Can you recommend effective places to donate in support of women and girls facing sex-based oppression?

[FlirtsWithRhinos]

After feeling so helpless on the most recent thread on abuse of teenage girls by gangs, I thought it would be helpful to have a thread we can ask about or highlight charities or groups we know to be effective, or at least genuinely trying, to help the women and girls facing oppression because of our sex.

So often these things happen in private or in communities that one is not part of, making it hard to know where best to donate to help or make a difference.

There are causes I would like to donate to but short of a random Google have no idea which groups exist and most importantly which are most effective. I suspect many of the orgs supporting these type of causes are operating small scale and local. I'm hoping between the women on FWR we have people who can recommend some.

This isn't a purity test thread. I don't care if I disagree with how a group defines a woman as long as they are making a difference where it matters. I also don't care if they are attached to a religious group. Many of the good people tackling gang issues are attached to churches and mosques.

Specific causes I'd like to support are

Preventing FGM, ideally through education as much as intervention, and supporting girls and women who have survived it

Protecting girls at risk of being pulled into gangs and the sexual abuse that comes with it, and supporting survivors in court and to rebuild their lives.

Groups working to give kids of both sexes social and safe alternatives to gang culture in the first place.

Women in Afghanistan.

If you know of effective groups in these areas, or have other causes you would like to know how best to supprt, please reply to highlight them.

If possible, do include whether the group is a registered charity or not. Some employers have staff donation schemes that can increase the amount donated, and of course if a charity can claim gift aid that increases it as well.

So just to clarify (I give to the Big Give and other charities) is it the individual charities that are responsible for sourcing match funding? Naive question but I thought TBG did that. Should I just donate directly?

The individual charities have to source the match funding. That’s part of the challenge for many.

many ask donors to wait until the big give opens before giving. If the donors gives “wrong” it can’t be matched.

it’s a logistical nightmare

@Igmumif you were planning to give anyway, can time your gift for the Big Give and make sure you give in a way that counts for the appeal - do so via the Big Give.

I would say Make Space For Girls. They are all about making sure that parks and sports facilities really consider what girls need to keep active for puberty onwards. They really help community groups and councils consult and find ways to create public spaces that girls want to use.

It’s fundamental and grass roots stuff- and about equality of opportunity and of spending on the part of developers or councils. We know that girls stop being active and able to be outside and part of life at puberty - and a good part of that is lack of places that they feel safe to be in at all - let alone play sports or be active. Make Space for Girls have lots of really useful research and resources to show what works, and ways to make spaces girls will use as much as boys.

Under the Big Give Match Funding scheme, whether a group has to find a donor depends on the specific campaign model being used:

• Pledge Model (e.g., the Christmas Challenge): Yes.
• Charities must source their own "Pledgers" (such as trustees, major donors, local businesses, or foundations) to commit a portion of the match funding pot—typically 25% of the total campaign target. Once the charity secures these pledges, Big Give then matches them with funds from its own network of "Champion" partners (another 25%), which are unlocked by public donations during the campaign week. 1, 2]

• 1:1 Model (e.g., Women and Girls Match Fund or Small Charity Week): No.
• For these campaigns, Big Give and its partner organisations directly provide and assign the "Champion" match funding pot; charities do not need to source their own individual pledgers to unlock the match

I hope this helps those have been made to wonder whether to give money to women's groups when there is the added incentive of having your donation doubled!

Donors still have to give. If no donor gives to the campaign they don’t get anything. It is a 1:1 match. If a donor gives £20, that unlocks £20 from the pot.

They don’t need pledges in advance true BUT they still need to coordinate donors to give in the right way, at the right time to unlock the match funding made available by Big Give and here’s the catch…

Big Give secures their funding pot from donors and other funders - in some cases from funders who would give directly to the group without any need for a match.