Rosa and Smallwood Trust announce 70 new grants through the Women Thrive Fund

As Chair of Trustees at the Smallwood Trust we are delighted to announce 70 new grants worth £1.9 million, which we made through the Women Thrive Fund in partnership with Rosa. Together, we’re resourcing 70 specialist women’s and girls’ organisations that support women and girls with their mental health and financial resilience across the UK.

The work of these organisations is varied and reflects the many inequalities the pandemic is bringing to light – from combating social exclusion for deaf women, to supporting migrant women across the West Midlands.

View a full list of all 70 grants.

“As the pandemic continues to push back the cause for gender equality, we’re so pleased to be funding so many incredible specialist organisations that improve the lives of some of the UK’s most marginalised women and girls. These organisations, and many more, told us that declining mental health, increased risk of emotional trauma and increased poverty levels were their biggest concerns among women and girls across the UK.

The Women Thrive Fund is a direct response to those needs. We prioritised organisations led by and for women and girls where the need is greatest, particularly those led by and for Black and minoritised women. We’re incredibly proud to be able to fund this vital work at a time when funding to the women and girls sector is limited, yet the need is more urgent than ever.”

Rebecca Gill, Executive Director at Rosa, and Paul Carbury, Chief Executive at Smallwood Trust.

The Women Thrive Fund is the result of a successful joint bid to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports’ Tampon Tax fund, from which we jointly received a £1.79 million grant. Smallwood Trust contributed an additional £200,000 and both organisations contributed to the running of this fund from their reserves.

The fund received 665 applications requesting over £17m. Of the awarded oranisations, more than 66% were led by and for Black and minoritised women and more than 40,000 women and girls will be supported through the 70 grants. Successful organisations will be able to spend the grant over the next 15 months.

Examples of the organisations funded by the Women Thrive Fund include the Lesbian Immigration Support Group, which will use its £15,917 grant to give bi-monthly vouchers each worth £100 to women who would otherwise be destitute. The funding will alleviate immediate hardship and connect women with longer term support.

Another funded organisation, RISE, will use its grant of £49,081 to fund a Black and Minoritised Wellbeing Practitioner to disseminate skills and knowledge to survivors of domestic abuse. The aim of this work is to support mental health and create a supportive, healing environment for women and encourage them to foster positive relationships with others.

Rosa and Smallwood Trust are looking forward to working with specialist women and girls organisations across the UK as they respond to the needs of their beneficiaries and wider community.