Roses in the concrete: Seeding human rights philanthropy to galvanize resources for sex worker movements

Authors:

• Jules Kim – Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP)
• Erin Williams and Sienna Baskin – Sex Work Donor Collaborative (SWDC)
• Alexis Wilson Briggs – Red Umbrella Fund (RUF)
• Stasa Plecas – Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN)

This past April, the Sex Work Donor Collaborative (SWDC), Red Umbrella Fund (RUF), Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN) and Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) came together at the Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) Funding Futures Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia. Representing a donor network, a sex-worker led fund, and global and regional sex worker networks, we facilitated a critical discussion with global funders on the importance of supporting sex worker rights movements.

As the conveners, we were not without jitters. In November 2022, a similar conversation was attempted at the HRFN Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, and only three funders showed up. While we did host a small, deep exchange with those three committed funders, this time the small room was packed and filled with vibrant participation. With 36 registrants and more than 20 attendees, we ran out of time, and could have stayed much longer engaged in the conversation. It was encouraging to see program officers hailing from private, public, and family foundations, along with philanthropic consultants and advisors. The room buzzed with questions such as: How can I make the case to my leadership to fund sex worker rights? How can we support mobilization where there is currently no substantive network or movement? How can we support the SWDC’s mission if not currently funding sex workers? What can we do when working with grantees that are not inclusive of sex worker rights?

We organized the session in part to address a seismic shift to the funding landscape: Open Society Foundations (OSF), the largest funder of sex worker rights globally, recently went through a transformation and withdrew its funding to sex workers. Erin Williams of Constellations Fund (a SWDC member) shared SWDC research, commissioned from Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, to document the impact. Three important points were raised. First, OSF’s funding was so critical because for many organizations it was the only flexible funding they received. It allowed sex worker organizations to work on their own priorities. Second, OSF was a trusted movement partner and sounding board to activists operating in extremely difficult environments where human rights defenders are threatened, surveilled, and targeted. And lastly, the $9 million that OSF contributed over the last five years enabled sex worker movements to undertake an incredible breadth of work including anti-criminalization, labor rights, policy advocacy, mutual aid, leadership development, and narrative power building.  The bottom line? OSF’s departure leaves a considerable void and the human rights funder community has a crucial role to play in filling it.

We explained how funders interested in supporting sex worker rights are not alone. Alexis Wilson Briggs from the Red Umbrella Fund (RUF) helped audience members understand how the SWDC equips funders with knowledge and resources to fully support sex workers. SWDC was created in collaboration with RUF as a space to build a donor community of practice. Some SWDC members have reached out to RUF, a participatory fund led by sex workers, for help in making the case to their leadership to support sex worker rights. For funders who are not yet funding sex worker rights, SWDC can offer powerful examples from our members of how to make the case internally and build a portfolio of strategic grants. For funders who already fund sex worker rights but are seeking to strengthen their support, RUF can provide insights from sex worker-led movements themselves on strategies for addressing conflict between movements, supporting sex workers where there is currently no substantive network or movement, and a range of other issues.

During our session, Stasa Plecas shared about the Sex Workers’ Rights Advocacy Network (SWAN), a sex worker-led regional network in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia that advocates for the human rights of sex workers of all genders and backgrounds. SWAN was founded in 2006, and currently unites 27 organizations from 20 countries in the region. The geopolitical context is rife with challenges, from the ongoing war in Ukraine, people on the move, rising authoritarianism, attacks on activism and activists, heightened militarization, and a heightened cost of living. Yet funders are not funding in this region as they should, and even long-time funders have departed (OSF, the Global Fund, Aidsfonds, and others), resulting in a greatly reduced funding landscape. SWAN has seen how funding processes are often inaccessible and decisions are disconnected from the people on the ground. The cumulative impact of these factors is the disruption of critical services and a threatened loss of years of investing in communities and leaders.

These ongoing challenges are not restricted to Eastern Europe. To take stock of the funding landscape and needs, Jules Kim, Coordinator of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP), shared a funding scan NSWP recently conducted across 101 sex worker-led organisations, a small slice but representative sample of this vibrant movement. 17% of these organizations receive no funding at all, and the remaining 83% had only minimal funding for all of the basic areas of their work, such as ensuring staff wellbeing, offering peer support, delivering services, engaging in advocacy, meeting core costs, and building their own capacity.

In response, NSWP is bringing a clear message to funders: Fund the sex worker rights movement, at every level, with core and flexible funds. One of the sex worker-led movement’s biggest strengths is its powerful infrastructure. The global NSWP, regional networks like SWAN, and an array of local and national networks provide the scaffolding for community-led collaboration and capacity building. This infrastructure ensures that resources reach those that need them most. Funding this movement at scale will allow international and regional networks to provide support and guidance to local and national groups, and only sustained funding will allow sex worker organizations to play their part in holding the line against the forces currently undermining all of our rights.

Sex workers should be a top funding priority for any funder committed to supporting frontline communities fighting for human rights. Moreover, HRFN’s 2022 report, “Funding for Intersectional Organising,” reveals that 76% of sex worker funding also reaches at least one other marginalized group. This vital movement demonstrates exceptional reach and impact, yet it remains underfunded. Our hope, coming out of that dynamic conversation at the HRFN Funding Futures Festival, is that for more funders the time to invest in sex worker rights will be now.