Funding for Inclusion Discussion Guide for Thoughtful Funder Reflection

These questions pertain to GrantCraft's guide, Funding for Inclusion: Women and Girls in the Equation. Read the guide independently. Then, together with your executive, program, and communications teams, dive into the following questions:

Warm-up Question

1. How are women viewed in your country? What roles and positions do women occupy in public and private life? How many women are in positions of power?

Focus on Your Foundation

2. What does gender mean to your foundation? Does your definition align with the those given in the guide? In what ways are they similar and different?

3. Has your foundation examined its programming through a gender lens? In what ways could it do this?

4. Does your grantmaking take into account social inclusion? In what ways?

Focus on Grantees

5. Are your grantees serving targeted population groups? Do any of the social exclusion problems your grantees seek to resolve stem from gender?

6. What types of identity dilemmas might your grantee’s constituents face?

7. Sharing and networking can help provide support. In what ways can you help your grantees exchange experiences and lessons learned from working with different genders?

Zoom Out: Strategic Direction

8. The section “Taking a Look at How You Work” reviews strategies and practices foundations can take to start funding more inclusively. Which of these could your foundation adopt? Where might you face challenges in making changes?

9. Have you ever had to change the intended audience of your grantmaking because funding just one segment of the audience group wasn't enough? Have you ever had to change your grantmaking to include a larger audience than you anticipated? Why? Was the problem interconnected to other audience groups?

10. Has your foundation ever conducted joint programs with internal or external partners? Can you think of potential partners to collaborate on funding gender initiatives? What would be the benefits? What would be difficult?

Dive In: Building Off of Examples

11. What concrete examples from the guide resonated with you the most? Why?

12. There are many entry points to spark conversations and shift practices on gender, including a board member’s concern, a compelling story, research, media articles, or an internal review. What points of entry can you imagine using to engage your executive staff and/or board?

13. On page 12, several examples of how women’s organizations play different roles in their communities. Do women play similar or different roles in your community? How are they similar or different?

Elsewhere on GrantCraft

14. GrantCraft enlists guest bloggers (you, our readers to share their wisdom on a variety of topics with our audience. How could guest blogs – either writing them or hosting them – be an effective tool at your foundation? For your grantees?