Population

Women & Girls, 2012

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.

26%
Share of foundation
human rights funding

$473.0 Million out of
$1.8 Billion for all rights
5,191 Grants

Top Foundation Funders

  1. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation $62.8 M
  2. Ford Foundation $61.8 M
  3. Open Society Foundations $39.7 M
  4. Comic Relief UK $30.2 M
  5. NoVo Foundation $27.4 M
  6. UN Women's Fund for Gender Equality $17.4 M
  7. The Oak Foundation $15.6 M
  8. National Endowment for Democracy $15.2 M
  9. American Jewish World Service $13.3 M
  10. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation $11.7 M
  11. Hivos $10.9 M
  12. Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program $10.7 M
  13. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation $10.3 M
  14. The Global Fund for Women $7.4 M
  15. NIKE Foundation $7.1 M
  16. Tides Foundation $6.7 M
  17. The Sigrid Rausing Trust $6.3 M
  18. The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida $6.1 M
  19. Mama Cash $6.1 M
  20. Nationale Postcode Loterij $5.1 M
  21. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation $5.1 M
  22. ExxonMobil Foundation $5.1 M
  23. Bloomberg Philanthropies $3.8 M
  24. The Allstate Foundation $3.7 M
  25. Mensen met een Missie $3.7 M
  26. M = Millions

Bilateral and Multilateral Funding

26%
Share of OECD
human rights funding

$888.1 Million out of
$3.4 Billion for all rights
3,170 Disbursements

Top Funders

  1. Global Fund $123.9 M
  2. Norway $114.8 M
  3. Canada $99.7 M
  4. Sweden $75.4 M
  5. Spain $62.1 M
  6. United Kingdom $58.7 M
  7. European Union Institutions $58.5 M
  8. Netherlands $51.6 M
  9. Germany $51.5 M
  10. Denmark $34.5 M
  11. United States $30.8 M
  12. Australia $26.1 M
  13. Finland $21.0 M
  14. Switzerland $18.6 M
  15. Ireland $13.2 M
  16. Belgium $12.5 M
  17. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) $12.0 M
  18. Austria $3.3 M
  19. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) $2.6 M
  20. Italy $2.3 M
  21. Korea $2.1 M
  22. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) $1.7 M
  23. International Development Association $1.5 M
  24. Iceland $1.4 M
  25. Global Environment Facility $1.4 M
  26. M = Millions

Key Findings:
2012 Funding

Key Findings

Foundation Funding by Region

Asia & Pacific

$45,266,749 (10%)
778 Grants (15%)

Caribbean

$3,150,693 (1%)
67 Grants (1%)

Eastern Europe, Central Asia, & Russia

$12,754,351 (3%)
431 Grants (8%)

Global Programs

$66,574,776 (14%)
330 Grants (6%)

Latin America & Mexico

$50,961,193 (11%)
699 Grants (13%)

Middle East & North Africa

$19,356,036 (4%)
323 Grants (6%)

North America

$163,413,993 (35%)
1,337 Grants (26%)

Sub-Saharan Africa

$98,436,403 (21%)
1,134 Grants (22%)

Western Europe

$22,993,686 (5%)
196 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

  • South Asia Women's Fund
    Women's Rehabilitation Center (Nepal)
  • David and Lucile Packard Foundation
    Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women (Malaysia)
    To integrate sexual and reproductive health and rights within the broader social movement to end poverty and gender inequality and improve food security.