Mama Cash
Mama Cash Optimizes ‘Grantmaking’ Program with Salesforce
Founded in the Netherlands in 1983, Mama Cash is the oldest international women’s fund in the world. For over three decades the organization has pursued the vision that every woman and girl should have the power and resources to make her own choices, have control over her own body, and participate equally and fully in creating a peaceful and sustainable world.
Mama Cash funds activism that advances a collective political agenda at a local, national and international level. It focuses on organizations that educate, advocate, break down sexist stereotypes and build cultures of peace, justice and respect.
An integral part of the organizations processes is grantmaking. All grants are requested through a Letter of Interest, an LOI and each LOI from around the world is registered and processed within Salesforce.
“We had tried various systems to support our grantmaking program, none of which were able to offer us the same flexibility as Salesforce. We wanted a system that would support every step of the grantmaking process so at any given time we could know how many Letters of Interest have been received, how many have been rejected and how many are pending,” explains Janet Zeegers, Director Finance and Operations.
“Salesforce has improved our processes a lot. We can now better see at which stage a letter of interest is, which ones are still open, what has been rejected and why,” said Arja Schreij, Programme Associate at Mama Cash. “We now have an improved overview of where we are and what still needs to be done in a specific period. As an organization, we are committed to being accountable; evaluating and communicating the outcomes of our grantmaking and sharing what we have learned through our successful social justice philanthropy with our grantees, partners and donors. Salesforce is a very important tool for us, even helping us make the SEPA compliancy deadline this year.”
“Among our grantees are many organizations that deal with highly sensitive and sometimes downright dangerous issues and information”, says Janet Zeegers. “We think the community element of Salesforce can add a lot of value if we start linking grantees with each other so they can exchange information, ideas and experiences in a very safe environment.”
In 2013, Mama Cash supported 118 activist women’s, girls’ and trans*gender groups with a total of 4.3 million Euros, and encouraged other institutions and funds to invest in women’s and girls’ rights. To make this support possible, Mama Cash raises funds from individuals, corporations, foundations and governments and corporations. With the money raised, this feminist fund provides both financial and non-financial support to women’s, girls’ and transgender rights organizations worldwide.