Introduction
Numun Fund is a global feminist fund dedicated to supporting feminist technology activism in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Southwest Asia and North Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Pacific. It describes itself as the first dedicated fund for feminist technology created in, for and led by the “Larger World.”
The fund provides flexible grants and movement-building support to feminist groups, women- and trans-led organizations, digital rights activists and social justice movements. Its funding helps communities develop digital infrastructure, improve online safety, strengthen technology skills and challenge discrimination, surveillance and unequal access to technology.
Numun Fund operates at the intersection of feminist philanthropy, digital rights, gender equality and social justice. Its grantmaking recognizes that secure and accessible technology is essential infrastructure for modern movement organizing.
History and Background
Numun Fund emerged in June 2020 through conversations among feminist activists, funders and technology practitioners. The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns demonstrated the importance of digital platforms, communication systems and online security for social movements.
At the same time, the pandemic exposed significant inequalities in technology access, infrastructure and decision-making. Feminist movements increasingly depended on digital tools while facing online violence, censorship, surveillance and inadequate funding for technology-related work.
Numun’s founders began developing a dedicated funding mechanism that would shift resources and decision-making power toward feminist technology groups in the Majority World. Its founding team included Jac sm Kee, Anasuya Sengupta and Esra’a Al Shafei.
The word “Numun” means “seed” in Sumerian. The name recognizes the long history of communities in the Global South contributing to art, science, literature and technology.
Mission and Purpose
Numun Fund’s mission is to shift power and resources to feminist and women- and trans-led groups, organizations and networks that use technology to advance social justice.
Its central purpose is to seed, resource and sustain a feminist technology ecosystem. Numun views digital technology as movement infrastructure rather than simply a set of commercial products or communication tools.
The fund supports information technology, digital security, data activism, online organizing, skills exchange and strategic communications. It also helps movements resist government and corporate surveillance, censorship, online gender-based violence and unjust technology regulation.
Numun seeks to strengthen the capacity of activists to assess their technology needs and develop appropriate tools for safety, organizing, resource distribution and movement building.
Governance and Structure
Numun Fund uses a feminist and participatory governance model intended to share power with the movements it supports.
An Accountability Council provides peer accountability and oversight. Its role includes assessing whether Numun fulfills its mission, follows its feminist values and meets financial, fiduciary, legal and performance obligations.
A Grantmaking Design Circle brings together activists and practitioners from feminist technology, human rights, women’s funds, digital rights and intersectional social justice movements. This group helped shape Numun’s funding streams, application processes and grantmaking principles.
Funding decisions also involve a Community-led Selection Committee. The committee includes activists from relevant regions and movements, members of the Grantmaking Design Circle, Numun team members and representatives of funded organizations. It participates in peer review and final grant selection.
Numun operates with a geographically distributed team rooted primarily in the regions it serves. Team members work remotely and use role descriptions such as cartographers, weavers and choreographers to reflect the fund’s collaborative organizational culture.
The fund is incubated by Women Win, which serves as its fiscal sponsor and founding-stage thought partner. Women Win provides registered nonprofit entities in the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands through which Numun can receive grants and other financial contributions.
Funding and Grants
Numun Fund raises resources from philanthropic foundations, women’s funds and social justice donors. Its founding supporters included Oak Foundation, Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds, Global Fund for Women, Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations.
Numun’s principal grantmaking mechanism is the Seed, Grow and Sustain program. It provides core and flexible funding based on the stage of development of a feminist technology group.
Seed grants have historically ranged from USD 5,000 to USD 10,000. They support emerging activism, experimental initiatives and groups beginning to explore the relationship between feminism and technology.
Grow grants have ranged from USD 10,000 to USD 50,000. They support organizations that have worked together for at least two years and want to deepen, strengthen or expand their activities.
Sustain grants have ranged from USD 50,000 to USD 100,000. They contribute to the long-term sustainability of established feminist technology organizations that play an important role in their movements or regions.
The first grant cycle provided flexible support for two years. Funding could generally be used for organizational development, digital infrastructure, staff, programs, security, learning and other priorities identified by recipient groups.
Numun currently states that it has no open grant applications. Interested groups should subscribe to its mailing list for future announcements rather than submitting unsolicited proposals.
Major Programs and Initiatives
Seed, Grow and Sustain is Numun Fund’s primary grantmaking program. Its structure recognizes that feminist groups require different forms of support depending on whether they are testing an idea, expanding established activities or maintaining long-term movement infrastructure.
The first Seed, Grow and Sustain cycle launched through an open call in 2022. The second cycle launched in August 2024. Rather than issuing another completely open call, Numun invited longlisted applicants from the first round to resubmit and allowed existing grantee partners to seek renewal or progression to another funding level.
This approach was intended to reduce the unpaid labor associated with repeated grant applications and provide continuity for organizations already contributing to the feminist technology ecosystem.
The Feminist Tech Playground is an activist-led learning and experimentation space. It brings participants together to explore feminist approaches to open-source software, virtual private networks, cryptocurrency, disability and technology, online care, feminist economies and internet principles.
Numun also supports peer exchange among women’s funds and their grantee partners. Its Trueque initiative has facilitated discussions about digital safety, environmental justice, participatory grantmaking and the relationship between technology and women’s rights.
The Community and Network Plugin provides smaller grants for collaboration, exchange and collective learning among groups supported through Seed, Grow and Sustain.
Numun additionally participates in international forums and convenings where it advocates for feminist technology perspectives and increased philanthropic investment in digital movement infrastructure.
Impact and Examples of Work Funded
The first Seed, Grow and Sustain cycle attracted more than 2,000 expressions of interest and over 800 applications. Numun selected 43 groups and mobilized approximately USD 1.6 million in flexible, multiyear funding.
For Seed, Grow and Sustain 2.0, Numun received close to 80 applications. It supported 13 new Grow recipients and three new Sustain recipients working across 21 countries. It also renewed support for 13 existing Grow and eight Sustain groups operating across 30 countries. The second cycle mobilized approximately USD 2.35 million.
Supported organizations work on digital security, online gender-based violence, technology access, feminist data, community-owned infrastructure, digital literacy and technology policy.
The Kyrgyz Space Program is a women- and girls-led initiative seeking to launch Kyrgyzstan’s first satellite. It provides engineering education and satellite-building activities intended to increase the participation of women and girls in science and technology.
Data Crítica uses open-source tools, data visualization and artificial intelligence to support anti-patriarchal research and creative work in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Channapatna Health Library in India brings women health workers and feminist technology designers together to develop community-owned digital infrastructure and preserve local knowledge about health and care.
Pollicy is an East African feminist civic technology collective conducting research and policy advocacy on data, digital rights and technology. Its work includes creating regional spaces for discussion about data governance and feminist technology policy.
The Matavale Women’s Association supports women and girls in Pacific Island rural communities by strengthening access to technology and digital skills.
Other funded work has helped Indigenous communities in Guatemala address online violence, assisted women in Rwanda in obtaining safe abortion information and services, assessed the digital safety needs of sex workers in Central Asia, and preserved movement histories in India and Southwest Asia and North Africa.
Conclusion
Numun Fund occupies a distinctive position within feminist philanthropy and technology funding. Created in 2020, it responds to the growing importance of digital infrastructure for feminist organizing and the persistent lack of resources available to movements in the Majority World.
Its participatory grantmaking model involves activists in designing funding programs, reviewing applications and determining how resources should be distributed. Flexible Seed, Grow and Sustain grants allow groups to explore new ideas, expand proven work and maintain essential feminist technology infrastructure.
Potential applicants should note that Numun does not currently have an open grant call. Future eligibility requirements, grant values and application procedures may differ from previous cycles.
Feminist groups, women- and trans-led organizations, digital rights activists and movement networks interested in future funding should monitor official announcements and subscribe to the fund’s mailing list.
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