This past April FRIDA travelled to Oxford, England and Narrm, Australia for the 2026 Skoll World Forum and Women Deliver 2026 respectively. Through broad yet intersecting themes that are incredibly important to both philanthropy and feminist movement building in this moment in history, it was important to us to centre, first and foremost, the political commitments and contributions of young feminist activists.
As feminist and allied funds embark on the big, albeit not entirely new, questions that will guide how philanthropy shifts and reimagines itself in order to become the partner and ally that movements really need in this moment – we, inspired by the Australian Welcome to Country ritual – keep returning to the young feminists of FRIDA’s past, present and future. Young feminists who have not only posited these questions but have spent years developing the frameworks that may begin to answer them.
We turn to and foreground their expertise to illuminate the way.
The Skoll World Forum is a yearly event whose aim is to shine a spotlight on some of the most promising solutions and impactful social innovations and connect leaders who are driving social progress around the world. Funding through tension: catalyzing change in turbulent times, a side event at the World Forum, examined the possibilities for the philanthropic sector to adapt – in these times of polycrisis – to meaningfully support social justice efforts.
“At a moment of compounding crises—including shrinking civic space, democratic backsliding, accelerating climate risk, and protracted armed conflict around the world—philanthropy is under increasing pressure to adapt. Yet while strategies are evolving, the underlying funding infrastructure and decision-making logic has not kept pace with the complexity and speed of the world we are operating in.”
This side event convened leaders from global collaborative and intermediary funds to ask:
- How do we balance trust in grantees with ever-increasing risks?
- Is now the time to be investing in systems or in the grassroots? Is it possible to think long-term when new urgent threats emerge so rapidly?
Interested in reading more about FRIDA’s interventions at the Skoll World Forum?
In this concurrent session, FRIDA and Numun Fund gathered with participants to envision a feminist tech resilient future, share alternatives, desires, core principles and ultimately an ownership that creates a safe and joyful digital territory. We chose to break away from tech systems that replicate systemic oppressions and power dynamics by imagining resilient practices and infrastructure.
Keep an eye out for the full publication on this warm, invigorating and inspiring session.
Hosted by The Adolescent Girls Investment Plan, this session fostered intergenerational accountability and collective action to uphold safeguarding as a shared commitment to protect and advance girls’ rights, agency and leadership in increasingly challenging environments.
Interested in FRIDA’S recommendations to fill safeguarding gaps?
Hosted By Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism, in this session, frontline activists and feminist funds made the case for resourcing collective care as an essential part of movement-building and sustenance, especially in times of acute crisis.
Interested in how FRIDA resources collective Care?
Hosted by ILGA World, ILGA Oceania and Outright International, this session explored the lived realities of LGBTIQ+ individuals within feminist and SRHR movements, while interrogating the structural and political silos that continue to limit meaningful inclusion.
Interested in reading Paige, FRIDA CoED, experience of LBQ organizing in the Caribbean and finding acceptance and solidarity with the feminist movement?
