MiniGrants 2023 – list of Grantee partners

Below is a list of 25 groups (and their activities) that will receive a FemFund MiniGrants of the 6th edition.

Applicant’s Choices – community MiniGrants (these initiatives were selected in a participatory process by the groups taking part in the 6th edition)

1. 2119: Protest of persons with disabilities and their caregivers, Warsaw, mazowieckie. The group will organize further street protests of persons with disabilities and their carers and will provide support to the protest movement through media activities, community meetings, workshops (e.g. joint banner painting).
2. Ladies Plus, Konin, wielkopolskie. Activists 45-50 PLUS will organize workshops for their sisters, friends, and colleagues on mature sexuality and menopause.
3. Centre for Aiding Nuns, Krakow, malopolskie. The group will organize a meeting for women who need support and mutual, supportive relationships after leaving a religious congregation.
4. CzuliMy Foundation, Olsztyn, warminsko-mazurskie. The Foundation’s team will organize a women’s circle, yoga classes, and relaxation treatments for mothers staying at the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the hospital in Olsztyn. At the same time, it will provide animations and sensoplastic classes for children.
5. Wave of New Culture Foundation, Gdansk, pomorskie. The Foundation’s team will organize a respite trip for 10 girls aged 16-18, who use the Foundation’s support, as well as open workshops on body work for teenagers from Tri-City.
6. MIGAWKI Foundation, Krakow, malopolskie. An organization bringing together enthusiasts of sign language, including the hard of hearing and deaf, will organize emancipation and development workshops translated into Polish sign language (PJM) for deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing women, who are connected by the knowledge of PJM.
7. Lame Warsaw Foundation, Warsaw, mazowieckie. The Group will ensure that participation in the conference on the introduction of measures to increase accessibility in gynecological offices is possible and comfortable persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, visually impaired, blind, or have cognitive difficulties.
8. Our Mosaic Foundation, Stanowice, dolnoslaskie. The Foundation’s team will organize a “birthing non-school” for mothers, residents of Olawa and the surrounding area. The “non-school” will consist of meetings/ workshops with specialists: midwife/ certified lactation counselor, doula, urogynecological physiotherapist, and pediatric physiotherapist.
9. NoBorder Foundation, Wroclaw, dolnoslaskie. Activists operating on the Polish-Belarusian border will allocate the grant for further legal and humanitarian assistance, i.e. trips to centers, conducting cases, preparing packages, and participating in research activities.
10. HealthFound, Czluchow, pomorskie. The group will organize workshops for women on self-treatment of scars after perineal incision and cesarean section with elements of relaxation and physiotherapeutic and psychological consultations.
11. IFMSA-Poland, Silesia Branch, Permanent Program for Health and Reproductive Rights, including HIV and AIDS (SCORA), Katowice, slaskie. The association will buy 5-6 reusable vacuum abortion training kits and organize “papaya workshops *” for medical students (* papaya is used as a model of the uterus to practice vacuum abortion and inserting intrauterine devices).
12. International Association of Medical Students IFMSA-Poland, Warsaw, mazowieckie. A group of students belonging to the Association will organize workshops and a discussion panel for future doctors regarding access to contraception and abortion in Poland.
13. Informal social movement “Mom Hugs“, Cieszyn, slaskie. The group will continue monitoring activities of the quality of perinatal care at the maternity ward in Cieszyn and will begin activities in the next maternity ward – in Bielsko-Biala.
14. Salamanders, Torun, kujawsko-pomorskie. A group of activists will issue a series of proprietary postcards entitled “Copernicus did not know this”, presenting the profiles of women whose discoveries and scientific achievements relate to space and took place after the Copernican revolution.
15. Time for Women’s Rights Association, Poznan, wielkopolskie. The Association will allocate the grant for the implementation of the existing tasks, i.e. providing specialized psychological, legal, and social counseling, as well as professional counseling and group support/strengthening workshops for women who experience various forms of violence and discrimination.
16. Association of Disabled Persons and Their Families Omnes, Piekary Slaskie, slaskie. Members of the association will organize a support group for parents of persons with disabilities to create a space for exchange of experiences and mutual support.
17. Women’s Thought Cooperative Association, Niepolomice, malopolskie. The members of the association will implement an action for women experiencing domestic violence – the “Sister Phone” volunteers’ helpline and provide the volunteers with appropriate training.
18. Warsaw Amazons (Ukrainian: Варшавські Амазонки), Warsaw, mazowieckie. An informal group of Ukrainian refugees will implement the integration program “Women for women” for unemployed female refugees from Ukraine: a circle of women, training, psychological support.
19. Witches from Kolsko, Kolsko, lubuskie. The idea of the informal group is to disseminate its own model of action for women in a small village. The group will create a mobile version of the Women’s Activity Site in the Countryside, organize a series of workshops “Strength and independence of women,” and buy books for the feminist library.

Choices of the Advisory Board and FemFund Team – strategic MiniGrants

1. Asylum Library, Lublin, lubelskie. The group will organize a series of queer circles for the queer community of Lublin with the following themes: courage in queerness, celebration of one’s own identity, We, the queers in public space, the future of queer in Poland.
2. Women’s Integrant Space (Ukrainian: Μіночий простір «Μнтегрантки”), Hajnowka, podlaskie. The group will organize a series of thematic educational and regeneration meetings for Ukrainian refugees from Hajnowka, including, for example: art therapy, handicraft, feminist film club, psychological support.
3. Legal Abortion collective, Lodz/Warsaw, lodzkie/mazowieckie. The collective will create a channel on YT, where podcasts on abortion, produced using the Grant funds and inviting persons involved in feminist pro-abortion activism, will be made available.
4. Lodz Tenants’ Association, Lodz, lodzkie. Using the funds from the grant, the association will continue its tenant watches and tenant campaigns, as well as organize meetings, prepare educational and support materials for tenants struggling to solve the housing problem, and purchase devices for measuring humidity and temperature in buildings.
5. The Arab Femmes, Wroclaw, dolnoslaskie. Members of the group will organize a circle of women of Arab origin in Wroclaw. The group’s plan also includes psychological support for women in Arabic, as well as legal, social, and assistant counselling in Arabic. The final event will be an exhibition of works/ handicrafts.
6. Warsaw Hellcats Roller Girls, Warsaw, mazowieckie. The members of the association will organize a series of open trainings encouraging new people to train roller derby and be part of this community, as well as a mini roller derby tournament in Warsaw, to which 2 other teams will be invited.

* The list of community choices was closed by six applications with an equal number of points on the nineteenth place of the list. These were applications submitted by: Cziczka, the Girls Power Center in Elk, MIGAWKI Foundation, Dignitate Foundation, Polish Women in Medicine, the Feminist Association Batty Aunts. From these ex aequo applications, the Council could choose one to fit in the limit of 19 community MiniGrants. Guided by the priorities of the Fund, we have chosen the proposal of the MIGAWKA Foundation, which conducts activities for deaf and hard of hearing women. Currently, among the FemFund grant recipients, there is no other group that focuses solely on supporting deaf and hard of hearing women and persons.

* The Board and the Team could select 6 additional strategic grants. Strategic grants are complementary to the Applicants’ choices. Since the Applicants make their choice based on reading the applications from one basket, they do not see the final result of voting for the community choices. As the Board and the Team, we look at a list of selected proposals and try to fill in any “gaps”, so that the final list of MiniGrants reflects the diverse movement and allows access to money for groups that experience multiple oppression and discrimination.

Download Full justification for selecting MiniGrants (doc, 12 KB)

We cordially congratulate 25 groups and organizations that will receive financial support from the Feminist Fund. To all the participants of the 6th edition – groups, collectives, and organizations – thank you for your interest in the Fund and your contribution to the selection of the best ideas.