Call for proposals: Strengthening Movements for Gender Equality

The Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe (the Alliance) is a philanthropic initiative created in 2021 to support and strengthen the grassroots gender equality movement in Europe. It is composed by Bodossaki Foundation, Fondation BNP Paribas, Fondation CHANEL, Fondazione con il Sud, Fondation de France, Fondation RAJA-Danièle Marcovici, King Baudouin Foundation, and L’Oréal Fund for Women, and hosted by the Network of European Foundations. Through grantmaking, capacity strengthening, and awareness-raising, the Alliance improves gender equality for all by transforming harmful gender norms and addressing the structural barriers that reinforce inequality and exclusion.

In its 2025-2027 strategic framework, the Alliance has defined Strengthening movements as a cross-cutting priority. We expect our grantmaking to deliver the following outcomes:

• Grassroot organisations to be better equipped to respond to needs, seize opportunities, and fight back against the anti-gender movement.
• Marginalised women, girls, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people to have greater rights and opportunities.
• Grassroot organisations in the gender equality movement to be better supported by and connected to each other, enabling collective learning and action.

This Fund is made possible by the commitment of Bodossaki Foundation, Fondation CHANEL, Fondazione con il Sud, Fondation de France, Fondation RAJA-Danièle Marcovici, King Baudouin Foundation, and L’Oréal Fund for Women.

Context of the call

A strong gender equality movement is the single most important factor in achieving more gender-equal societies. There is evidence that feminist and gender equality movements are key to ending violence against women and girls, advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, and leading prodemocratic movements. At the same time, countries with a lower presence of feminist and women’s movements have the highest biases against gender equality.

Today, in Europe, these movements face a well-organised and well-resourced backlash. Across the continent, anti-gender actors are driving democratic backsliding and overturning hard-won rights, threatening the progress made on gender equality. It is therefore crucial to invest in strengthening movements. The Alliance believes that by enabling greater collaboration, strategic alignment and solidarity, we can unlock tangible, long-term wins for gender equality in Europe.

Strengthening movements is powerful because it brings together diverse organisations and allies to achieve change at scale. It helps movements identify common goals, share lessons and networks, as well as break down siloes across issues, geographies, and identities. When organised intersectionally, feminist and gender equality movements can better amplify the work and views of structurally marginalised groups.

In 2025, the Alliance commissioned a mapping of movements for gender equality in Europe. The mapping, based on 30 in-depth interviews and contextual research, found that, across Europe, movements are contributing to transformative change by challenging the foundations of inequality and creating alternatives grounded in care, solidarity, and justice. Yet they remain under-resourced because philanthropy’s funding frameworks and practices are often misaligned with their needs. The findings guided the creation of the Alliance’s forthcoming Strengthening Movements Fund, which aims to move away from short-term, reactive funding practices and instead provide proactive and long-term support for movements.

This is the context in which the Alliance is launching an open call for proposals for 2 700 000 euros.

The objective of this call is to foster collaboration and solidarity within European intersectional and grassroots movements so that they can collectively advance gender equality in Europe in the long-term.

Guidelines

Definitions

• Movements for gender equality: Stakeholders (including grassroots organisations, civil society networks, women’s funds, consortia and coalitions) working collectively to advance gender equality regardless of whether they explicitly identify as feminist.
• Movement strengthening: Drawing on Just Associates’ (JASS) Theory of Change, it is understood as a set of interconnected activities aiming to build, organise, and transform power within feminist and gender equality movements to increase their collective impact.
• Intersectional: A framework recognising that people experience overlapping systems of oppression (such as sexism, racism, classism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, and transphobia) that shape their lives and access to power.
• Grassroots: Organisations being strongly grounded in, having direct relationships with, and being accountable to the communities they support.

What we aim to fund

The proposal should demonstrate clearly how grantees will fulfil the overall objective of the call and the above definition of movement strengthening.

The foreseen outcomes of this work are:

1. Community organising at local or national level is reinforced
2. Pan-European feminist collaborations and solidarity are strengthened
3. Alliances between gender equality and other social justice movements are expanded
4. Pro gender-equality narratives and voices are amplified in local, national, regional or digital spaces
5. Policy debates are informed by feminist and gender equality movements

Activities that could be supported under this call include, but are not limited to:

• National, regional, or pan-European convenings or collaborative projects where groups co-create joint strategies and share lessons learned.
• Joint campaigns between feminist movements and allied movements (climate justice, anti-racism, LGBTQI+, disability rights…).
• Narrative-change training for grassroots groups to strengthen their capacity in framing, messaging, and using digital tools and digital storytelling projects.
• Cross-border coalitions to jointly advocate EU institutions or national governments on shared gender equality priorities.
• Facilitated convenings (virtual or in-person) for national or cross-country coalitions to work through internal tensions and build trust.
• Translating academic research on anti-gender efforts into movement strategies and collaborations.

Priority target organisations

The call aims to fund collective proposals with at least 3 organisations per coalition (no maximum).

We will prioritise grassroots organisations supporting marginalised people defined as women, transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming people who are low-income; from migrant, racialised or ethnic minority backgrounds; victims of violence; from rural or disadvantaged areas; living with disabilities; or perceived as young or old.

Network organisations and intermediaries may also be funded, but must apply in coalition with small or medium-sized grassroots organisations.

Organisations may apply with partners based in the same or a different country, provided that all partners are based and operating in the target countries outlined below.

Selection criteria

Eligibility

• Collective proposal with at least 3 organisations
• Legally registered non-profit organisations: non-governmental civil society organisations, social enterprises, national or regional funds.
• Based and operating in the European Union, United Kingdom, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
• Small and medium grassroots organisations. Small and medium organisations are defined as having an annual budget under the following amounts (thresholds are based on the national cost of living and labour costs):
  • Organisations based in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden or the UK: €450 000
  • Organisations based in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia: €300 000

Intermediary organisations and networks are exempt from respecting these thresholds. However, they must apply in coalition with grassroots organisations, and the budget must be fairly distributed among all partners.

• Community-led organisations, meaning organisations where the majority of leadership roles are held by members of the community supported, and/or organisations employing participatory approaches.
• Organisations working with marginalised women, transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people.  Organisations using gender transformative approaches that empower individuals while also addressing the systems and norms that uphold gender inequality
• Intersectional perspective
• Completed proposal in English
• Each organisation can only submit one application as lead or partner.

Selection

The proposal will be assessed on the basis of 100 points spread across the following criteria:

• Relevance of the proposal to the call objective – 20 points

The proposal should clearly demonstrate how it will fulfil the overall objective of this call: To foster collaboration and solidarity within the European intersectional and grassroots movement so that it can collectively advance gender equality in Europe in the long term.

• Demonstrated track record in strengthening movements – 20 points

Applicants should detail their experience, achievements and/or learnings in strengthening movements at local, national, regional or pan-European level. The proposal should highlight past achievements and/or learnings. The coalition will be assessed on their collective strengths and potential. Learnings will be valued as well as achievements.

• Strong impact – 25 points

Proposals must contribute to at least one of the five aforementioned outcomes. It should outline clearly how and where impact will be measured.

• Ability to work collaboratively and inclusively with partners – 20 points

Organisations should describe how they will ensure trust with coalition partners as well as an effective and inclusive collaboration. The budget proposal should reflect a fair repartition of funds among partners.

• Quality and feasibility of the proposal application – 15 points

The proposal should be realistic, cost-efficient and correspond to the coalition’s capacity.

Support modalities

• Our total funding for this call is €2 700 000
• Funding will be awarded for 3 years: from January 2027 to December 2029
• Between €225,000 and €450,000 per grant over 3 years (or €75,000 and €150,000/year per grant).
• Funding will be awarded as project support. This can include salary and overhead costs. Overhead costs are capped at 20%.
• Given the budget of the call, we expect to fund 6 to 12 coalitions.
• One organisation per coalition should be the lead and the primary point of contact for the Alliance. The lead organisation will be legally responsible for the grant.
• Lead organisations will be invited to participate in networking, peer-learning, and capacity-strengthening activities organised by the Alliance to reinforce their organisation.
• Impactful coalitions may be renewed for further funding at the end of the 3-year grant cycle, subject to budget availability.

Application and selection process

Application

The application process will be in two stages.

For the first stage, applications should be submitted in English to our online platform by 7 August 2026 at 23:59 pm CEST.

A PDF version of the application form can be downloaded here for reference, but the submission must be completed online.

Q&A webinars

During the application phase, the Alliance will organise two 1-hour Q&A webinars to further explain the process and answer any questions you may have about the application and selection.

The webinars will take place on:

•  6 July 2026 at 14:00 CEST. If you would like to attend, please register in advance here.
• 15 July 2026 at 10:00 AM CEST. If you would like to attend, please register in advance here.

Selection

This is a 2-stage application process.

In September, applicants will be notified whether their proposal is selected to participate in the second stage or if it has been unsuccessful.

In the second stage, in addition to completing the application form, applicants will also be contacted by Alliance staff to gather further information for the due diligence process.

For this call, the Alliance will pilot a participatory selection process.

Grant-making decisions will be made jointly by a committee of funders and non-funders with equal decision-making power. The goal of this pilot is to reach more democratic, informed and effective grant-making decisions that are responsive to the needs of civil society. The pilot also aims to put the Alliance’s values of trust, collaboration and learning into practice.

Final decision

Organisations will be notified of the outcome of their application by email in December 2026.