Grantmaking Strategy Development Consultancy

About Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism

Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism partners with frontline feminist movements to support women, trans, and non-binary activists who take and face enormous risks to challenge oppressive systems and build a more just and equitable world. Our holistic, flexible approach enables frontline feminists to respond to real-time threats and opportunities, protect and care for themselves and one another, and sustain and propel solutions to the most critical crises and injustices of our time.

Founded in 1997, Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism is one of four independent Urgent Action Sister Funds that share and build power collectively on behalf of frontline feminists worldwide. Based in the United States, Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism supports individuals, organizations and movements in the Middle East, Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Turkey, Central Asia, Russia, Canada and the U.S. Together with our Sister Funds – who resource feminist activists in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean – we seek to provide an interconnected tapestry of flexible support to feminist movements globally.

Background

Over the past two years, the Programs Team has engaged in a series of internal planning discussions to articulate the purpose, vision, and desired outcomes of a long-term grantmaking strategy. These discussions established the rationale for strategy development, the outcomes it should achieve, and the collaborative principles that will guide its development. Additionally, UAF has begun processes to develop an overarching organizational strategy, including the refinement and articulation of UAF’s political identity, vision, values, and voice. The grantmaking strategy will be both an expression of an emerging broader organizational strategy and an important input into its future development. Furthermore, the grantmaking strategy is pivotal to ensuring that in the current institutional moment, UAF can continue to make strategic progress while recognizing that the broader organizational strategy will continue to develop as we learn from implementation, the changing environment, and our institutional experience.   

The consultant/s will support UAF in translating this foundation into a comprehensive, future-oriented grantmaking strategy that reflects the organization's feminist values, movement partnerships, operational realities, and long-term vision.

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to support UAF in developing a five-year grantmaking strategy that:

• articulates a clear grantmaking vision and strategic direction;
• strengthens organizational decision-making during periods of uncertainty and crisis;
• clarifies grantmaking priorities, approaches, and funding modalities;
• aligns grantmaking with feminist organizational values and broader institutional priorities;
• supports learning, adaptation, and continuous reflection;
• positions UAF to respond effectively to evolving movement, political, and philanthropic contexts.

Objectives

• Design and facilitate an inclusive, participatory, and feminist strategy development process.
• Review and synthesize existing organizational strategies, grantmaking data, evaluations, and learning products to reflect our institutional knowledge.
• Conduct environmental scanning and landscape analysis relevant to feminist philanthropy, crisis response, movement ecosystems, and emerging global trends.
• Develop and facilitate meaningful approaches to internal and external engagement, ensuring that relevant perspectives from staff, leadership, movement, partners, advisors, and other stakeholders inform the strategy throughout the process.
• Surface strategic opportunities, assumptions, tensions, and decision points requiring organizational discussion.
• Support future-oriented scenario planning.
• Translate emerging strategic decisions and iterative feedback into a coherent five-year Grantmaking Strategy.
• Support the development of an implementation approach, learning framework, and adaptation process.

Scope of Work

The consultant will support UAF through a collaborative strategy development process spanning approximately 15 months. 

UAF expects the consultancy to encompass the broad areas of work outlined below. While they are presented in a general progression, UAF recognizes that an effective strategy development process is likely to be iterative rather than linear. These areas reflect the key outcomes and deliverables UAF expects the process to address and are not intended to prescribe a specific methodology, sequence, or duration.

Applicants are encouraged to propose how they would structure the process within the overall consultancy period, including the sequencing and potential overlap of work areas, the time allocated to different components, methods, and engagement approaches, and any interim outputs they believe would strengthen the process. In particular, UAF does not expect internal or external engagement to occur only at a single stage of the process. Relevant perspectives may need to be engaged at different points to inform discovery, explore strategic questions, test emerging directions, and refine the strategy.

The final methodology, workplan, timeline, sequencing, and engagement approach will be refined and agreed upon with UAF during project initiation.

Project Initiation and Alignment

This area of work will establish a shared foundation for the strategy development process and ensure alignment between UAF and the consultant on the purpose, scope, approach, roles, and expectations for the work.

Key Outcomes:

• A strong shared understanding of UAF’s organizational context, previous planning, and relevant background informing the strategy development process.
• An agreed methodology that reflects UAF’s context, needs, and intended outcomes for the strategy development process.
• Clear roles, responsibilities, governance, communication, and decision-making arrangements for the process.
• A clear and realistic work plan and timeline for completing the strategy development process.
• A meaningful and appropriate approach to engaging relevant staff, leadership, partners, and other stakeholders throughout the process.

Key Deliverables:

• Final methodology and work plan
• Engagement approach and project timeline.

Discovery and Learning

This read of work will develop a shared understanding of UAF’s current grantmaking approach, organizational learning, and the broader context in which UAF operates.

The consultant will support the Programs Team in identifying and exploring the evidence, perspectives, and strategic questions that should inform the development of the strategy.

Key Outcomes:

• A synthesized understanding of UAF's grantmaking experience, strengths, challenges, patterns, and learning.
• Greater understanding of relevant external trends and their implications for UAF's future grantmaking.
• Identification of key strategic questions, assumptions, tensions, opportunities, and areas requiring further exploration.
• A shared evidence base to inform strategic discussions and decisions throughout the process.

Key Deliverables:

• Discovery and learning synthesis.
• Relevant external landscape analysis.
• Identification of key strategic questions and areas for further exploration.

Strategy Development

This area of work will translate learning from the discovery process into potential strategic directions and begin developing the grantmaking strategy.

Key Outcomes:

• Clear articulation of the major strategic choices facing UAF.
• Exploration of potential strategic priorities and directions, including relevant opportunities, risks, tensions, and trade-offs.
• Greater organizational alignment around an emerging direction for UAF's grantmaking.
• Translation of emerging strategic decisions into an initial strategy.

Key Deliverables:

• Strategic synthesis and recommendations
• Initial draft of the Grantmaking Strategy

External Engagement and Refinement

External perspectives should meaningfully inform the development of the strategy rather than serve solely as a final validation exercise. Engagement with partners, advisors, movements, peer organizations, and other relevant stakeholders may therefore take place at different points throughout the consultancy, depending on the methodology proposed by the consultant and agreed with UAF.

This area of work should ensure that UAF's emerging thinking is informed by movement realities and relevant external perspectives and that key assumptions and strategic directions can be appropriately explored and tested.

Key Outcomes:

• Relevant movement and stakeholder perspectives meaningfully inform the strategy.
• Key assumptions, priorities, and emerging strategic directions are tested against relevant external perspectives.
• Areas of alignment, challenge, opportunity, and further consideration are identified.
• External engagement strengthens rather than simply validates UAF's strategic thinking.

The consultant should propose an appropriate approach to external engagement, including which perspectives to engage, when in the process, and by which methods.

Key Deliverables:

• Synthesis of relevant external perspectives
• Recommendations for refinement of the emerging strategy.
• Updated draft of the Grantmaking Strategy

Organizational Sensemaking, Review and Refinement

Internal engagement and sense-making will similarly occur throughout the strategy development process. This area of work reflects the need for dedicated opportunities to bring together learning, test emerging choices, address areas of disagreement or uncertainty, and build sufficient organizational ownership around the strategy.

Key Outcomes:

• Relevant staff and leadership perspectives meaningfully inform the development of the strategy.
• Strategic priorities, choices, trade-offs, and implications are sufficiently understood across relevant parts of UAF.
• Areas requiring further discussion, decision, or refinement are surfaced and addressed.
• Organizational ownership and alignment are strengthened without requiring artificial consensus on every issue.
• Initial implications for implementation are understood.

Key Deliverables:

• Revised Grantmaking Strategy reflecting relevant organizational input.
• High-level implementation considerations.

Finalization

This area of work will result in a finalized five-year Grantmaking Strategy and position UAF to move effectively from strategy development into implementation, learning, and adaptation.

Key Outcomes:

• Organizational agreement on UAF's five-year grantmaking vision, strategic direction, priorities, and approach.
• Clear understanding of the implications of the strategy for implementation.
• An appropriate framework for learning from, monitoring, and adapting the strategy over time.
• Staff and leadership are prepared to transition from strategy development to implementation.

Key Deliverables:

• Final Grantmaking Strategy 
• High-level implementation roadmap
• Learning, monitoring, and adaptation framework
• Final presentation and handover

Overall Deliverables

The key deliverables anticipated across the areas of work are identified above. Applicants may recommend modifications to the format, sequencing, or combination of interim deliverables if they believe an alternative approach would better support the process's intended outcomes.

The final five-year Grantmaking Strategy, high-level implementation roadmap, and learning, monitoring, and adaptation framework are the required final deliverables.

Applicants are encouraged to propose additional or alternative interim outputs they believe would add value to the process. The specific format and sequencing of interim deliverables will be refined and agreed upon with UAF during project initiation.

Working Principles

The consultant is expected to work in ways that are:

• Participatory and collaborative.
• Feminist and care-centered.
• Movement-informed.
• Equity-driven.
• Reflective and adaptive.
• Inclusive of multiple perspectives and ways of knowing.

The consultant will facilitate discussion and provide recommendations while recognizing that all strategic decisions remain the responsibility of UAF.

Roles and Governance

The strategy development process will be coordinated through a distributed leadership model.

The Programs Team will contribute expertise based on thematic portfolios, regional leadership, institutional knowledge, learning and evaluation, partnerships, and collective care.

The consultant will work closely with the UAF Grantmaking Managing Officer and the Director of Programs, engage with the broader Programs Team as subject-matter experts throughout the process, and collaborate with other UAF teams and external stakeholders as appropriate.

Requirements

Who We Are Looking For

We are seeking a consultant or consulting team with demonstrated experience facilitating complex strategy development processes within philanthropy, civil society, or social justice organizations.

The ideal consultant will bring:

• Experience facilitating organizational and grantmaking strategy development.
• Strong understanding of feminist movements, feminist philanthropy, participatory grantmaking, and movement-building approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to design and facilitate participatory processes that build shared ownership and support collective decision-making.
• Experience integrating learning, monitoring, evaluation (MEL), adaptive management, and organizational learning into strategy development processes.
• Experience conducting qualitative research, environmental scans, stakeholder consultations, and strategic analysis, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, practical, and actionable recommendations.
• Experience working with international grantmaking organizations, foundations, or intermediary funders.
• Experience working effectively with diverse, multicultural, multilingual, and geographically dispersed stakeholders across multiple time zones.
• High levels of flexibility, adaptability, cultural humility, and comfort navigating complex and evolving strategic conversations. 
• Demonstrated cultural humility, political awareness, confidentiality, and discretion when working with diverse feminist movements and stakeholders across different regional and geopolitical contexts.

Benefits

Consultancy budget: USD $75,000

Duration: Approximately 15 months

Anticipated start date: January 4, 2027

Application deadline: October 31, 2026

Location: Remote

Working language: English

Working arrangements: The consultant or team must be able to accommodate meetings and collaboration across U.S. Eastern and Pacific Time zones.

Reporting to: Grantmaking Managing Officer and Director of Programs, Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism.

Questions: For questions about the consultancy or application process, please contact Johnny Tohme at johnny@urgentactionfund.org. Applications must be submitted through this posting and will not be accepted by email.