Strengthening Movements for Gender Equality in Europe: €2.7 Million Grant Opportunity Now Open

he Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe has officially launched its 2026 call for proposals titled “Strengthening Movements for Gender Equality.” This major funding opportunity, backed by a coalition of leading European philanthropic foundations, aims to reinforce grassroots, intersectional, and feminist movements across Europe. With a total budget of €2,700,000, this initiative represents one of the most significant multi-year investments in gender equality organizing across the continent.

This call is rooted in the Alliance’s 2025–2027 strategic framework, which identifies movement strengthening as a core priority. As stated in the document, “Grassroot organisations [must] be better equipped to respond to needs, seize opportunities, and fight back against the anti-gender movement.”

About the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe

Founded in 2021, the Alliance is a philanthropic initiative hosted by the Network of European Foundations. It is composed of several major European foundations, including:

• Bodossaki Foundation
• Fondation BNP Paribas
• Fondation CHANEL
• Fondazione con il Sud
• Fondation de France
• Fondation RAJA-Danièle Marcovici
• King Baudouin Foundation
• L’Oréal Fund for Women

Through grantmaking, capacity strengthening, and awareness-raising, the Alliance works to dismantle harmful gender norms and structural barriers that reinforce inequality. “The Alliance improves gender equality for all by transforming harmful gender norms and addressing the structural barriers that reinforce inequality and exclusion.”

Why This Call Matters: The Current Context in Europe

Across Europe, feminist and gender equality movements are facing unprecedented backlash. Anti-gender actors are influencing democratic backsliding, reversing hard-won rights, and weakening civil society. The document notes that “countries with a lower presence of feminist and women’s movements have the highest biases against gender equality.”

To counter this trend, the Alliance emphasizes the importance of collaboration, solidarity, and long-term investment. Strengthening movements helps:

• Identify shared goals
• Build cross-border alliances
• Amplify marginalized voices
• Break down silos across issues, identities, and geographies

This call is designed to support exactly these types of transformative collaborations.

Funding Overview

• Total available funding: €2,700,000
• Grant size: €225,000–€450,000 per coalition (over 3 years)
• Funding period: January 2027 – December 2029
• Overhead cap: 20%
• Expected number of funded coalitions: 6–12

Funding is provided as project support and may include salaries and overheads.

Objectives of the Call

The overarching goal is to foster collaboration and solidarity within European intersectional and grassroots movements to advance gender equality long-term.

Applicants must demonstrate how their proposal strengthens movements according to the Alliance’s definition: “a set of interconnected activities aiming to build, organise, and transform power within feminist and gender equality movements.”

Expected Outcomes

Proposals must contribute to at least one of the following:

1. Reinforced community organizing at local or national levels
2. Strengthened pan-European feminist collaborations
3. Expanded alliances between gender equality and other social justice movements
4. Amplified pro–gender equality narratives across multiple spaces
5. Feminist-informed contributions to policy debates

Eligible Activities

Examples include:

• National, regional, or pan-European convenings
• Joint campaigns with allied movements (climate justice, LGBTQI+, disability rights, anti-racism, etc.)
• Narrative-change training and digital storytelling
• Cross-border advocacy targeting EU institutions or national governments
• Facilitated coalition-building sessions
• Translating academic research into movement strategies

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify, applicants must meet the following:

• Submit a collective proposal with at least 3 organisations
• Be legally registered non-profit organisations
• Be based and operating in eligible countries (EU, UK, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia)
• Be small or medium grassroots organisations within budget thresholds:
  • €450,000 for Western/Northern Europe
  • €300,000 for Eastern/Southern Europe
• Demonstrate community-led leadership
• Work with marginalised women, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people
• Use gender-transformative and intersectional approaches
• Submit the proposal in English
• Only one application per organisation (lead or partner)

Selection Criteria (100 Points Total)

• Relevance to call objective – 20 points
• Track record in movement strengthening – 20 points
• Impact potential – 25 points
• Collaborative and inclusive partnership approach – 20 points
• Quality and feasibility – 15 points

Application Timeline (Important Deadlines)

• 1st stage opens: 29 June 2026
• Q&A webinars: 6 July & 15 July 2026
• 1st stage closes: 7 August 2026 at 23:59 CEST
• Pre-selection results: 14 September 2026
• 2nd stage opens: 16 September 2026
• 2nd stage closes: 23 October 2026
• Final results: December 2026
• Grant start: January 2027

Participatory Selection Process

For the first time, the Alliance will pilot a participatory selection model. Decisions will be made jointly by funders and non-funders with equal power. This aims to create more democratic, informed, and responsive grantmaking.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted online through the Alliance’s platform. A PDF version of the form is available for reference, but submissions must be completed digitally.

For questions, applicants may join the Q&A webinars.