Co-Impact announces first open call for Gender Fund country-level grants

Through the Gender Fund, Co-Impact is committed to raising and deploying US $1 billion and they are now looking for applicants for systems and institutional change initiatives to advance gender equality and promote women’s leadership across the Global South.

London, September 30, 2020 – Co-Impact is pleased to announce the Gender Fund’s first open call for country-level grants. Gender Fund will support initiatives that are working to make systems just and inclusive and advance women’s leadership at all levels.

Grants made will aim to support and nurture initiatives that:

• Focus on systems change with the aim to improve gender-equitable outcomes and women’s leadership in the health, education, and economic opportunity sectors. And institutional change to advance women’s ability to enter, rise to, and thrive in leadership positions in the academic and professional domains of law and/or economics.

• Are deeply rooted in the Global South. 100% of the grants will go to Global South and locally-rooted organizations and at least 75% of the grants will be to women-led organizations. Co-Impact invites initiatives that focus on countries listed below:

• • Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.
  • Asia: India, Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
  • Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, and Peru.

Co-Impact recognizes that there are multiple ways to advance gender equality. Through the open call, Co-Impact invites applications from Global South and locally-rooted organizations – civil society groups, think-tanks and academic institutions, professional associations and networks, women’s rights groups, and feminist and allied movements, among others. To enable this, three grant types will be awarded ranging from US $1 million to US $20 million, allocated over a 3-to-6-year period, depending on the grant type.

Olivia Leland, Founder and CEO of Co-Impact, said: “We are really excited about this open call and recognize the critical role that women’s rights organizations and feminist movements play in advancing gender equality. I believe that together, we can move towards the common goal of making systems just and inclusive for women and girls to rise to and thrive in leadership positions at all levels.”

Full details of the criteria and process can be found in English here (also available in six additional languages). Concept notes submission will be accepted until 20 December 2021.

About Co-Impact

Co-Impact is a global philanthropic collaborative for just and inclusive systems change. We support partners to transform health, education, and economic systems for impact at scale across the Global South. Our second Fund – the Gender Fund, launching in early 2022, will focus on transformative systems change for gender equality, with an emphasis on elevating women’s power, agency, and leadership at all levels. This open call is to source for the first round of grants for the Gender Fund.

Co-Impact’s first Fund convened over 40 funders from more than 16 countries and pooled hundreds of millions of dollars. Core Partners include Richard Chandler, The ELMA Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates, IKEA Foundation, Rohini and Nandan Nilekani, The Rockefeller Foundation, MacKenzie Scott, and Jeff Skoll.

Philanthropists and foundations coming together ahead of the launch of Co-Impact’s second Fund include: the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, Melinda French Gates, The Rockefeller Foundation, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, and Thankyou Charitable Trust. We’re also delighted to partner with Tsitsi Masiyiwa and the African Philanthropy Forum to bring together a group of philanthropists from across Africa and Vidya Shah and EdelGive Foundation on a similar model to support this work in India. Co-Impact continues to invite and welcome other funders to join us as we make our way towards the official launch later in the year.

Further Information

For full guidelines, process, planned webinars, and frequently asked questions (FAQs), please visit Co-Impact’s website: www.co-impact.org/gender-fund-how-to-apply

Specific media-related inquiries should be directed to:

Devon Jaffe-Urell

[email protected]