Rapid Response Grants are a funding tool used to support interventions by activists in a strategic and timely manner. Urgent Action Fund accepts requests 365 days per year, in any language, from activists around the world. Each request receives a response within 72 hours and funds can be wired within a week. Requests can be made for up to $5,000 USD.
Categories
Urgent Action Fund makes grants in two categories. To receive a Rapid Response Grant, your proposal must fall under at least one of these categories:
Potentially precedent-setting legal or legislative actions, or actions that aim to protect a precedent that has already been set.
Protection and security of women human rights defenders. Note that Evacuation Grants fall under this category. Evacuation Grants are designed for women’s human rights activists who are in urgent need of relocation funding because of threats, persecution and/or an extreme security situation. If you wish to apply for an Evacuation Grant, please read the Criteria below, and use the separate Evacuation Grant Application.
Within these categories, you may be working on peace-building, environmental justice, land rights, sex worker rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, or many other issues. Read about Grantee Profiles who are working on these types of issues.
Criteria
Regardless of which category your proposal falls under, grant proposals must meet all four of these criteria:
Categories
Urgent Action Fund makes grants in two categories. To receive a Rapid Response Grant, your proposal must fall under at least one of these categories:
Potentially precedent-setting legal or legislative actions, or actions that aim to protect a precedent that has already been set.
Protection and security of women human rights defenders. Note that Evacuation Grants fall under this category. Evacuation Grants are designed for women’s human rights activists who are in urgent need of relocation funding because of threats, persecution and/or an extreme security situation. If you wish to apply for an Evacuation Grant, please read the Criteria below, and use the separate Evacuation Grant Application.
Within these categories, you may be working on peace-building, environmental justice, land rights, sex worker rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, or many other issues. Read about Grantee Profiles who are working on these types of issues.
Criteria
Regardless of which category your proposal falls under, grant proposals must meet all four of these criteria:
- Strategic – the action promotes the advancement of women’s human rights. (Urgent Action Fund grants are intended to enable short-term interventions in the course of long-term strategies for advancing women’s human rights. Urgent Action Fund provides grants to groups who already have a strategy developed or to coalitions of groups responding together to a crisis or new opportunity.)
- Unanticipated and Time Urgent – the specific event or situation your organization is responding to was unanticipated and action must happen quickly to be effective.
- Supported – the group has the support of others involved in women’s human rights or related fields, locally or globally.
- Woman/Trans-led – women/transgender people must be the primary decision-makers in the organization, group, or action.
