Over the last 15 years FRIDA has put innovation, bravery and experimentation at the heart of what we do. From a truly radical, transparent and participatory grantmaking model, to young feminist executive directors and a staff complement all under the age of 35, co-leadership models throughout all FRIDA departments and a fully remote organization well before remote was a thing, FRIDA has charted a unique path dedicated to embodying feminist values of freedom, co-responsibility, equality and community even when we did not have a model for what that looked like.
In September 2025 FRIDA held its very first Reverse Call for Applications – our latest offering in bold experimentation and innovation that aims to reimagine philanthropy and grantmaking mechanisms by challenging unequal power dynamics in philanthropy and simplifying resource mobilization and sustainability for movements.
Securing core, flexible funding for feminist activism has historically been challenging. But in a global state of increasing facist-imperialist-capitalist-patriarchy, securing the resources that feminist activists and movements need to survive and to challenge these institutions of oppression has become even more difficult. And while FRIDA has made it a practice to build policies, strategies and grantmaking methodologies that are adaptable and flexible to meet young feminist activists where they are, this moment has called for a more bold and proactive vehicle to play our role in securing the future for young feminist movements.
A prototype envisioned by The RINGO Project and the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), a reverse call for proposals, as they termed it, aims to flip the script on traditional funding mechanisms.
The reversal, challenging and redistribution of power has been a commitment to feminist movements by feminist funds for as long as we have been in existence. As one such commitment within the funding sector to transform vertical and asymmetrical decision-making practices, participatory grantmaking mechanisms have placed decision-making within the broader community of applicants and movement representatives. Participatory grantmaking, however, has to go beyond a mechanism to welcome new grantee partners. It has to be a political commitment that speaks to the core of accountability, systemic change, and movement autonomy as it promotes the reallocation of resources to the territories and communities from which they were initially extracted.
It is in concert with FRIDA’s commitment to a radical feminist grantmaking mechanism that we pursue this further spinning of philanthropy on its head by co-creating and engaging in a reverse call for applications.
At the heart of it, FRIDA’s reverse call is an ongoing commitment to grantee partners to continue to shift power from institutions back to movements. But inclusive of and beyond that the reverse call offers us one more opportunity – community. Whether it is FRIDAs Transition Strategy – which aims to, among other things, connect grantee partners to larger pools of financial and other resources, or the reverse call for applications which asks funders to ‘flip the script’ – the success of these tasks is dependent on the commitment and buy-in of the philanthropic sector. Therefore, the reverse call for applications also invites us to collaborate with other funds to strategize on how to continue to sustain life-affirming work. In this way, the reverse call asks funders to mirror the collaborative innovation we often see in movement spaces, and provides the possibility for the sector to bend, stretch, and hold work we know matters even in the midst of shifting priorities.
Innovation and experimentation are at the heart of our feminist practice, and for the past 15 years, our dedication to learning, failing, adapting and daring to do differently has enabled us to provide young feminist leaders with the resources, guidance and trust to lead, create and transform their movements. Each innovation is an act of shared power – demonstrating how real transformation closely follows when young feminists lead.
Support the sustainability of transformative innovation through young feminist leadership.
Read more about FRIDA’s Reverse Call for Applications 🔍
