What happens when flexible funding meets women’s funds? The answer lies in the potential to drive profound, lasting change. Women’s funds are crucial players in the drive for gender equality because of their reach and long-term relationships with some of the smallest and most local organizations working daily at the heart of change within families and communities.

Fenomenal Funds launched in 2019 to support the resilience of women’s funds members of the Prospera International Women’s Funds Network (INWF). But little did we know that a global pandemic would soon test their resilience and their supported movements in unprecedented ways. Their ability to prioritize and build their internal strength for the long term, even in the face of unprecedented challenges, affirms the power of unrestricted funding and trust in organizations to direct resources where they are most needed.

Despite civil society organizations being at the forefront of fighting the complex problems of our world, most of them suffer from financial instability. This is in part due to restricted funding. In 2022, Ariadne and EDGE Funders created the Funding For Real Change website, to support funders in understanding the non-profit starvation cycle and offer a spectrum of tools for breaking it: from full indirect cost coverage, to multi-year flexible funding.