In this piece, we welcome our Trustee, Cullagh Warnock, to share how recent research commissioned by a group of funders including the Pilgrim Trust is mapping out how trusts and foundations can support women and girls’ organisations effect change. Starting in the summer of 2021 with informal conversations to now with research-based recommendations, we are delighted to be part of a movement of funders helping the women and girls’ sector bring about transformative change.
How we started
Over the summer of 2021 a group of seven funders, including the Pilgrim Trust, started an informal conversation about the opportunities for women’s sector organisations across the UK to bring about change, both at a local and a national level. We were a disparate bunch of grant makers, both large and small, including generalists and those with a specific focus on women’s issues. Yet, all of us had in common a history of making grants to women’s organisations, and an interest in hearing a stronger policy voice from the sector. Early on we began to use the title ‘Routes to Power and Influence’ on our emails.
The more we talked, the more we realised there were some things we knew already from existing research and sector intelligence: that the women’s sector is under-funded, has fared badly through austerity and is particularly vulnerable to further cuts post-pandemic. When considering the impact of the pandemic and recovery from it, we agreed that women have received relatively little attention. We recognised that the need for, and benefits women and girls gain from, gender-specific services and how this is often not recognised by funding and commissioning processes.
We knew that marginalised women face multiple intersecting barriers to fully participating in economic, social and cultural life and are often unheard and unable to influence decisions and policies. This is within a context where women’s rights as a broader set of issues have fallen down the national agenda. There are some local, regional, national and sub-sector-specific networks for women’s organisations but provision of these is patchy and they can lack a clear link to national conversations. Finally, we saw a lack of a co-ordinated voice talking to central government about women’s issues – a gap left when the Women’s National Commission was disbanded – although there are examples of better practice in Scotland and Wales.
Photo credit: Disabled and here, CC BY 4.0.
However, there was also a lot we didn’t know about, such as existing infrastructure and networks at a local, regional and national level, how the concerns of grassroots groups are heard, examples of effective influencing, gaps in influencing and the specific issues faced by organisations working with marginalised groups of women, including Black and minoritised women, deaf and disabled women.
In short, we wanted to know what women’s organisations need to increase opportunities for transformational change.
Commissioning research
Having got to this point we decided to commission a quick piece of research. We didn’t have the funds, or the patience, for a comprehensive study. We wanted something relatively quick that would point us in the direction of some practical next steps. Three of us were able to contribute some funding, so we invited tenders and got a really strong response.
Our preferred research team stood out as they proposed to take a ‘movement ecology’ approach which sparked our interest. We suggested researchers focus in on a few sample areas, speak to both grass roots and national organisations and pay particular attention to intersectionality and the voices of Black, minoritized, deaf and disabled women. Critically, we asked the research team to draw out recommendations for funders. We were the primary audience for the research – we weren’t looking to tell the women’s sector what it should do, we wanted to know what funders could do.
Photo credit: Odd Arts.
Findings and recommendations
The report was launched at an event in December 2022, where over 50 funders discussed the research team’s findings and 17 recommendations. We reflected on our own experiences of funding in the sector and where our individual organisations’ areas of interest might align with specific recommendations. The report recommendations have given us a fantastic framework for possible funder action.
Areas of work some funders are already taking forward include:
- Exploring the potential for an infrastructure organisation or network representing disabled women by collaborating with existing organisations.
- Funding specific posts in selected localities to work with local groups and organisations to channel, build and augment routes to influence.
- Co-developing practical proposals for how best to address endemic issues around pay, conditions and wellbeing in the sector.
Other areas we are keen to make progress on, in partnership with the sector and other funders, include:
- Creating a pooled fund in which funding decisions are led by lived experience leaders applying an intersectional lens.
- Encouraging the wider funding community to provide increased funding for women-led organisations.
- Sharing learning and practice on applying a gendered lens in mainstream funding of influencing work.
So, if you are a funder and any of this chimes with your interests and priorities, just get in touch – we would love to hear from you. And if you are in the women and girls sector, watch this space – we hope to have more to say as we make progress on these issues.
You can read the full report now: Routes to power & influence for UK women’s organisations.
Thank you to Cullagh for sharing the results of the ‘Routes to Power’ research thus far. Find out more about our work supporting Young Women’s Mental health.