Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean

What Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean does

Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean (Fondo de Acción Urgente para América Latina y el Caribe, FAU-LAC) is a feminist non-profit founded in 2009 and headquartered in Colombia, operating across 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization provides rapid-response and thematic grants to women, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups — particularly activists, collectives, and human rights defenders facing urgent security, territorial, or care-related threats. Over 15 years, FAU-LAC has disbursed more than 3,000 grants to frontline actors, with a lean team of 11 employees supporting a region-wide portfolio.

The organization operates three grant modalities: ARRs (Respuesta Rápida / Quick Response, up to USD 8,000–10,000), CyT (Cuerpos y Territorios / Bodies and Territories, up to USD 15,000), and Caracola (Cuidado Colectivo / Collective Care, USD 15,000). Applications are managed through SÍGUEME, an online grants management platform built to standardize intake, vetting, and disbursement across the regional portfolio. The organization is funded almost exclusively by philanthropic donors and is part of the global Consortium of Urgent Action Funds, alongside sister funds serving Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, and the United States.

FAU-LAC has expanded its thematic scope in recent years from rapid security response toward broader feminist ecosystem support — incorporating collective care, climate justice, and intersectional movement-building — and has participated in events such as London Climate Action Week 2026 and published a permacrisis analytical report in 2026. Partnerships with academic institutions (University of York) and climate-justice networks signal a deepening research and convening function alongside grantmaking. Revenue figures are not publicly disclosed, and the fund does not appear to commercialize products or services.

Name

Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean

Legal name

Fondo de Acción Urgente para América Latina y el Caribe

Website

https://fondoaccionurgente.org.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean is a feminist non-profit based in Colombia that delivers rapid-response and thematic grants to women, LGBTQ+, and marginalized groups across 21 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Feminist Philanthropy and Grantmaking Services

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

akta.pro primary industry

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Gender Lens / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Funds (FSANAJAM)

Keywords

• Feminist grantmaking
• Rapid response funding
• Human rights philanthropy
• Collective care grants
• Activist protection funds

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants and Donations: FAU-LAC mobilizes resources from philanthropic donors and institutional funders to provide rapid, flexible financing to women's rights and gender-diversity movements in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund operates as a feminist philanthropy organization that channels resources to at-risk defenders and organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

FAU-LAC is a feminist grant-making fund that provides rapid, flexible, and strategic financial support to women's rights organizations, gender-diverse movements, and territory defenders across Latin America and the Caribbean. It delivers three funding modalities—Quick Response Support (ARRs) for urgent risk situations, Bodies and Territories Support (CyT) for strategic protection, and Caracola for collective care—administered through its proprietary SÍGUEME online platform. The fund does not require legal registration to apply, enabling access for at-risk activists and unregistered collectives.

Product overview

FAU-LAC operates as a feminist fund offering three distinct grant programs delivered through its SÍGUEME online platform. The core product portfolio includes Apoyos de Respuesta Rápida (ARRs) for urgent security needs up to USD $10,000, Apoyos Cuerpos y Territorios (CyT) for strategic body and territory protection up to USD $15,000, and Apoyos Caracola for collective care processes at USD $15,000. The digital platform enables 24/7 application submission, status tracking, and report uploads.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SÍGUEME Online Application System Secure online grant application and management platform enabling organizations to apply for funding, track application status through stages (Received, Under Review, Advisors, Board of Directors, Approved, or Rejected), and submit required narrative and financial reports.
• Apoyos de Respuesta Rápida (ARRs) Short-term rapid response grants providing up to USD $10,000 for women's rights and gender-diverse organizations and collectives facing urgent risk situations or time-sensitive opportunities, with an open 365-day application window and 10-business-day average response time.
• Apoyos Cuerpos y Territorios (CyT) Strategic grants of up to USD $15,000 for organizations addressing the integral protection of bodies, territories, common goods, and rights of women and gender-diverse individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean, with 10-month implementation periods.
• Apoyos Caracola Collective care grants of USD $15,000 for healing processes and sustainable activism in organizations and collectives working in crisis contexts, delivered through a closed-invitation process with 13-month implementation and direct accompaniment by the FAU-LAC team.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 3,000 supports delivered across 21 countries in 15 years of operation
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Consortium of Urgent Action FundscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2026Joint report with the Consortium of Urgent Action Funds analyzing how responses to increasingly complex and interconnected crises are financed. The report 'Strategies for Resource Delivery in an Era of Permacrisis' represents collaborative learning between feminist philanthropy funds.
• Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of YorkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 April 2026Academic partnership for the permacrisis report on feminist philanthropy resource delivery strategies. Combines practical fund experience with academic research on human rights and crisis response.
• Climate Action Funds and Allied OrganizationsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn the framework of London Climate Action Week 2026, FAU LAC gathered funds, allied organizations, and activists to bring together those mobilizing resources for climate action with movements at the center.
• Climate Justice and Gender Learning GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAU-LAC drives this collective creation space of women and gender dissidents defending territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. The group produced the book 'Seeds of Struggle, Roots of the Future: Feminist Voices for Climate Justice.'

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice: Global philanthropic foundation resourcing LGBTQI, feminist, and intersex movements. Highly comparable in targeting gender-diverse defenders and movement-led grantmaking, with significant grantee overlap with FAU-LAC's LAC portfolio.
• Mama Cash: Amsterdam-headquartered feminist fund supporting women's, girls', and trans people's movements globally. Highly comparable mission and grantmaking approach, though longer grant cycles and a broader geographic footprint than FAU-LAC.
• Urgent Action Fund: The U.S.-based founding member of the Urgent Action Fund consortium. Operates the same rapid-response feminist grantmaking model for North America and globally, sharing the consortium identity and learning infrastructure with FAU-LAC.
• Urgent Action Fund for Africa: Regional sister fund providing rapid-response grants to African women and LGBTQI human rights defenders. Operates the same consortium-aligned model and comparable funding modalities to FAU-LAC, just in a different geography.
• Fondo de Mujeres del Sur: Southern Cone feminist fund supporting women's and LGBTI+ movements in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Directly comparable grantmaking approach and overlapping regional footprint within FAU-LAC's coverage area.
• Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM): Central American feminist fund that supports women's rights and gender-diverse organizations across the isthmus. Closely comparable grantmaking model and movement-embedded approach, overlapping with FAU-LAC's Central American footprint.
• Urgent Action Fund-Asia & Pacific: Regional sister fund for Asia and the Pacific, structurally identical to FAU-LAC: rapid-response grants for women and gender-diverse human rights defenders, shared consortium identity, and aligned feminist philanthropy practices.

Others

• Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID): Global feminist membership organization that FAU-LAC actively engages through forums and convenings (e.g., AWID Forum). Comparable movement-building orientation and ecosystem role, though AWID is not a grantmaking entity.

Broad incumbents

• Global Fund for Women: Larger and longer-established feminist foundation supporting women's rights organizations globally. Overlaps in mission and grantee profile but operates at greater scale with broader programmatic priorities than FAU-LAC's crisis-response focus.
• Open Society Foundations: Large global foundation supporting human rights, democratic governance, and gender justice. Provides overlapping funding to many of the same movements FAU-LAC serves, but as a much larger generalist foundation rather than a specialized rapid-response feminist fund.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FondoAccionUrgenteLAC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fau-lac
• Instagraminstagram.com/fondoaccionurgenteal

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Urgent Action Fund Latin America and the Caribbean