small amount of funding that it offers to individuals and not-for-profit organisations for projects that transform the lives of women in the UK and internationally.
In 2018 and 2019, the Trust 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
The Trust will fund the following:
- Hard to fund projects: 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: the Trust 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 the Trust 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: the Trust will fund projects that support feminist values. It is often difficult for projects around core feminist concerns such as abortion rights and domestic violence to find funding. The Trust has supported, for example, Asylum Aid (an independent charity workshop with asylum seekers in the UK) to promote its ‘Charter of Rights’ for Women Seeking Asylum. The Trust has also 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: funding for 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 at Glasgow Women’s Library.
- One-off events: the Trust 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: the Trust will fund the production and distribution of relevant material. Too often work has had a more limited impact than it should because it was not well distributed. For example the Trust has 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: the Trust realises that many groups struggle to raise core funding. The Trustees are willing to offer core funding to cover staff costs, accommodation etc.
- Other projects: the Trust may still support an application that does not easily fit into any of the above categories. For example the Trust has funded a project to capture oral histories of women’s experience of the menopause. Applicants should contact the Trust to discuss eligibility prior to submitting an application.
Where projects include a research element, applicants should describe the steps that have been taken to ensure the research will be undertaken in an ethical manner and careful attention should be paid to the costs.
Who can apply? Individuals and organisations in the UK and internationally are eligible to apply.
Grant amount: Grants of up to £15,000 are available. However, the Trustees rarely give out awards of this amount.
The Trust receives a very large number of applications; far more than it can fund. The current success rate for applications is 1–2%.
Application process: An application form can be found on the Trust's website.
Deadline: 10 September 2020 (for 15 December decision).
Website address: www.feminist-review-trust.com/