- Numun Fund

A title that says Seed, Grow and Sustain that is framed on both sides with green leaves and some pinkish-coloured glowing fruits

Light blue well that also looks like the top of a turquoise globe, from its centre comes a light green hand holding a seed that is blooming with a magenta flower. At the back there is a carmine tree, an orange hill and some blue blocks. There is a magenta hand holding a pink spore that seems to glow. from above another blue hand drops some seeds in the shape of light green leaves into the well. A ribbon of clear water comes out of the well and envelops the whole figure. Some pink glowing spores are in the air.

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Numun Fund’s first call for applications is open!

Open for application: 1 July - 1 August 2022

The Seed, Grow & Sustain Grant Call is aimed at supporting initiatives, collectives, groups and organisations with a focus on feminist tech activism in the Larger World, aka the Global South. Grants are between USD5,000-USD100,000 for a period of 2 years, and is a flexible fund that can be used for general support and/or projects.

Plain text application pack: To support screen readers or places with low bandwidth and connectivity, you can download the application pack in plain text here.

Eligibility and initial application form: To prepare for your submission, you can read through the simple eligibility test and the initial application form here.

Who is Numun Fund?

Numun Fund is the first dedicated fund for feminist tech in, for and led by the Larger World, what we call what is commonly referred to as the Global South. Our aim is to seed and sustain feminist technology infrastructure for movement organising, and we understand digital technologies to be an important part of movement infrastructure. Numun Fund draws on the breadth and depth of knowledge that already exists in social justice and feminist movements, and works to shift power and resources to feminist and women/trans-led groups, organisations and networks who engage with technology in their activism.

Numun is the Sumerian word for “seed” and honors the fact that art, music, literature, science, and technology have flourished across the world, and have been led by communities in the Larger World throughout history.

What is the Seed, Grow & Sustain Grant?

The “Seed, Grow & Sustain” grant is a multi-year, flexible grant open for application by initiatives, collectives, groups and organisations with a focus on feminist tech activism in the Larger World.

The grant is between USD5,000 - USD100,000 for a period of 2 years, depending on where the group is in the life cycle of organised activism. The grant is flexible and can be used for general support and/or projects, and it is our vision and intention to have it open for renewal. Currently, Numun Fund has secured and allocated USD1.5 million for this “Seed, Grow & Sustain” grant call for application.

Seed: USD5,000 - 10,000
This is to seed the work of emerging collectives or initiatives on feminist tech. The idea is to provide resources to support activism that is new, or may have been exploratory, passion-projects and/or driven by volunteers.

Grow: USD10,000 - 50,000
This is to support the growth of groups or initiatives that have been working together for at least 2 years, in formal or informal ways, and who would like to deepen or expand their networks, communities, strategies, initiatives or activism.

Sustain: USD50,000 - USD100,000
This is to contribute to the sustainability of feminist tech groups or organisations by providing general/core and flexible funding that can be directed or adapted to internal organising needs or strategising towards emerging context shifts.

We see feminist tech organising as an emerging and growing movement, and would like to support activists, groups and initiatives at their different stages of growth through this fund. Please note that if you are applying for funds larger than USD10,000, you would need to name a registered organisation who can act as your fiscal sponsor if you are unregistered.

Who can apply?

This grant prioritises application by organising and leadership that is located in the Larger World. We understand this both in terms of territory, as well as in politics, and primarily from the framework of resource disparity, exploitation, exclusion and colonialism. This is an intentional decision due to the exponentially larger resources available for groups based in the Global North, meaning Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Larger World organising and leadership includes those based in:

West, Central, East and Southern Africa
Southeast, South and East Asia
Southwest Asia and North Africa, and across Arabic-speaking countries
The Caribbean
Latin America
Pacific Islands
Eastern Europe and Central Asia; and

Indigenous communities and migrant communities based anywhere in the world.

Please note: Although we have tried to be specific in establishing these criteria to make things as clear as possible, if you believe (based on the politics identified here and our stated goals) that your initiative/collective/group/organisation should be eligible, but you do not feel included by these criteria, we invite you to apply anyway, and let us know in the “additional comments” section your reasons for thinking so.

Ways of organising

Organisations, collectives, co-ops, initiatives, projects or groups with feminist tech as a key issue in your activism, advocacy and/or approach to change (see below how we understand feminist tech).
Your group can be legally registered, formally organised, unregistered or have an identity primarily online (such as a web project).
Your group can be new, emerging, established or experienced, depending on where you are in the lifecycle of organising.
Your group can be a feminist-focused, and/or women-led programme within a larger human rights or digital rights organisation.
At minimum, you are a collective of two as we understand organising and activism to be powered by connection and collaboration.
Your organising is led by the communities whose realities and priorities it aims to meet or represent.
Your organising comprises of communities who have historically been and continue to be subjected to discrimination, oppression, exploitation and/or exclusion, or is in close connection with movements led by them (e.g. indigenous, women, afro-descendant, migrant, refugee, LBTQI, young people, people with disabilities, women living in rural communities, sex workers). While we have named certain communities here, we are conscious that oppression works in many different ways in different contexts, and we encourage you to apply if your activism, organising or project is reaching historically marginalised communities in your context.

What this grant does not support

For-profit technology service providers or app developers with non-profits as a customer base, without connection to movement organising. The fund prioritises support for feminist tech activism that has a social justice agenda at its core.
Initiatives/collectives/groups/organisations based in the Global North, except if led by indigenous communities and migrant communities.
Technology developers, service providers or initiatives with leadership in the Global North that has no direct peer partnership or shared leadership with communities they aim to support or serve. The fund aims to strengthen and amplify leadership from the Larger World, to also address the current disparity in the field.
Technology developers, service providers or initiatives with no direct collaboration with social justice, women’s rights, or feminist movements. This grant approaches technology engagement from a social justice and movement organising perspective.
Organising on feminist tech that is led by cis-gender, heterosexual men. Numun Fund’s mission is to strengthen the leadership of women - understood in all of their diversity: trans, cis, non-binary, young, older, disabled etc - in the field of digital technology and social justice, to also address the current disparity of women often being the ones most affected by technology, but are least represented to define and shape the issue and solutions.
Initiatives/collectives/groups/organisations founded by or structurally dependent on political parties, government agencies or religious institutions
Individual applications. This grant is to support organising and activism, and we understand this to be powered by connection and collaboration.
Academic research that is not directly connected to movements and/or led by the communities it aims to serve.

What is feminist tech?

Every context and movement will have their own ways of defining and approaching feminist tech. For these grants, feminist tech is understood from the perspectives of:

Analysis: Uses a feminist approach to unpack power, challenge prevailing power structures and systems of oppression in engagement with digital technologies (e.g. patriarchy, colonialism, racism, capitalism etc), and proposes solutions, alternatives and responses.
Communities: Centres historically excluded, oppressed or discriminated communities and groups of people who are also often most impacted by developments in science and technology in its activism and vision for change (e.g. indigenous, women, afro-descendant, migrant, refugee, LBTQI, young people, women living in rural communities, people with disabilities, ethnic or religious groups facing marginalisation etc).
Issues: Forefronts feminist priorities on issues related to technology and digital rights. For example, feminist digital safety, bodily integrity and data privacy, gender-based violence and freedom of expression online, safe online movement spaces that can heal from generational trauma, feminist indigenous knowledge and the digital economy, access to sexuality related information and community, feminist engagement with climate crisis and digital technologies, digital archival and memory projects by historically marginalised communities, gender and labour in the digital economy and more.
Activism: This can be from any strategy: from research to campaigns, technology design and development, community building, capacity building, training, knowledge sharing, archiving, artistic practices, content creation, policy advocacy, convening, holding spaces and facilitation methodologies, piloting alternative social organising systems, providing technology support and services to feminist activists etc - whatever meets the realities and idea of change in your community.

How to apply?

The call to apply is open from 1 July - 1 August 2022. To make the application process as light as possible, there are 3 parts to the process. You will only be asked to write and submit a full application if your activism and ideas meets the eligibility criteria, and is longlisted after an initial prioritisation process.

Eligibility & priority Check if your initiative/collective/group/organisation meets the priority set out for the call. Respond to the questions in the simple eligibility self-assessment form online here. If you meet the eligibility, you will be sent a link to to fill in more information in the ideas and activism form.
Ideas & activism (initial application) This form contains some foundational questions about who you are, the work that you do, how you organise, the communities and/or movements you are part of, and how you understand your activism and organising to be about feminism and technology. This is not intended to be a full application form, but rather to get to know a bit more about your ideas and activism as it relates to feminism and technology. Think of it more as an expression of interest to apply, or a brief concept note.

You are encouraged to fill in the initial application form online. You can also save it to fill it in later before submission by clicking on “save”. You will receive an email with a link to the form so you can continue where you left off. If you are having specific challenges in accessing and filling up the form online, please email us so we can help figure out a solution with you.

Full application If your expression of interest is longlisted after an initial prioritisation process, you will be invited to submit a full application form. We aim to send invitations to longlisted applicants via email by 1 Sept 2022.

What is the process?

This grant is shaped through input and participation from the Grantmaking Design Circle, an advisory group made up by activists and practitioners in feminist tech, human rights, women’s funds and intersectional feminist and social justice movements, led by the Larger World. A community-led selection committee will participate in the peer review and final selection of the applications. The committee includes members from the Grantmaking Design Circle, co-dreamers and makers of Numun Fund, as well as activists from priority regions or movements.

July-August	Call for application is open! Receiving initial applications through an online form. Latest submission date: 1 August 2022. Q & A sessions.
August	Initial applications are screened and longlisted by Numun Fund core team using prioritisation criteria.
Sept-October	Longlisted applicants are invited to submit a full application. Invitations are aimed to be sent out by 1 Sept 2022. Applicants will have 1 month to submit the full application. Q & A sessions.
October-November	Applications are reviewed by a community-led selection committee guided by the prioritisation criteria. Numun Fund team gets in touch with named references in the application forms and conducts due diligence.
Nov-December	All longlisted applicants are informed of final selection. We aim to do this latest by 14 Nov.
December	All new grant agreements are signed. We aim to do this by 16 Dec.

What languages can applications be made in?

Numun Fund is committed to supporting a diversity of languages and critically aware of structures of power and privileges that underpin the accessibility of languages online. At the same time, we are currently only able to launch this call with English as the primary working language, for different reasons described here. This means that we can only receive applications in English, even as we are translating key documents into several languages. If this means you’re unable to apply, please write to us and we will work towards figuring out a solution with you. All applications will be read with a default understanding that English is not the first language of the applicant.

We are launching this call in English while acknowledging that language is a real barrier to accessing funding for many activists, initiatives, collectives. This was a very difficult decision to make. Language justice and inclusion is much more than the translation of key documents into many languages. To truly commit to language justice would mean having language and communication capacity at every step of the grantmaking process - from the design of the application to support throughout the process, including responding to questions, understanding nuance and context, centering participatory decision-making, and building trust at every step.

Right now, we are able to meet only some parts of this through our team and Grantmaking Design Circle, in languages such as Spanish, Bahasa Indonesia/Melayu, Arabic and French. But to truly embody this commitment in a way that could facilitate meaningful communication and engagement throughout the entire process would mean taking a significant amount of time to build the relationships, processes and tools necessary for this to minimally work. This would mean not being able to launch our first open call till later in 2023, which did not feel like the best decision for all our communities.

While this first call is just in English, we commit to doing all we can to build our capacities and learn from our peers on how to meaningfully and inclusively run grantmaking calls in more languages in future calls, and to being open about sharing these learnings as we move towards this goal. We hope that by sharing our working and thinking behind this not-perfect decision, we can build accountability and understanding, and ask for your solidarity as we learn, build and listen. We welcome thoughts and advice on how we can better work towards this goal.