Editor’s Note: The following announcement is from Olivia Leland, founder of Co-Impact, and the Co-Impact team.
Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Partners,
As we begin the Generation Equality Forum, a key moment and platform to lay out joint agendas and commitments to action around gender equality, we have a chance to do something truly transformative – to be catalytic to a degree not previously possible and to re-imagine a world that serves all people equally.
That is why I am so excited to write to you today to announce the development of Co-Impact’s second fund – the Gender Fund – which seeks to raise and grant US $1 billion over the next decade to accelerate progress towards gender equality and advance women’s leadership.
Launching later in the year, the fund will support predominantly women-led Global South organizations with the large, unrestricted, long-term, and flexible funding needed to transform systems to be more just and inclusive, advance women’s power, agency and leadership at all levels, and shift harmful gender norms that prevent progress.
Our ambition is that in 10 years:
- More than 100 million people will have better healthcare, quality education, and opportunity to work and thrive – regardless of gender, ethnicity, caste, or race.
- There will be more women leading at all levels from the household and community to institutions and government, influencing decisions that affect their communities and society.
- Perceptions and norms about women’s roles will be challenged and shifted.
The initial group of philanthropists and foundations who are coming together to make this possible include: the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, Melinda French Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, and Thankyou Charitable Trust. We’re also delighted to be working in partnership with Tsitsi Masiyiwa and the African Philanthropy Forum to bring together a group of philanthropists from across Africa, and with Vidya Shah and EdelGive Foundation on a similar model to support this work in India.
We continue to invite and welcome other funders to join us as we make our way towards the official launch later in the year.
This fund builds on the extensive work of our existing program partners, who continue to demonstrate how integral gender is to achieving sustainable systems change, as well as the guidance of the incredible leaders who have been driving progress in the gender space for many decades. Findings from our year-long consultation process with the gender community can be found here; some of these leaders will join an advisory group to support the fund’s continued development in the lead up to launch.
We would be delighted to share more about the Gender Fund and encourage you to reach out to find out more. Please read the full statement and learn more about our work and opportunities to collaborate.
To all our partners, funders, advisors, and all those who have helped us get to this point, we can’t thank you enough. We look forward to moving forward in collaboration and community with you all.
With all warm wishes,
Olivia and the Co-Impact team
Related:
Gender Takes Center Stage in New Round of Systems Change Grants
Olivia Wells: Quality Support for Women Survivors in Conflict Zones
