Meetings
Meetings are a centerpiece of Funders for Reproductive Equity's (FRE) work. Each year, FRE holds two meetings: a spring Washington Briefing, which provides an update on policy and politics that affect reproductive health and rights; and a fall Annual Meeting, which covers a broad range of topics of interest to funders in this field. Both meetings offer ample opportunities to learn from experts in the field and to confer and strategize with colleagues. In addition FRE often convenes meetings on timely topics, either in person or via conference call.
Working Groups
FRE nurtures collaboration by convening "working groups" of funders with shared interests. Currently, we maintain 5 working groups on: international issues; advancing the voices and perspectives of women of color in the reproductive rights movement, public funding of abortion, global youth leadership and engagement and population. The working groups meet in person and by telephone to exchange information about strategy and new initiatives. They also serve a co-learning function: members identify shared needs for information and charge FRE staff or consultants with compiling that information. Each working group has a dedicated listserv used by members to exchange information, ideas and to issue queries to the group. To participate in a working group, you must be a current member of FRE.
Listservs
FRE now hosts 8 listservs – see below. If you are interested in subscribing to any of the lists below, please email . For current subscribers, instructions on posting to each list are specified below:
The “Updates” list is a moderated announcement list for FRE members. Members can send postings to and items (if approved) will be posted to the general membership for you.
Each of the 5 FRE working groups has its own unmoderated listserv as follows:
Globalyouth*: Listserv for the Global Youth Leadership and Engagement working group, which is composed of members with interest in youth leadership and engagement issues. To post to this list, please send email to
Internationalfundersgroup*: Listserv for the International Funders working group, which is composed of members who primarily fund internationally. To post to this list, please send email to
ICPD+20*: Listserv for this subgroup of the International Funders working group, which is composed of members who are interested in ICPD+20. To post to this list, please send email to
LatinAmericafunders*: Listserv for this subgroup of the International Funders working group, which is composed of members who fund in Latin America. To post to this list, please send email to
Population*: Listserv for the Population working group, which is composed of members with interest in population issues. To post to this list, please send email to
Publicfunding*: Listserv for the Public Funding working group, which is composed of members with interest in the issue of abortion access in the U.S. To post to this list, please send email to
WOC*: Listserv for the Women of Color working group, which is composed of members committed to strengthening the role and leadership of Women of Color within the RH/RJ movement in the US. To post to this list, please send email to
*When replying to posts from the unmoderated lists, please select Reply All to post to the entire group otherwise your response will post only to the sender.
Grants Database
The FRE grants database compiles, classifies and tracks nearly every grant made for population, reproductive health and rights work by US-based private foundations. The database is available online to Network members. Grants are classified by six "facets": issue addressed, strategy, population targeted, audience, geographic focus and type of support, providing an unparalleled source of information about funding trends in this field. The database allows members to generate data compilations, or "reports" for analysis of the raw information. The database provides information that can help funders avoid duplicative efforts and identify funding gaps. What's more, it can provide funders with instant contact information for those involved in particular strategies and issues, in both the funder and grantee arenas. And the database allows users to monitor funding increases and decreases in the field as a whole and in particular areas of interest.
Grantmaker Directory
FRE publishes an annual directory of foundations that make grants in the field of population, reproductive health and rights. The directory includes contact information, some funding trends and a percentage breakdown of participating foundations' grantmaking in this area. This directory is available to members only.
Phone Briefings/Webinars
FRE provides regular phone briefings and webinars on cutting edge topics of interest to our members. These briefings feature top resource people and support is provided by FRE staff and our communications infrastructure. Members may join a prearranged call/webinar or request a briefing around a topic of their choice. Some may be recorded and archived for access by members only. Members can submit topics for future phone briefings/webinars to
Bulletin
The FRE Bulletin offers news about grantmaking developments in population, reproductive health and rights. The Bulletin profiles new initiatives undertaken by funders and reports on staff and program changes among our member foundations. Each quarterly issue includes one or more feature articles, written by members, on topics of interest.
Click here to submit a news item for our next issue
Click here to view past issues
Outreach and Engagement
FRE's outreach and engagement project seeks to identify and reach potential new members and new sources of funding for population, reproductive health and rights. As part of that effort, the Network is working to raise the profile of our issues within the philanthropic community. Network staff are also cultivating a prospect list of foundations that might be interested in entering the field or increasing their contributions in this area.