OUR PURPOSE
Gender Funders CoLab advances women’s rights and gender justice worldwide by:
Sharing members’ grantmaking strategies to increase collaboration and efficacy
Deepening knowledge through peer learning on a range of women’s human rights issues
Mapping emerging trends, gaps, and opportunities across the women’s human rights funding landscape
Advocating for greater inclusion of women’s human rights in philanthropy
Leveraging funds for greater collective impact on long standing and emerging women’s human rights issues
Expanding financial resources by providing a platform for joint advocacy and knowledge sharing to engage other donors, foundations, affinity groups, and bilateral institutions
Our Goal
To advance women’s rights and gender justice worldwide.
Collaboration
We know that collaboration is how change happens. It doesn’t happen with one person with lots of power, but with many people from different locations working together with intent towards a common goal.
Trust
Trust is the foundation for fostering a learning culture, one where people are not afraid to make mistakes or experiment. It also fosters collaboration, where people know they are in this together no matter what.
Learning culture
We are committed to facilitating learning among our members, who are often in very different places. This facilitates collaboration and resource mobilization.
Gender justice and equality
We are a feminist network, with gender justice as our vision. We use a power analysis that makes visible the ways in which patriarchy intersects with other oppressions.
Governance
Our Steering Committee is comprised of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Foundation for a Just Society, and Oak Foundation. We are a fiscally sponsored project of Panorama Global.
KEELY TONGATE
CO-DIRECTOR
Keely brings more than a decade of experience in the women's rights field to Gender Funders CoLab. She was formerly the Director of Programs at Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights where she supported women's human rights defenders around the intersection of security and sustainability in time-urgent situations. This experience made her a strong advocate for the necessity of funding feminist movements. Previously, she worked with refugees and asylum seekers in the United States, Moldova, and Turkey. Her gendered lens has always focused on the particular needs of refugee and internally displaced women and girls. Her experience ranges from the UN High Commission for Refugees and Caritas at the global levels to local resettlement programs. Additionally, she has conducted research for Transparency International-Moldova and managed a pilot program for immigrant families in Denver. Keely received her MA in International Human Rights with a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the University of Denver and holds a BA in International Affairs from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Annie has almost 20 years of experience in philanthropy for women’s rights. Prior to joining Gender Funders CoLab, she served as the Senior Program Officer for Women’s Funds at Mama Cash, providing over three million euros in direct funding to strengthen women’s funds around the globe. She also served as Mama Cash's Learning and Evaluation Specialist from 2012 to 2015, and developed planning, monitoring and assessment tools for organization-wide learning, decision-making and accountability. From 2008 to 2012, Annie was the Director of Programs at Mama Cash, overseeing the grantmaking team and a budget that grew from 2.5 million euros to 5.3 million euros within four years. Annie also worked at the Global Fund for Women over a period of six years. Her responsibilities included Interim Program Team Co-Leader, and Senior Program Officer for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East and North Africa. Annie has also consulted for various foundations, local women's NGOs and women's funds in Central and Eastern Europe in strategic fundraising, influencing the donor community, and evaluation. She has been part of the governing bodies of various women's rights and philanthropic networks, most recently as Co-Chair of the the Steering Committee of the Human Rights Funders Network. She holds an MA in Social Anthropology from Central European University, and a BA in Romance Languages from the University of Chicago.
