Numun Fund: A seed for the feminist tech ecosystem
Numun’s
inception
Numun means “seed” in Sumerian, and honors the fact that art, science, and technology have been led by communities in the Larger Majority World throughout history.
Created as an idea in June 2020, Numun is both an immediate feminist funding response to the critical role of tech in movement organising, as well as to challenge the current status quo where resources and decision-making power on tech is often concentrated in the global north.
Find our more about us
Numun’s
political mission
Numun Fund is the first dedicated fund for feminist tech in, for and led by the Larger Majority World.
Our aim is to seed, resource and sustain a thriving ecosystem of feminist activists who define, imagine and shape technology for the world we need. We are a feminist tech fund grounded in and led by the movements we aim to serve.
Numun’s
organism
In 2021, we built Numun as an organism. The co-dreamers articulated a shared vision, grew the team, and collectively, shaped practices and spaces where Numun can begin meeting our mission. Alongside this journey is a growing constellation of collaborators and advisors rooting us in the movements we work for and with.
We are now a team of eight people, made up of weavers, cartographers, growers and choreographers from Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico and South Africa.
https://numun.fund/who-we-are/
Feminist Tech
Playground
Play, exploration, community spaces for figuring things out and experimentation are not only at the heart of innovation, but a key element of movement organising.
Funding decisions rarely take a leap of faith on seeding spaces for knowledge exchange and brainstorming for the sake of exchange, exploration and mutual learning. We do it through the Feminist Tech Playground (FTP), an activist-led space to learn and share questions and ideas for feminist tech infrastructures.
Co-organized with APC Women’s Rights Programme, the FTP ran for the first time in 2022
Addressing feminist approaches to:
F/LOSS | VPN | cryptocurrency | care and wellbeing online | experiences of disability online | reimagining feminist economies | revisiting the feminist | principles of the internet and more
Seed, Grow & Sustain
open call for grants
In July 2022, we launched our first open call for grants, designed to respond to the life cycle of feminist movement organizing.
In Numun, we know resistance and organizing take place at different rhythms, in relation to context, needs and conditions that encourage growth.
The 3 grant types aim to meet groups where they are at in this pathway.
To support emerging activisms and
exploratory ideas
To deepen or expand initiatives who have been working together for at least 2 years
To contribute to the sustainability of anchor feminist tech groups Grants are core and flexible, for a period of 2 years.
Seed, Grow & Sustain
learnings from the ecosystem
Highest number of applications came from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The “Seed, Grow and Sustain” open call provided a rich sense of the field.
Across all regions, the highest common issues of concern are:
Seed, Grow & Sustain
learnings from the ecosystem
Regionally, some
priorities that emerged are:
Seed, Grow & Sustain
learnings from the ecosystem
Feminism and technology activism is intersectional work - almost all groups identify as being grounded in multiple movements - the top 3 being gender based violence, digital rights and LGBTQI+.
The groups mainly work with LGBTQI++ communities, young women and women in rural contexts.
Top strategies include:
- Community building, convening and organizing
- Trainings and education
- Narratives, content creation and archives
Seed, Grow & Sustain
key challenges
Organisational strengthening and tech infra development were the main strategies where funding was sought - signalling where current gaps in resourcing might be for groups working on feminism and tech
Very few applications looked at internet governance and policy, artificial intelligence or data activism as priority issues, surfacing a need for closer understanding on potential reasons why.
Incredible work by groups and collectives all over the Larger Majority World. Much more resources is needed to nourish and grow this emergent and dynamic ecosystem.
Movement led
accountability
How we move money is a political act. Numun Fund is committed to shared decision-making and collective power.
We consulted with feminist tech activists and feminist funds throughout the making of Numun, including setting up a Grantmaking Design Circle to shape our first open call, and a Community-led Selection Committee to participate in the peer review process in selecting the groups we are supporting. Learnings from this process continue to inform our work in feminist grantmaking.
Know more
16 Days of Activism Digital Party
On 9 Dec 2022, we came together with 30 activists to mark the 16 Days of Activism on an 8-bit videogame beach on the shore of a virtual island, with the sound of waves in the background.
In this browser-based immersive space, listened to powerful live poetry, engaged in speculative feminist tech futures, played games, and found hidden gems shared at the Feminist Tech Playground.
Making a
feminist font
Design embodies people, places, ideas, histories and values - often in invisible ways. What would a feminist open font look like?
We partnered with HurufType collective to design a participatory process, As we sketched, we discussed the politics of design, copyleft, and discovered more about each others’ stories and activism.
Across the Larger Majority world to create a feminist open font.
Trueque
Trueque is a Spanish word that speaks about a reciprocal exchange of goods that are mutually appreciated between people.
In this spirit, Numun collaboratively organised a peer-to-peer exchange on Sept 2022 with 6 women’s funds and some of their grantee partners to share analysis, experiences and knowledge on how digital technologies intersects with the work of advancing women’s rights and social justice.
Conversations ranged from feminist digital safety, to environmental justice and technology and the building participatory grantmaking platforms.
Global
dialogues
Numun participated in and convened a range of conversation spaces at key events to centre Larger Majority World feminist engagement and analysis on technology and intersecting issues.
At CSW67, MozFest, the Stockholm Internet Forum, Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly, Women Deliver, Changing Faces Changes Spaces, the Global Gathering, RightsCon, DataFest Africa and more, we created spaces for dialogue between activists and funders, advocated for feminist tech as a critical framework in key issues and amplified the work of feminist tech activists.
Numun’s Highlights
Numun’s nodes
Stories of grantees
Numun’s
Goals
We aim to raise 25 million USD in the next 5 years to:
Seed and grow a sustainable ecosystem of feminist tech activists in the Larger Majority World
Resource feminist alternative tech developments that challenge big tech monopolies
Foster cross-movement work to strengthen tech resilience of women’s rights and social movements
Advocate for techtonic shifts in philanthropy and unlock more resources for feminist tech organising
Organise global feminist tech convenings to strengthen movement building
Support knowledge building in emerging areas on feminism and tech
Biggest
wildest dreams
We asked groups what their biggest, wildest dreams are in the application form. Their responses help weave a collective imagination of what a feminist tech future could look like.
Join the
journey
Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about happenings and events about Numun and our constellations
Contact: hello@numun.fund
@numunfund @numun@mastodon.social numun.fund