The Vital Voices Impact Fund

Summary

In 2023, Vital Voices Global Partnership committed to launching the Vital Voices Impact Fund to support women leaders in revitalizing economies, reimagining political systems, and upending intrenched injustices. As women’s leadership and wellbeing is under continued threat, targeted support for inclusive women leaders and their solutions is more important than ever. The fund will invest in women leaders around the world through skills-building fellowships, mentorship initiatives, grants and wraparound support, and thought leadership. The Fund will expand the organization’s pre-existing network of 20,000 women leaders worldwide by an additional 30,000 women, positively impacting millions of people across thousands of communities worldwide by 2030.

Approach

Vital Voices Global Partnership invests in women leaders who are solving the world’s greatest challenges.

The Vital Voices $100 Million Impact Fund will provide the training, amplification, and networks that women leaders need to revitalize economies, reimagine political systems, and upend entrenched injustice.

Over 25 years, Vital Voices has pioneered a five-point model to invest in women leaders who are taking on global challenges. Participants are provided with:

Financial investments, such as grants and partnership investments;

Holistic leadership building, training, and mentoring by top business and political leaders, including former and current women heads of state;

Visibility and credibility, through awards, media coverage, and partnerships;

Access to a global network of peers, partners, and donors;

Crisis response support during times of emergency.

The Vital Voices Impact Fund scales this proven model and sets the trajectory to meet the following goals by 2030:

Grow their network from 20,000 to 50,000 women leaders who, together, will positively impact the lives of 1 billion people;

Make a measurable impact on one to two of the greatest challenges as defined by the Vital Voices Global Network, proving the power of collective action.

The Impact Fund will invest deeply in top women solutions leaders through skills-building fellowships, mentorship initiatives, grants, and thought leadership. Through the new Vital Voices Global Fellowship, Vital Voices will scale what works to expand their network. The Fellowship will have six focus verticals including Peacebuilding, Social Entrepreneurship, Political Leadership, Gender-Based Violence, Climate, and Women in Artificial Intelligence. Through the Big Bets grants program, which will provide $250,000 to $1 million grants to women leaders, they will boldly amplify solutions leaders, impacting the lives of more people worldwide. And as they engage in advocacy and thought leadership across all issue areas, they will ignite their network as a force for change and harness the collective power of the globe’s most influential leaders.

Diane von Furstenberg will chair the Impact Fund and assist in sourcing donors.

Action Plan

The Global Fellowship will run annually:

Q4 of previous year, applications launch in October and close in December;

Q1 the cohort is announced in March;

Q2 virtual programming begins in April; the first in-person full-cohort gathering takes place in May;

Q3 & Q4 programming continues, running through the end of the calendar year; regional convenings occur throughout June–December;

Q1 of the following year, the final summit takes place in January.

Vital Voices will launch the Big Bets transformational grants program in 2024. Awardees will be announced once per year. Vital Voices is currently drafting the application and selection criteria and increasing their grants-management capacity. They are aiming to administer the first Big Bets grants in Q4 of 2024 or Q1 of 2025.

Background

In this moment of extraordinary challenge, we cannot repair the world with conventional leadership and traditional thinking. But women lead differently. They are inclusive, collaborative, resourceful, empathetic, and driven by a deep sense of purpose. Women leaders tend to champion locally led solutions, which has been found to be the most effective path to systemic change and global progress on the UN SDGs. Across issue areas, women leaders consistently bring about inclusive, long-term solutions.

But during the COVID pandemic, women slid back a full generation. Women’s labor participation nosedived. The World Economic Forum predicts that the global gender gap will not close for another 136 years. A spike in domestic violence and political repression around the world, and a rollback of reproductive rights in the United States, are smothering the human capacity and innovative potential of millions of women. At the same time, there is a colossal funding gap in the social-impact sphere. In the United States, organizations devoted to advancing women and girls receive less than 2 percent of all charitable giving. In 2021, women entrepreneurs in the U.S. received a mere 2 percent of the country’s venture capital investment; in Europe, they received less than 1 percent.

The world is at a tipping point, and we must take bold action equal to this critical moment.

Progress Update

During the 12-month grant period, Vital Voices strengthened its organizational capacity and infrastructure to expand investment in women leaders addressing global challenges. Over $5.6 million was distributed in urgent assistance and support grants, including aid for social entrepreneurship fellows. The organization advanced advocacy through research partnerships focused on climate and online gender-based violence and activated its Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership by hosting nearly 100 events.
The launch of the Vital Voices Global Fellowship (VVGF) marked a milestone in holistic leadership development, convening 53 women political and entrepreneurial leaders from 39 countries. Vital Voices also introduced the Leadership Journey, a 7-week course aimed at equipping emerging changemakers with core leadership skills.
Visibility efforts included the 2023 and 2024 Global Leadership Awards, the latter integrated with the Vital Voices Festival to boost international engagement, drawing over 1,000 attendees including global dignitaries. Media coverage featured outlets such as Forbes, CNBC, and Voice of America Africa.
The organization elevated women’s climate leadership at COP28 through a new initiative, engaging a diverse delegation and partnering with leaders and organizations including Patricia Espinosa and Daughters for Earth. Vital Voices also transitioned to a new Community Hub platform to enhance global connectivity and resource-sharing among alumni and program participants.
In crisis response, the team expanded its direct support efforts, assisting women leaders in Sudan, Morocco, and Palestine/Israel. These actions reflect a broadened commitment to providing timely, targeted support to leaders in emergencies while building long-term resilience.

Partnership Opportunities

Vital Voices is seeking financial support totaling $100 million, through donations starting at the level of $1 million. Donor outreach will largely be conducted one-on-one, but they are also looking for appropriate channels through which to raise awareness among potential contributors who fit their donor profile.,Partners who invest over $1 million in the Impact Fund will join the Impact Fund Collective, an exclusive group for mutual connection, support, and activation. Depending on their investment level, Collective members will have access to the following benefits: naming rights for a leadership lecture series; name recognition in the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership; a seat on the Big Bets selection committee; and access to all Collective community events. All Collective members will be invited to participate in Vital Voices programming events, to attend a biannual member retreat, and to join us on impact trips or meetings in destinations around the world to visit women leaders working on the ground. They’ll be able to turn their learnings into action, participating in key conferences and events related to philanthropy and women and girls. Above all, they’ll have the opportunity to engage intimately with women leaders around the world.