Population

Women & Girls, 2011

Human rights funding for women and girls, including transgender people, protects and promotes their equal rights as described in the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. This funding supports efforts to ensure gender equality, including in owning property, holding elected office, and earning fair wages, and addresses abuses like gender-based violence, sexual assault, and female genital mutilation. It promotes women’s reproductive rights.

19%
Share of foundation
human rights funding

$319.1 Million out of
$1.7 Billion for all rights
4,461 Grants

Top Foundation Funders

  1. Ford Foundation $36.7 M
  2. Anonymous $35.2 M
  3. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation $26.3 M
  4. Open Society Foundations $20.9 M
  5. National Endowment for Democracy $14.0 M
  6. NoVo Foundation $12.6 M
  7. The Oak Foundation $8.8 M
  8. Hivos $8.7 M
  9. American Jewish World Service - Donor Advised Funds $8.5 M
  10. The Global Fund for Women $8.2 M
  11. Tides Foundation $6.8 M
  12. Cordaid $5.4 M
  13. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation $5.0 M
  14. The Sigrid Rausing Trust $5.0 M
  15. Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program $4.7 M
  16. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $4.6 M
  17. American Jewish World Service $4.5 M
  18. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation $4.1 M
  19. United Nations Foundation $4.0 M
  20. Mama Cash $4.0 M
  21. Bloomberg Philanthropies $3.8 M
  22. Mensen met een Missie $3.0 M
  23. African Women's Development Fund $2.7 M
  24. The Rockefeller Foundation $2.5 M
  25. Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund $2.2 M
  26. M = Millions

Bilateral and Multilateral Funding

27%
Share of OECD
human rights funding

$948.2 Million out of
$3.5 Billion for all rights
4,277 Disbursements

Top Funders

  1. Spain $127.4 M
  2. Norway $112.2 M
  3. Global Fund $111.3 M
  4. Ireland $107.1 M
  5. Canada $105.8 M
  6. Sweden $52.2 M
  7. Netherlands $49.3 M
  8. European Union Institutions $44.2 M
  9. United Kingdom $39.2 M
  10. United States $37.7 M
  11. Germany $36.7 M
  12. Denmark $33.6 M
  13. Switzerland $14.7 M
  14. Australia $11.8 M
  15. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) $10.7 M
  16. Finland $9.1 M
  17. Belgium $8.5 M
  18. Italy $7.1 M
  19. Japan $6.3 M
  20. International Development Association $5.0 M
  21. Austria $4.6 M
  22. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) $2.5 M
  23. United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF) $2.2 M
  24. France $2.0 M
  25. OPEC Fund for International Development $1.7 M
  26. M = Millions

Key Findings:
2011 Funding

Key Findings

Foundation Funding by Region

Asia & Pacific

$39,558,319 (12%)
643 Grants (14%)

Caribbean

$1,631,262 (1%)
46 Grants (1%)

Eastern Europe, Central Asia, & Russia

$16,859,400 (5%)
365 Grants (8%)

Global Programs

$45,752,482 (14%)
291 Grants (7%)

Latin America & Mexico

$36,280,124 (11%)
696 Grants (16%)

Middle East & North Africa

$19,224,274 (6%)
276 Grants (6%)

North America

$83,133,346 (26%)
991 Grants (22%)

Sub-Saharan Africa

$78,199,638 (25%)
1,056 Grants (24%)

Western Europe

$16,788,341 (5%)
159 Grants (4%)

Region totals include both foundation grants directly to recipients based in the region specified and foundation grants to recipients located in other regions to do work benefiting the region specified. Grants may mention more than one region of benefit and therefore be counted in more than one category.

Foundation Funding by Issue

Issue totals include foundation funding that could be identified as meant to address a specific issue. In order to provide unique totals and avoid double-counting, each foundation grant has been assigned to exactly one issue category within the human rights taxonomy.

Foundation Funding by Intersecting Populations

In order to show the intersections of multiple population groups, these graphics indicate other population groups supported within funding towards the group highlighted on this page.

Sample Grants

  • Fund for Global Human Rights
    Centro Mujeres (Mexico)
    For mentoring young female community leaders, providing training on health rights for service providers and government representatives, and pressing for government policies that protect and promote reproductive and sexual rights.
  • HER Fund
    The Association for the Advancement of Feminism (Hong Kong)
    To advocate for amending the Sex Discrimination Ordinance in order to protect the rights of young female workers in the service industry.