Empower, Educate and Protect Women and Girls

Ending gender disparity and violence against women and girls in the UK and around the world. Olwyn supports grassroots organisations that deliver real change.

Our Mission

We are a collective of women who seek lasting change. We are tired of gender disparity and violence against women and girls being ignored by mainstream funding channels. So we set up Olwyn. 

Olwyn is a feminist focused funding platform with one simple mission: to find and support the most effective grassroots campaigns and organisations to empower, educate and protect women and girls in the UK and around the world.  

Since 2018, we’ve worked tirelessly with the best partners to ensure all donations achieve their maximum impact. We are committed to changing this landscape.

The Challenge

According to the UN less than 1% of global aid was spent on reducing gender based violence and yet repeatedly, it is women and girls who suffer most - whether through war, poverty or climate crisis. 50% of the world's population should be entitled to the same rights and expectations in life, regardless of their gender.

IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!

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IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE! ⋆

Olwyn is a bridge for turning our collective feeling of helplessness and heartbreak into concrete action. Too often we see tragedies unfolding on the news and too often women and girls are at the centre of the suffering. In our despair we wish we could do something, but the challenge often seems too big and change feels impossible. However, Olwyn can and will do something to help. We can ALL be the change.

Samantha Rowe-Beddoe, Founder of Olwyn Foundation.

Our Impact

£1.2m

PROJECTS FUNDED

20

COUNTRIES WORKING

12

LONG-TERM PARTNERS SINCE 2018

Our Partners

Olwyn Foundation works with small organisations who are the leaders in their field, across the women and girls sector, achieving proven results. We invest in female-founded groups that are truly making the change in the UK and globally. We work on short-term, one-off and longer-term campaigns with our partners that educate, protect and empower. 

  • When Olwyn first started supporting us, we were just a fledgling organisation, created by and for young women.Thanks to Olwyn, Fumble is now an award-winning youth charity, leading the way in supporting young people with their mental health, sexual health and relationships in the digital age. I personally feel so grateful to the Olwyn Foundation all for their example and support.

    -Lucy Whitehouse, Founder, Fumble

  • Olwyn Foundation understands how to make change happen… direct, innovative, practical and dynamic. They have made a huge difference to the struggle to end FGM Sierra Leone.

    -Maggie O’ Kane, CEO GMC and Co Founder Frontline Ending FGM

  • For the last three years, Centre for Women's Justice's work to tackle the unjust criminalisation of victims of domestic abuse has depended primarily on funding from Olwyn Foundation. It has been of huge value to work in partnership with a funder that shares our vision of an end to misogyny and sex discrimination in the criminal justice system. Olwyn's sustained funding and supportive way of working has allowed us to focus all our attention on the hard work of creating change. The progress we have made would not have been possible without their support.

    -Katy Swaine Williams, Criminalisation Project Lead, Centre for Women's Justice

“Women working together, linked, informed and educated, can bring peace and prosperity to this planet.”

Isabelle Allende