Gender Equality & Women Empowerment: February 2025 Funding Opportunities
Includes opportunities for women's cooperatives, organizations working on SRHR and GBV.
The grants are organized into three categories:
Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date.
Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible).
Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows.
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Open Calls:
Investment in Women's Cooperatives and Associations (Window 2), Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, AECF. *New!*
Funding is available to cooperatives, associations and other women’s organizations working with commercially active women and women’s groups in Benin and/or Burkina Faso with proven links to women entrepreneurs and/or women-owned businesses. While there are no mandatory value chains, the financing targets value chains where women predominate or provide investment opportunities to enable women to break into value chains where they have traditionally been excluded due to social and cultural norm. The main value chains targeted include (but are not limited to) shea, rice, groundnuts, soybeans, poultry, etc.
Geographies: Benin and Burkina Faso.
Who can apply: Registered cooperative, association, organization, or women’s group that is aligned with the targeted areas of intervention, that can demonstrate 100% female management and a dominant representation of women employees, women entrepreneurs, women agro-industrialists, and/or service providers.
Funding amount: Average funding of CAD $150,000 (to up to 10 organizations). 25% matching funds must be provided by the organization.
Targeted SDGs/ Sectors: Gender equality, women empowerment, climate, jobs created.
Deadline: February 28, 2025.
Rolling Applications:
COMO Foundation Grants, COMO Foundation.
Support non-profit organizations working to improve the lives of women and girls and focused on closing the gender gap in accessing vital goods and services, education and livelihoods. They provide support to organizations, not projects, complementing traditional programmatic funding.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Non-profits.
Funding amount: Grants around USD $100,000 (provide around USD $5 million annually in funding).
Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
The L'Oréal Fund for Women, L'Oréal
A charitable fund to support frontline organizations in their efforts to help women to get out of poverty, prevent domestic, sexual and gender-based violence against women. The Fund focuses on supporting women and girls’ empowerment, particularly through projects in favor of social or professional integration and education. A specific attention is paid to refugee women and women with disabilities. The final beneficiaries must be highly vulnerable women or girls: In situation of poverty/ underprivileged (absence or lack of revenues, homelessness, single parent, Isolation In rural areas or In the suburbs, etc.), victims of violence, refugees or in situation of disability. Beyond emergency relief, the activity focuses on women or girls' empowerment, encouraging especially social and professional integration or access to education. Beyond emergency relief, the activity focuses on women or girls' empowerment, encouraging especially social and professional Integration, or access to education. Activities can take the form of: a service, an instrument with a social purpose or a field operation.
Geographies: Global, the final beneficiaries must be women or girls in vulnerable, precarious or emergency situations.
Who can apply: Grassroot and Non-profits.
Funding amount: Requests must be over €5,000 and under €300,000 (or multi-year support only).
Targeted SDG/ Sectors: Gender equality (SDG 5), women and girls empowerment, GBV, emergency relief.
Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Currently fund is renewed trough 2026. Expected to disburse €10 million in 2025 and €5 million in 2026.
Long Term Planning:
UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, UN Women. *Will launch H2 2025*
Annual call for proposals. The Fund selects proposals that pave the way for concrete, national change. It prioritizes applications that reach a large number of beneficiaries and offer novel approaches and opportunities for expansion, replication and sustainability.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Up to USD $1 million in multi-year funding.
Funding amount: Non-profits.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Gender equality, violence against women.
Deadline: Next call will be launched in the second part of 2025.
Opportunity Grant, Amplify Change. *Opening Q3 2025 *
Opportunity Grants aim to nurture and encourage innovative ideas and approaches on SRHR advocacy in new contexts. They allow local, small civil society and grassroots organizations to drive the advocacy agenda and ensure change happens in sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). Projects musts respond to one or more outcome areas: Increasing individual awareness of SRHR as human rights; Improving access to SRHR resources, information & services ; Transforming social norms ; Changing policies & laws ; and Building stronger, more inclusive movements for SRHR.
Geographies: 47 priority countries in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
Who can apply: Local and national non-profits. Must be based in and implementing a project in one of the AmplifyChange eligible countries. INGO’s cannot be lead applicants.
Funding amount: Grants up to GBP £75,000, for 1.5-2 years.
Targeted SDG/ Sectors: Gender equality (SDG 5), sexual and reproductive health rights, innovation.
Deadline: Round 8 will open Q3 2025.
Gender-Responsive Climate Finance Window, Convergence Blended Finance. *Round 6 expected in 2025*
Will award early-stage grant funding for the design and launch of innovative blended finance vehicles focused on the intersection of climate change and gender equality in emerging markets globally. Funding available for feasibility studies and proof-of-concept.
Geographies: TBA
Who can apply: Asset owners, asset managers, advisory firms, foundations, not-for-profit organizations, and private enterprises. Proposals will only be accepted from organizations or consortiums of organizations.
Funding amount: Feasibility Study grants range USD $50,000 - $200,000. Proof-of-Concept grants and conditionally repayable grants range USD $200,000 - $400,000.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Gender equality.
Deadline: TBA.
Network Grant, Amplify Change. *Opening 2026 *
The purpose of this Network Grant call is to fund civil society organizations with the capability to provide support and resources to the SRHR movement, and experience of working with or supporting SRHR networks, coalitions, partners or civil society organizations. Projects must be working to bring about positive change in one of the AmplifyChange priority themes or an intersection or combination of themes: Abortion, Violence, Youth, Stigma and Access. Applications must respond to one or more of our outcome areas in our Theory of Change: Increasing individual awareness of SRHR as human rights; Improving access to SRHR resources, information & services; Transforming social norms; Changing policies & laws; and Building stronger, more inclusive movements for SRHR. AmplifyChange supports cross-cutting themes that impact on SRHR and well-being and respond to challenges that advocates identify as their priorities for action. Applications can integrate into their proposals: Climate Justice, Pleasure and Mental health.
Geographies: 40+ priority countries in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
Who can apply: Applicants must be registered and implementing a project in one of AmplifyChange’s eligible countries, and must have a registration status that enables receiving funds from foreign sources.
Funding amount: Grants up to GBP £225,000 - £600,000, for 2-3 years.
Targeted SDG/ Sectors: Gender equality (SDG 5), sexual and reproductive health rights, innovation.
Deadline: Round 6 will open in 2026.
Strengthening Grant, Amplify Change. *Opening 2026 *
The purpose of this Strengthening Grant call is to fund small to medium civil society organizations, support their advocacy work, and strengthen them so they can bring about positive change in one of the AmplifyChange priority themes or an intersection or combination of themes: Abortion, Violence, Youth, Stigma, and Access. Projects must be working to bring about positive change in one of the AmplifyChange priority themes or an intersection or combination of themes: Abortion, Violence, Youth, Stigma and Access. Applications must respond to one or more of our outcome areas in our Theory of Change: Increasing individual awareness of SRHR as human rights; Improving access to SRHR resources, information & services; Transforming social norms; Changing policies & laws; and Building stronger, more inclusive movements for SRHR. AmplifyChange supports cross-cutting themes that impact on SRHR and well-being and respond to challenges that advocates identify as their priorities for action. Applications can integrate into their proposals: Climate Justice, Pleasure and Mental health.
Geographies: 47 priority countries in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
Who can apply: Applicants must be registered and implementing a project in one of AmplifyChange’s eligible countries.
Funding amount: Grants up to GBP £200,000, for 2-3 years.
Targeted SDG/ Sectors: Gender equality (SDG 5), sexual and reproductive health rights, innovation.
Deadline: Round 8 will open in 2026.
All content is currently open and free as we transition to Substack. Starting mid-February 2025, access to the full list of opportunities on this page will be available to paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Thank you for being part of the Impact Funding community!
To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer discounted rates for nonprofits and individuals from LMICs (Low- and Middle-Income Countries). Message us below for more information.
Very useful