The first half of 2026 has been characterized by numerous events of differing scope and size, with one key recurrent theme – what comes next for the feminist funding ecosystem in the face of shifting geopolitical and financing trends. Following events such as the Commission on the Status of Women, the Wilton Park Forum on Financing and Inequality, the Skoll World Forum, Women Deliver, the Fifth Feminist Foreign Policy Ministerial, the Global Partnerships Conference, and many others, the Alliance for Feminist Movements (AFM) hosted a webinar asking panelists to make sense of these conversations, draw out key threads woven across these events, and chart a way forward. Through a series of introspective and reflective dyads our panelists explored the overarching trends across the feminist funding ecosystem, what these shifts mean for what can and should be salvaged, and what needs to be built as we imagine new futures.
Treat the current funding changes as a systemic rupture, not just a budget shortfall. It requires us to let go of the old system, instead of salvaging it, and to build something new in its place.
