Feminist Grants in Germany
With its RISE program, filia supports self-organized FLINTA groups in Germany that are committed to empowerment, freedom from violence, and the participation of women, girls, and LBTIQ people.
Grants: intersectional, supportive, empowering
The funding supports FLINTA who face multiple discrimination and organize themselves in grassroots groups, without a lot of bureaucracy. All projects have in common that FLINTA make the decisions and the target group of the offers and activities is always involved in the planning. That is how empowerment works, and no other way!
Currently, 42 grantee partners in Germany are supported by filia.
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Current Grantee Partners in Germany
Welcoming culture for elderly refugee women
Knit to Change
The initiative works with women who have been forced to flee their homes due to war. The knitting cafés in Berlin create warm, inclusive spaces. Here, they are not alone in facing challenges such as language barriers and social isolation while building a new life. filia's funding supports the organisation of regular meetings and subsidises materials and advertising, among other things.
Political education by and for
Latin American migrants
Bildung von Unten e.V. – FLINTA Arbeitsgruppe
Racism, sexism, classism – migrant FLINTA experience interwoven forms of discrimination that manifest themselves structurally in precarious working conditions or sexualised violence. The queer-feminist working group in Berlin develops formats for collective learning and organising in order to counteract this on a daily and structural basis. filia's funding supports, among other things, room rental and fees.
Queer feminist theatre in Saxony-Anhalt
Theaterhaus Ost
Here, performing arts become feminist and participatory. The association creates a professional platform for theatre, dance, music, literature and performance, with a particular focus on empowering FLINTA* artists who are affected by multiple discrimination. filia's funding supports childcare and accessibility to rehearsal rooms, among other things.
"We look after the untold stories"
Palästinensisches Feministisches Archiv Berlin (PFAB)
Documenting and raising awareness of Palestinian history in Germany – this is what a collective in Berlin has been working on since 2023. After all, Berlin is home to Europe's largest diaspora community. The place of preservation has long since become a lively space for learning and for many generations to come together. filia's funding supports ongoing costs such as rent and fees, among other things.
Women’s rights – from Afghanistan
with solidarity
Hami e.V. - Women Empowerment Organization
Regardless of political, ethnic and religious affiliation, the association provides migrant women and girls with legal, health and psychosocial support. The thirty activists, including recent evacuees from Afghanistan, have come together in the Rhine-Main to advocate for women’s rights and received the 2024 Human Rights award by Baum Stiftung. filia's funding supports, among other work, law & culturally sensitive counselling for at least 45 women with migration and survivors of gender-based violence.
Bio.BIPoc. Growing vegetables and nurturing community
aloti-farm
aloti-farm is a community-supported permaculture farm in Brandenburg. The farm, founded by a Black FLINTA person, is open to everyone but centers BIPoC, queer, disabled and migrant folks who are often priced out of organic food and denied safe access to the Eastern German countryside. Their farming practice is rooted in values of food sovereignty and climate justice. filia’s funding provides a second green house, among other things.
Empowered into the professional future
FEM – Forum des Empowerments und Teilhabe für Migranten e.V.
The path to a professional future is easier with real role models who share their experiences and also their obstacles. This association in Potsdam organises this personal exchange between young women and mentors from sub-Saharan Africa. filia's structural support covers the rental costs, among other things.
Collective of Black FLINTA Artists
Oré Arts e.V.
At the intersection of art, political empowerment, and community organizing, the collective creates spaces for decolonization as a practice. filia's funding supports the performance project that processes the physical, cultural, and psychological traces of violence, trauma, resistance, and love in Afro-diasporic bodies. It shifts the focus away from narratives of deficit and suffering toward collective strength, connection, and a radically Black vision of the future.
Supporting & connecting FLINTA with disabilities and chronic illnesses
Sick Comrade
Sick Comrade is a group of FLINTA people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in Berlin and Brandenburg that advocates for accessibility and works to combat medical violence and ableism. filias funding supports workshops, mutual aid Meet-ups, medical accompaniment and advocacy and a Health Solidarity Week, among other things.
Decolonial education from the women's movement in Kurdistan
Flamingo e.V.
Following the example of Jineolojî science, the network conducts research and provides education on numerous topics such as peace movements, Eurocentrism, feminist medicine or pedagogy. Joint learning, whether on site or online, should also be understood as non-academic and accessible to all. filia's funding supports future publications, translations and aims to remove barriers to participation.
Youth services in rural Lower Bavaria
Queer Youth Lower Bavaria
More queer spaces in the countryside! Empowering and sensitive to discrimination, the association runs several safe spaces for everyone between the ages of 14 and 27 who want to meet up to chat, ask questions, or play games without any prior knowledge. filia's funding supports travel costs, further training, and a cross-group weekend, among other things.
Empowerment for young, Arabic-speaking people
Mpower e. V./ Syrian Feminist Movement
Since 2018, the Mpower e.V. collective in Berlin has been doing valuable empowerment work with girls and young women with migration and refugee backgrounds. This led to the formation of a group for queer participants with MENA backgrounds (an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa). filias’s funding supports activities such as educational trips, trainings, media projects, and creative workshops to strengthen their voices, sense of identity, and self-efficacy.
Cultivating Land and Community
Rabelades Farm
Four Black FLINTA diasporic organizers have created a community farm rooted in activism, environmental justice, and healing. Through African Indigenous farming practices and food sovereignty, they empower BIPoC communities. Their work brings together farming, political education, and community-building to create safer rural spaces and strengthen networks among BIPoC and refugee communities in Brandenburg. Filia’s funding supports, among other things, infrastructure and tools.
Community-supported agriculture in Brandenburg
Lawine GbR
The FLINTA farmers' collective produces fresh vegetables and goat cheese on 16 hectares of land. Their work combines sustainable agriculture with feminist practices. Mutual support and networking with other farms strengthen their community in the countryside. filia's funding enables the team to expand with reduced risk.
Encounters and empowerment culture
Café am Markt – Mit Sonne im Herzen
The Café has opened in the centre of a small village in Brandenburg – and empowerment in society should be just as central. There is space for music sessions, senior citizens' meetings or lectures on topics such as diversity and racism. People with refugee and migrant backgrounds can exchange ideas on everyday and bureaucratic issues. filias funding supports new activities in the wide-ranging programme.
Working Collective for Feminist Door Policy
CrewCrew
Marginalized groups are particularly affected by violence, discrimination, assaults, or exclusion in nightlife settings. To ensure that truly safe spaces can be created for everyone, this Hamburg-based group has been organizing for 10 years, bringing a intersectional and power-critical perspectives to events. In this way, patriarchal attitudes are being broken down - across the country. filias funding supports the group’s grassroots work.
Association for Deaf Refugees and Migrants
Shahrzad e. V.
Shahrzad offers spaces where people can relax and connect with others to cope with the challenges of everyday life. Whether through field trips, yoga classes, or educational programs on health or domestic violence, this Cologne-based organization is dedicated to promoting self-determined living at every stage of life. Support from filia helps fund new sports programs and self-defense classes.
Not a guest, but a host
Refugees Emancipation e.V.
The Refugee Emancipation Community Centre in Brandenburg is Germany's first self-organised housing project owned exclusively by refugees from a wide variety of backgrounds. More than 10 years of commitment has resulted in the creation of an own safe space. filia's funding is used to finance, among other things, an additional room, more mobile information services and interpreting for workshops.
Learning space rooted in Black history
ARCA - Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum e.V.
At the heart of the Hamburg-based association is the Fasiathek – a ‘community living room’ named after queer Afro-German activist Fasia Jansen. The Afrocentric library is also a venue for intersectional encounters and intergenerational events. filia's funding covers room rental and subsidizes literature and training courses, among other things.
Queerfeminist fighting sports hall
Feeling how loud your voice can be, how powerful a punch can be, how decisive a ‘no’ can sound, can bring about lasting changes in self-confidence and prevent violence. FLINTA* in Jena experience these positive effects every week in their community. With filia's support, the aim is now to create a permanent venue for various target groups, such as young people or FLINTA* with experiences of displacement.
Experts of their own experience
Hildashaus e.V.
The Berlin-based migrant non-profit works alongside FLINTA* 40+ with displacement experiences, primarily from hard-to-reach groups in socially underserved neighborhoods. Through an intersectional, low-threshold, culturally rooted and trauma-sensitive approach, they foster wellbeing, social cohesion and pathways toward sustainable livelihoods within the cultural field. filia’s funding supports their administration.
United for Peace
Feminist initiative “Peace Now”
From the Kurdish Women's Council to the Free Congo Collective to Palestinians and Jews for Peace, the Cologne-based initiative brings together FLINTA, diaspora, and queer people affected by war, displacement, and violence to unite their voices in a campaign. Here, there is space for collective grief, anger, analysis, political action, and visions for peace. filia's funding subsidizes, among other things, a series of events, a regulars' table, and creative PR work.
By Romnja for Romnja
Verein für die solidarische Gesellschaft der Vielen e.V./ Zentrum für Kultur
When many members of the Romnja community experienced homelessness, arbitrary treatment by the authorities and discrimination, there was an urgent need to create a supportive, accessible community for all generations. In the district of Duisburg Hochfeld, the association focuses on safe spaces for pragmatic self-help and and strengthening the voices of its members. filia's funding helps children to stay in school longer and compensates older women who are financially dependent for their commitment.
Intersectional spaces in rural areas
Jugendforum Innovationsbündnis Havelland e.V./ Wundermädchen
The Wundermädchen group turns ideas from young FLINTA people who face multiple forms of discrimination into real participatory opportunities that are inclusive and sensitive to discrimination. For more safe spaces, contact points and self-determination in rural areas in Brandenburg. filia's funding supports room rentals, workshop fees and more.
FLINTA with disabilties for a
self-determined life
aktiv und selbstbestimmt e.V.
This Berlin-based association has been campaigning for self-determination, participation and exchange since 2016. For example, with film evenings or a trip to a memorial site. Numerous leisure and counselling services provide opportunities to support each other in everyday life and in the fight against discrimination. filia's funding enables, among other things, fees for sign language interpreters and a barrier-free weekend for strategic development.
Specialist centre for trans* counselling
and education
Trans*support
The peer counselling centre in Schleswig-Holstein not only offers free and anonymous appointments for trans, abinary, agender and genderfluid people, but also provides training nationwide. In addition, the support group collects anonymous reports of discrimination and hate crimes, as official statistics do not adequately reflect reality. filia's funding helps with room rental, training and supervision, among other things.
Financial support for non-binary, trans
and inter* individuals
Sonti* - Solidarkasse nichtbinär trans inter e.V.
At a time when healthcare for tin* persons is not legally guaranteed, Sonti* is closing acute gaps in financial care. The association covers medical and legal costs and provides assistance in emergencies related to discrimination such as flight, loss of housing, or experiences of violence. filia's funding supports, among other things, the association's ongoing expenses and public relations work.
Creative empowerment for
marginalized young FLINTA*
Hüller Medienwerkstatt e.V.
Writing and shooting your own film about the experience of being a young FLINTA* with a disability, an art workshop for young BIPoC—the association in Lower Saxony makes cultural projects like these possible. Acting, hip hop, or circus arts serve as a catalyst for addressing discrimination and healing. filia's free funding supports committed individuals with care responsibilities, among others.
Queer counselling, encounters and alliances in Swabia
Frauenzentrum Augsburg e.V.
For almost 50 years, numerous strands of political and community activity in the region have converged at the Augsburg Women's Centre. filia's funding now supports volunteers in developing the concept for a new queer, feminist centre, covers the rent for a barrier-free and consumption-free space for the over-50s group and supports the peer counselling for trans people.
Support for unwanted pregnancies
Abortion Buddy Tübingen
Whether there are specific questions or a desire for someone to talk to, this new initiative from Tübingen offers sensitive, supportive, and open-minded assistance in case of unwanted pregnancy. filia's start-up assistance enables the establishment of structures by providing financial support for public relations work and training, as well as covering travel and abortion costs for those affected.
Free Space in Bremen
Mädchen_Kulturhaus des BDP
Affiliated with Open Child and Youth Work, the project is aimed at young FLINTA* people up to the age of 27. The center is a safe space for many who experience multiple discrimination. With filia's support, the current sporadic counselling service is to be expanded so that accessible initial consultations can be offered regularly.
Sailing boat project by and for queer FLINTA
Boddenpirat*innen
In this unique project, FLINTA learn about sailing and craftsmanship together, while also strengthening alternative, queer structures in Vorpommern. BIPoC, people with refugee or migration experience, and people from low-income backgrounds in particular experience solidarity and self-efficacy here. filia's funding subsidises sailing trips, tools, and the organisation of workshops and events, among other things.
Decolonial education from the women's movement in Kurdistan
Flamingo e.V.
Following the example of Jineolojî science, the network conducts research and provides education on numerous topics such as peace movements, Eurocentrism, feminist medicine or pedagogy. Joint learning, whether on site or online, should also be understood as non-academic and accessible to all. filia's funding supports future publications, translations and aims to remove barriers to participation.
Socializing, security, fun among trans* women
Trans*women's group in Göttingen
In 2017, a volunteer-run safe space was created for this purpose at the Queer Center Göttingen. filia's funding supports the maintenance of these important structures and fulfills a special wish of the group: a professional makeup course, because for many, this is precisely one way to feel comfortable with their own gender identity.
Collectively managed educational institution
lila_bunt – Feministische Bildung, Praxis & Utopie e.V.
Whether it's a Krav Maga workshop in sign language, a queer Ramadan retreat or a rejuvenating weekend for single parents – many education centres could learn a thing or two from the annual programme offered by this queer institution in the Eifel region. The funding supports programme planning, reduces seminar costs and works to make them more accessible, among other things.
Black community in Thuringia
De Expatriates
This growing group is responding to isolation and the normalization of right-wing ideologies in rural areas by building a strong community. Guided by principles such as resilience and shared decision-making power, the intersectional community organizes celebrations, cultural workshops, language cafés, or youth programs. filia's funding subsidizes gatherings, workshop materials, childcare, and other activities.
It began as a small sewing project
Heart and Threads
A room with three sewing machines at the foot of the Swabian Alb. Now, a lively upcycling group of dedicated women with refugee and migrant backgrounds has emerged. A woman from Syria leads the group, a woman from Paraguay is responsible for design, and a seamstress from Iraq contributes her expertise—learning from each other has become a central element. filia's funding supports equipment, training, and more.
Diverse journalism – primarily from
rural eastern Germany
Reversed Magazine
Enabling FLINTA* with multiple marginalization to enter the (photo)journalism industry and making their voices heard—that's what the impressive team at the magazine is working toward. Because there should be ways to do this without unpaid internships. filia's funding supports aspiring journalists with fees to help them get their first foot in the door of the editorial industry.
Queer-feminist theater and sex education
CHICKS* independent performance collective
CHICKS* offer workshops, seminars, and training sessions that combine queer-feminist theater practices with emancipatory, political youth education and the empowerment of young queer and FLINTA* individuals. This creates spaces—including in rural areas—for creative and critical engagement with diverse sexualities, orientations, genders, and gender roles, as well as with consent, shame, and love. filias funding supports the mobile program in Lower Saxony and the eastern federal states, among other things.
Anti-discriminatory Project & Seminar House
Arruda Collective
Arruda is a FLINTA- and queer-led, intersectional, self-organized initiative working for social, gender, and ecological justice in rural East Germany. At the heart of Arruda is an Anti-Discriminatory Seminar House, a low-barrier space for communities who are affected by and/or fighting against discrimination to organize, gather, retreat, network, and hold workshops. filias funding supports, among other things, fees and workshops.
Empowering Spaces for the Asian Diaspora
Asian Voices Germany
The Asian FLINTA* group creates spaces in Leipzig and Berlin for celebrating diversity of Asian diasporas and facilitating dialogues on anti-Asian raicsm. Through digital campaigns, a picture book, poster drawing workshops, and a multilingual legal guide, they are building a vital community for Asian diasporas in Germany and amplifying their actions across borders. filia is supporting the group with its first grant.
Who decides on grants in Germany?
filia promotes participation. This means that decisions about success and failure are not made by just anyone, but by an advisory board. Thirteen individuals with professional expertise and personal experience not only review and evaluate all applications, they also make the decisions. All of them are committed feminists and represent the perspectives of the program’s target group. By consciously distributing power in this way, the aim is to ensure that decisions are as fair as possible.
You can find out more about the Advisory Board for the RISE Program here.
Supporting feminist activism
On the one hand, we are delighted with the huge response (a new record with 387 applications!) to the last call for proposals for 2025. This shows that we have succeeded in reaching groups throughout Germany. On the other hand, we know that, unfortunately, due to limited funds, we can only support some of the applicants. For the future, this means that we would welcome even more donations and support so that we can continue to expand our dedicated network in Germany.
Your Contact Person
You want to know more about filia’s grants in Germany? We look forward to hearing from you.
Nagihan Ulusoy
Program Director
n.ulusoy@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 991
The Program RISE (short for: Ressources for Intersectional Solidarity and Empowerment) is supported by the Crespo Foundation.
