Mama Cash

What Mama Cash does

Mama Cash (legal name: Stichting Mama Cash) is a Dutch-registered nonprofit foundation founded in Amsterdam in 1983 by five lesbian feminists, and is the world's first international women's fund. The organization provides grants, accompaniment, and donor-influence services to advance the rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people worldwide. It operates five distinct grant programs: the Resilience Fund (€5,000–€50,000 annually, average €35,000, multi-year core support, typically up to ten years), the Solidarity Fund (€30,000–€40,000 for one year, targeting women's funds themselves), the Revolution Fund (up to €10,000 one-time, nomination-based), the Spark Fund (€1,000–€7,000 for autonomous groups in the Netherlands and the ABCSSS islands), and the Radical Love Fund (€7,000–€10,000 for individual feminist activists, established August 2022). All grantmaking decisions are made by feminist activists through a participatory process — explicitly not by staff — distinguishing the organization's decision architecture from conventional philanthropy.

The organization's underlying technology is intentionally minimal: a multilingual website (English, Dutch, French, Russian, Spanish) and a Stripe-powered online donation portal. There is no proprietary technology platform, no API, no AI capabilities, and no mobile application — Mama Cash is fundamentally a fund-management and grantmaking organization rather than a technology company. Its core "infrastructure" is relational: a Global Advisory Network of feminist activists, a hosted-fund partnership with the Red Umbrella Fund, and consortium memberships in CMI! (Count Me In!) and GAGGA (Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action).

Mama Cash's business model is donation-dependent. Revenue derives from institutional donors — including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Global Affairs Canada, the Dutch Postcode Loterij, Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, Humanity United, Porticus, MacKenzie Scott via Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and others — supplemented by individual giving (one-time, periodic, major gifts, legacies). The organization holds CBF certification, ANBI status (Dutch public benefit designation enabling tax-deductible donations), ISO 9001 quality certification, and is a member of Transnational Giving Europe. Annual revenue is not publicly disclosed. The organization employs 60+ staff and voluntary commissioners globally, with headquarters at Eerste Helmersstraat 17-III, Amsterdam.

Name

Mama Cash

Legal name

Stichting Mama Cash

Website

https://mamacash.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mama Cash is a Dutch nonprofit foundation (founded 1983, Amsterdam) and the world's first international women's fund, providing grants and accompaniment to feminist organizations, women's funds, and individual activists advancing the rights of women, girls, and trans and intersex people globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN), Gender Lens / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Funds (FSANAJAM), Social Impact & Inclusive Finance Funds (FSANAJAH)

Keywords

• Feminist grantmaking
• Women's funds
• Gender equality funding
• Activist grants
• Philanthropic foundation

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Institutional Donations: Mama Cash receives funding from institutional donors including governments, foundations, and international organizations. The organization is certified by the Dutch Centraal Bureau Fondsenwerving (CBF) and ANBI, and is a member of Transnational Giving Europe.
2. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute through various mechanisms including one-time donations, periodic donations, major gifts, and legacies. The organization offers tax-deductible donation options for Netherlands residents who commit to regular donations for at least five years.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Mama Cash is the world's first international women's fund, providing grants and accompaniment to feminist movements, organizations, and individual activists worldwide through five distinct grant programs (Resilience Fund, Solidarity Fund, Revolution Fund, Spark Fund, and Radical Love Fund). The organization also influences the donor community to move more and better money to feminist movements, working with institutional and individual donors to channel resources to grassroots gender justice work.

Product overview

Mama Cash is an international feminist fund (not a technology platform) offering five distinct grant programs: the Resilience Fund (core multi-year grant program), Solidarity Fund (for women's funds), Revolution Fund (for time-sensitive one-time initiatives), Spark Fund (for grassroots groups in the Netherlands/ABCSSS islands), and Radical Love Fund (for individual activists). The organization also operates an online donation portal. All grant decisions are made by feminist activists through participatory grantmaking processes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Resilience Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• 40 years of supporting feminist movements with thousands of organizations and activists funded
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Count Me In! (CMI!) ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConsortium supporting movements led by feminist groups representing indigenous and rural women, sex workers, lesbian and bisexual women, women with disabilities, and women living with HIV. These communities face multiple layers of discrimination and play essential roles in ending injustice and inequality worldwide.
• Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal Alliance bringing together the collective power of gender, climate, and environmental movements worldwide. Aims for a world where women, girls, trans, intersex and non-binary people's rights to water, food security, and a clean, healthy and safe environment are recognized and respected.
• Red Umbrella Fund (RUF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorld's first global fund led by and for sex workers. Focused on upholding and respecting the health, rights, and self-determination of sex workers of all genders. Addresses needs of groups advocating for sex workers' rights fighting against violence, stigma, and criminalization. Mama Cash is proud to host this fund.
• Transnational Giving EuropeminorOthersMama Cash is a member of Transnational Giving Europe network enabling cross-border giving for European donors.
• Prospera - International Network of Women's FundsminorOthersGlobal network of women's funds. Membership is not required for Solidarity Fund eligibility; new and emerging funds are encouraged to apply.
• SeeHearSpeakUpminorOthersProfessional whistleblower reporting service used by Mama Cash for reporting breaches of Code of Conduct by staff or concerns about grantee-partners. Offers anonymity for reporters.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Open Society Foundations: Large global foundation funding human rights, gender justice, and movement-building among many other priorities. A comparable large-scale funder of feminist movements with overlapping grantee networks.
• Ford Foundation: Major global foundation funding gender justice and women's rights alongside many other program areas. A significant institutional donor to Mama Cash and a comparable funder of feminist movements, though at much larger scale and broader mandate.

Emerging players

• FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund: A youth-led feminist fund supporting emerging feminist organizations globally. Comparable grantmaking model but with a narrower focus on young feminists, and likely to compete for some of the same donors and grantees.

Direct peers

• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights: Provides rapid-response grants to women and trans human rights defenders worldwide. Directly comparable as a feminist grantmaker focused on time-sensitive, movement-led funding, complementing Mama Cash's Revolution Fund.
• Oak Foundation: Major private foundation with significant commitment to women's rights and gender justice funding globally. A direct peer in funding feminist movements, and a current institutional donor to Mama Cash.
• Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Private foundation funding social justice including women's rights and feminist movements globally. Comparable grantmaking portfolio and a current institutional donor to Mama Cash.
• Global Fund for Women: One of the largest international women's funds, founded in 1987, providing grants and capacity-building to feminist organizations globally. Directly comparable in mission, donor base, and participatory grantmaking approach.
• Foundation for a Just Society: Private foundation funding LGBTQI+ and feminist movements globally, especially in the Global South and among marginalized communities. Highly comparable in mission, donor identity, and grantmaking geography.

Others

• Prospera – International Network of Women's Funds: Global network of women's funds of which Mama Cash is a member. Highly comparable ecosystem peer, supporting the women's funds movement including through solidarity and capacity-building grants that Mama Cash itself receives via Prospera's network.

Regional players

• African Women's Development Fund (AWDF): Pan-African feminist fund providing grants to women's rights organizations across Africa. Comparable participatory grantmaking approach but with geographic focus that overlaps with Mama Cash's global grants in Africa.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mamacash
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/MamacashOrg83
• Facebookfacebook.com/mamacashfund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mama-cash
• Instagraminstagram.com/mamacashfund

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mama Cash