Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism

ALAMEDA, California, 94501 United States

Mission Statement

Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is a global women’s fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and transgender human rights defenders at critical moments. We intervene quickly when activists are poised to make great gains or face serious threats to their lives and work. We use online, text and mobile funding applications to respond to requests from women’s human rights defenders within 72 hours and have funds on the ground within 1-7 days.

About This Cause

We are led by activists, rooted in feminism, and strengthened through solidarity. We believe that the best way to support activists seeking to effect systemic change is to adopt a flexible, adaptive grantmaking approach that supports the creativity and vision of grassroots leaders and a diversity of tactics. This is because grassroots activists are constantly devising new methods for creating change. Flexible grantmaking allows activists to innovate and respond to unanticipated situations as they arise. Urgent Action Fund builds the resilience of women’s rights and LGBT rights movements in three ways: Rapid Response Grantmaking: We award rapid response grants to women and transgender human rights defenders in Asia, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America. Activists apply for grants of up to $8,000 USD in any language on any day of the year and are guaranteed a response within 72 hours. Urgent Action Fund’s rapid response grants support the resilience of movements by protecting activists who face immediate threats and by supporting advocacy when windows of opportunity emerge to set new legal or policy precedents. Advocacy & Alliance-Building: We leverage the power we have as a funder to advocate for women and transgender human rights defenders. Global Consortium of Urgent Action Funds: We are one of three Urgent Action Funds. Together with our sister funds: Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Urgent Action Fund-Latin America, we collectively support women and girls’ activism globally. Since its founding, Urgent Action Fund has awarded more than 1,700 rapid response grants, totaling more than $7 million, to advance women’s and LGBTQ human rights in 110 countries worldwide. While we fund urgent actions, the women's human rights defenders (WHRDs) that Urgent Action Fund supports are part of broader movements that work for sustainable, rights-based, structural change for women and trans people worldwide. As a result, Urgent Action Fund also takes a proactive, long-term approach to ensuring the security, protection, and resilience of WHRDs. This includes researching and publishing on key issues affecting WHRDs, advocating for the needs of WHRDs among other funders, and providing training and convening spaces, which enable activists to build networks, develop security plans, and identify and mitigate threats ranging from violence from extremist groups, to government surveillance and censorship, to online threats and harassment, to exhaustion and “burnout.” Urgent Action Fund facilitates workshops and trainings for WHRDs to strengthen the resilience of women’s and LGBTQ movements to develop local and regional strategies, and quickly identify and respond to threats. The trainings provide activists from different countries and issue areas with tools to improve their digital and physical security, a safe space to exchange knowledge, and best practices to promote well-being and manage chronic stress. As a small organization, Urgent Action Fund strategically leverages its partnerships with colleague funders, affinity groups, and international governing bodies to advocate for the increased security and protection of WHRDs.

Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism
2601 Blanding Ave Suite C, #155
ALAMEDA, California 94501
United States
Phone 4155230360
Twitter @UrgentAct
Unique Identifier 030419743