We invest in initiatives across the Global South tackling the root sources of inequality—the systems that control resources and shape the lives of millions of people—and in partners who can propose ways to shift levers of power in ways that advance intersectional gender equality.
This revised Handbook seeks to articulate who we are, what we stand for, how we work, and how we partner with others. We hope to achieve three purposes with it. First, we use it internally to help orient and guide our work, and to hold ourselves accountable to what we profess. Second, we hope that it will be useful to funders and other actors to explain how we fit into and contribute to the broader gender equality, global development, and philanthropic communities. Third, we hope that it will serve as a helpful guide for current and prospective program partners.
This third purpose is particularly important to us. Too frequently, patterns of exclusion and inequity are perpetuated by secret “rules of the game” that favor the well-connected and elite few. Philanthropy is no exception. We seek to position the resources we curate in ways that offer a more level playing field. A first step towards this end is to be transparent about the way we work, as represented in this document. We hope this transparency helps to cultivate more respectful, clearer relationships with our program partners in ways that help them achieve greater strategic coherence and advance their ambitious objectives related to systems change and intersectional gender justice.
