04/03/2026
The Ever Feminist Fund: Designed by Women, For Women — Shifting Power Where It Belongs
The NAAPU Indigenous Women Fund is more than a funding mechanism. It is a feminist act of redistribution — shifting power, resources, and decision-making into the hands of grassroots Indigenous women who have always led, yet have rarely been resourced to lead on their own terms.
It is a fund designed by women, for women — rooted in landscapes, belief systems, knowledge, and priorities defined by Indigenous women themselves. It invests in those too often unseen, unheard, and excluded from traditional philanthropy — not as beneficiaries, but as architects of change.
A New Era of Power, Justice, and Indigenous Women’s Leadership
For generations, Indigenous women have stood at the heart of their communities — protecting ancestral lands, sustaining culture and language, responding to climate shocks, and organizing for justice in the face of systemic exclusion. They have been guardians, healers, strategists, and movement builders — often without recognition, and even more often without resources.
Despite their central role in sustaining communities and defending rights, Indigenous women’s organizations have remained historically underfunded and structurally marginalized within mainstream philanthropy.
The NAAPU Fund was born from decades of grassroots organizing and lived experience. It emerged as a direct response to the systemic barriers Indigenous women face in accessing funding — rigid application systems, extractive donor frameworks, and the persistent lack of trust in community-led structures.
NAAPU exists to shift power — not symbolically, but materially.
Redistributing Resources, Reclaiming Self-Determination
As an Indigenous women-led feminist fund, NAAPU mobilizes and redistributes resources directly to grassroots Indigenous women, girls, and marginalized communities. It is grounded in a simple but transformative principle: Indigenous women are not recipients of change — they are its leaders, designers, and decision-makers.
Governance, design, implementation, and accountability are led by Indigenous women themselves. The Fund is rooted in trust, solidarity, and long-term systems transformation rather than short-term project outputs.
Its launch marked a historic milestone. With a commitment of £988,000 from Comic Relief, the first funding circle is supporting more than 30 Indigenous women-led groups — including both formally registered and informal collectives. This investment represents more than financial support; it signals recognition, legitimacy, and a decisive shift in how resources flow.
Funding Movements, Not Just Projects
The Fund operates through a flexible, accessible grant model that reduces bureaucratic barriers and centers relational accountability. It provides core support, capacity strengthening, mentorship, and spaces for movement building. NAAPU strengthens Indigenous women to remain grounded in their own visions, governance, and community mandates.
This is funding for sustainability.
Funding for autonomy.
Funding for the future.
Rooted in Indigenous Feminist Principles
At its core, NAAPU is guided by Indigenous feminist values. It centers intersectionality — prioritizing girls, young women, women with disabilities, and marginalized communities. It invests in collective power through assemblies and shared spaces of learning. It recognizes care, healing, and psychosocial wellbeing as essential to sustaining activism and leadership. It supports long-term systems change through policy engagement, land rights advocacy, and climate justice leadership.
NAAPU understands that transformation is not only structural — it is also relational, cultural, and deeply human.
It affirms what has always been true: Indigenous women have always led — now they are resourced to lead sustainably, visibly, and powerfully.
A Declaration for the Future
The launch of the NAAPU Indigenous Women Fund signals a transformative chapter in Indigenous feminist philanthropy. It is a model built on trust in grassroots wisdom, institutional strengthening from within, and alliances across movements and sectors.
It offers not only funding, but visibility. Not only resources, but legitimacy. Not only support, but power. Where Indigenous women rise together, communities thrive.
NAAPU stands as a declaration: the future of justice, climate resilience, and cultural survival is inseparable from Indigenous women’s leadership.
That leadership is not emerging. It has always been here. Now it is resourced, recognized, and
unstoppable.
fansComic ReliefJane Meriwas HscIndigenous Women Council-KenyaPawanka FundThe Christensen FundSamburu Women TrustNAAPU Indigenous Women Fund
