Frequently Asked Questions

FRIDA uses the term ‘feminist’ broadly to refer to individuals and collectives working within women’s movements or in other social movements to promote and work towards the safety, equality, justice, rights and dignity of girls, women and other marginalized groups. Based on the understanding that fundamental discrimination occurs within patriarchal systems of domination in all societies, young feminists are determined to challenge, address and change the root causes of these existing inequalities, rights violations and injustice. We recognize that there are multiple feminisms and foster opportunities for expressing those principles in our work. FRIDA emphasizes feminist principles throughout all of its work. These principles include: non-hierarchy, collectivity, participation, diversity, and inclusion. We define young feminist activists as individuals from across the gender spectrum committed to advancing gender equality and women’s rights through explicitly feminist means. FRIDA focuses on activism led by feminists under 30 years of age.

When we use the word trans, we talk about any person whose gender identity and/or expression differs from the sex assigned at birth. Some folks identify as (trans) women or (trans) men, transgender, transsexual, non-binary, genderqueer, gender diverse, gender non-conforming, or agender people. Others as fa’afafine, leiti, fakafifine, akava’ine, mahu, vakasalewalewa, palopa, Sistergirls, Brotherboys, whakawahine, tangata ira tane, muxhe, omeguid, travesti, two spirit, hijra, bandhu, mangalamukhi, kinnar, thirunangai, thirunambi, khwaja sira, meti, katoey, waria, mak nyah, kua xing nan, trans laki-laki, transpinay, transpinoy, kwaa-sing- bit.
FRIDA strives to decolonise the way we understand and talk about gender identities and bodies, and the terminology we use when describing folks and experiences. For the sake of simplicity, we use the word trans in our communications, but recognise that behind it there are multiple, complex and beautiful ways of living gender. The term trans is not one that FRIDA assigns to people, but rather one that is self assigned. FRIDA fully believes in autonomy and self determination as essential feminist values.
Intersex is a term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations. Intersex youth refers to young individuals born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth while in others, they are not apparent until puberty. Some chromosomal intersex variations may not be physically apparent at all.

FRIDA grants are dedicated to organizations/groups that are led by girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth aged 30 and under. FRIDA recognizes that there are limited funding opportunities for young feminist activists under the age of 30 so FRIDA seeks to fill this gap. If your group is led by young women or trans and intersex youth up to 35 years of age you can still apply if the majority (70% or more) of your organization’s members is 30 or under. However, priority will be given to groups led by girls, young women, trans and/or intersex youth aged 30 and under.

FRIDA accepts that the age range covered includes young people who in many contexts are already considered ‘adults’ (mothers, married, income earners, voters, etc.) and that there is an inadvertent cultural and class bias in conceptions of what makes a “young” activist. However, FRIDA is committed to supporting groups that demonstrate a solid commitment to feminist activism and movement building while doing our best not to reinforce an artificial concept of ‘youth’ as an identity.  

Yes, but 70% of membership needs to be people aged 30 and under and the leadership in the group needs to be girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth aged 30 and under.

Yes, we highly encourage you to apply! Since the very first grantmaking cycle, FRIDA has been funding and supporting young feminist groups led by teenage girls or centred on teenage girls. This includes cis girls, trans, intersex and gender non-conforming teenagers. Through the movement-driven participatory grantmaking process, overall we have supported several girl-led and girl – centered groups in Asia & Pacific, Eastern, Western, Southern, Central Africa, South West Asia and North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central and North Asia

At this moment, FRIDA will not provide funding to groups led by young cis men even if they self-define as feminists because of our limited resources that are dedicated to address the fundamental inequality and discrimination faced by girls, young women, trans and intersex youth. While cis-men may be members of groups, 70% of the membership must be girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth and the leadership in the group needs to be girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth aged 30 and under.

Yes, but 70% of the membership needs to be girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth and the leadership in the group needs to be girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth aged 30 and under.

FRIDA is a fund that is dedicated to support small, emerging grassroots groups, networks, or collectives with little or no access to funding from larger donors, so the priority will be given to groups that have an overall budget less than 50,000USD.

Yes! We strongly encourage you to apply again!

FRIDA only accepts application submitted by young feminist organizations or groups or collectives.

At this moment FRIDA does not fund individual/academic research, scholarships and travel grants. If your group wants to submit a proposal for research such as monitoring, analyzing and responding to issues in your community, and to use it directly for advocacy, or for sharing knowledge and recording/preserving lived  stories, or other reasons that you identify as vital to your activism, you are eligible to apply. FRIDA will support activist driven research with a collective, independent process, not connected to institutions.

It is not necessary to have 5 years of experience in order to apply for a FRIDA grant. On the contrary, FRIDA supports newly formed organizations and groups founded in the period between 2015 and 2022.

FRIDA generally supports groups, networks, or collectives based in Eastern, Western, Southern, Central Africa; Asia and the Pacific; South West Asia and North Africa; Latin America; the Caribbean and Central, Southern, Eastern Europe and Caucasus and Central and North Asia. 

We do not support groups based in the following highly-industrialized countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark,Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America.

No. Your young feminist group/organization does not need to be legally registered in order to be eligible to apply. In many cases, newly established young feminist groups struggle to become registered and in others, groups make a political decision to not register themselves. FRIDA is open and committed to supporting both unregistered groups as well as those that are legally registered as non-government organizations in their countries.

At this stage of the application process, it is not necessary to submit a detailed budget, only an overview of how you plan to use the grant.

You can apply in one of the following languages: Spanish, French, Arabic, English, Portuguese or Russian.

No. A group can apply only once, with only one grant application. Groups who applied in previous grant cycles are welcome to apply again!

After the participatory grantmaking process, selected groups are awarded a grant of $6,000 USD. Grant funding can be used over a period of one year. At the end of the year, FRIDA grantee partners are asked to submit a report and are invited to apply for a renewal of their grant.

FRIDA grants may be used by groups based on their collectively identified needs. Grants may be used for project support eg: to plan and host workshops or trainings, to fund transport, food and other relevant materials for group activities and may also be used for general support eg: to pay staff salaries/stipends, rent of an office space or relevant utilities. Groups who receive the FRIDA grant will receive more information about the ways the grant can be used in their welcome package.

We strongly recommend that you apply via FRIDA’s online grantmaking platform. If for any reason you are not able to access the platform, please email us at proposals@youngfeministfund.org

Applicants vote for applications that they think should be supported in their region. 

One of the things that makes FRIDA’s grantmaking different is your participation as an applicant, which is central to the decision around which groups will receive the final grants. FRIDA believes that young feminists are experts on feminist and human rights issues in their regions and within the thematics they work on. So, FRIDA believes that an important decision like where the funding should go is one that should be made by those who will eventually receive it. At this stage, all eligible applications are divided into voting groups within FRIDA’s 6 regions.

Once your application has made it to the voting stage, your group will be asked to vote for the top 3 applications in your voting group. Voting is mandatory, and your group will be disqualified if you do not participate in the voting process. 

The number of voting groups varies by region, as well as the number of applicants that will be awarded in each voting group. The voting groups are divided sub-regionally and/or thematically.

No, you can’t vote for your group. FRIDA’s voting is a transparent process and groups that vote for themselves will not be accepted.

All applications must be submitted by April 19, 2022.