Channel Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Channel Foundation supports organizations combating gender inequality around the world.
IP TAKE: Channel is a smaller organization in the international human rights funding field. It strictly focuses on women’s rights and supports a number of initiatives in this funding space. Though a generous funder, the Channel Foundation is not the most accessible. Get in touch with its previous grantees to learn how to get on its radar. Contact it’s staff to learn more about how it chooses what to fund.
PROFILE: Established in 1998 by philanthropist Elaine Nonneman, the Channel Foundation originally dedicated itself to international organizations working in the fields of poverty and gender equity, biodiversity conservation, protection of indigenous people’s land rights and human rights, sustainable economic development, and human rights. In 2006 the foundation shifted its focus to exclusively support women and girls in the global human rights space. Its grantmaking focuses on the following programs: Advancing Indigenous Women’s Rights and Leadership, Ensuring Women’s Participation in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Eradicating Legal Inequality, Ending Violence Against Women and Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders, Amplifying Gender Equality in the Media, Promoting the Rights of Women with Disabilities, Strengthening the Women’s Funding Movement, Securing Reproductive Rights/Justice and Women’s Leadership and Human Rights Institutes.
Grants for Women and Girls
Channel grantmaking programs are wide reaching and exclusively support women. The foundation partners with both national and global women-led organizations that promote women’s rights on a broad range of issues. Past grantees include Cultural Survival, which received a grant for its Strengthening Indigenous Women in Leadership in Community Radio program. The Global Fund for Women is also a past grantee. It received multiple awards over the years, including a grant supporting women-led initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa.
Grants for LGBTQ
While the foundation does not have a specific focus area that supports LGBTQ rights, all of its grantmaking programs prioritize the rights of women and trans people. Past grantees focused on LGBTQ rights include OutRight Action International, an organization which “works at the international, regional and national levels to research, document, defend, and advance human rights for LGBTIQ people around the world.” Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is another previous grant recipient that works for transgender human rights.
Grants for Human Rights
The foundation implements a global strategy foundation-wide, and although it does not have a specific geographic region of focus, it pays particular attention to increasing the dialogue “between activists, educators, and community leaders from the Global South.” Beyond this focus, Channel’s grantmaking programs support catalytic women’s human rights organizations that work at the international, national and regional levels. Past grantees include Conectas Human Rights, a nonprofit that works to promote human rights and the Rule of Law in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and The Afghan Institute for Learning.
Grants for Racial and Indigenous Justice
The Advancing Indigenous Women’s Rights and Leadership program supports “strengthening the indigenous women’s rights movement.” Consorcio Oaxaca is a past grantee, as are The International Indigenous Women’s Forum, International Funders For Indigenous Peoples, and The Association for Women’s Rights in Development.
Grants for Violence Prevention
While many of the foundation’s programs address preventing violence against women, the most prominent is the Ending Violence Against Women and Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders initiative. This program seeks to support “campaigns working to end all forms of violence against women and trans people through litigation, legal and policy advocacy, and by promoting behavioral and societal shifts.” Another program is Ensuring Women’s Participation in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, which supports the inclusion of women at all levels of peacebuilding. Past grantees include Fund For Global Human Rights, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, and Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights.
Grants for Public Health
As with all of Channel’s focus areas, the Promoting the Rights of Women with Disabilities program and the Securing Reproductive Rights/Justice initiative support women’s rights nationally and across the global south. Past grantees include Women’s Link Worldwide, “uses the power of the law to promote social change” for women and girls, RESURJ, which works to secure women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health, Women Enabled International, which seeks to advance the rights of women and girls with disabilities around the world, and Mobility International USA, which seeks to empower people with disabilities around the world.
Grants for Journalism
Channel’s Amplifying Gender Equality in Media supports “women’s voices in the media via community radio, journalism, media and communications training and coverage of gender issues.” Past journalism grantees include the Global Press Institute, which received funding for its work employing women in developing media markets, and World Pulse, a media network operated by women in over 190 countries around the world.
Important Grant Details:
The Channel Foundation makes grants by invitation only and therefore, does not accept unsolicited proposals. The foundation’s grants range from $20,000 to $25,000; however, a few grants range from $10,000 to $15,000. To learn about the types of organizations Channel supports, examine its grants awarded page.
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