Our Partners

Our Collective

The future needs all of us

The Equality Fund was founded by a collective of partners who bring different backgrounds and expertise to one vision: A gender equal world.

The diversity of this partnership is unprecedented, representing women’s funds, community foundations, Canada’s largest financial institution, a gender-lens investing firm, venture capital, a network of the largest global foundations, and more. 

Our Consortium

The Equality Fund Consortium refers to the three organizations—the Equality Fund, Toronto Foundation, and WUSC—that signed an agreement with the Government of Canada to ensure the effective stewardship of its $300 million CAD contribution. The consortium is not a legal entity; instead, it is a collaboration among partners with deep and diverse areas of expertise coming together to design and build the Equality Fund Initiative. Each brings a unique role:

Equality Fund logo

Equality Fund

The Equality Fund provides feminist leadership to the initiative, is the co-designer of the grantmaking strategy, in partnership with AWDF, and designer of the philanthropic and investment strategies.

Toronto Foundation

Toronto Foundation is the Equality Fund’s fiduciary partner and is accountable for the investment of the contribution from GAC totalling $300M CAD.

WUSC

WUSC provides due diligence, compliance, financial, and capacity-building support to the Equality Fund for its grantmaking program.

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The Government of Canada

In 2018, the Government of Canada issued a bold call to action and launched a selection process to establish a dramatically new kind of partnership for gender equality. The vision was to bring together the philanthropic sector, the private sector, civil society, and government to mobilize unprecedented resources and create a sustainable and predictable source of support for women’s organizations and movements in the Global South.

The Government of Canada undertook a rigorous two-step selection process and in June 2019 announced its intention to contribute an unprecedented $300 million CAD to establish the Equality Fund. The Government of Canada selected the Equality Fund Consortium to deliver on its initiative, entering into a funding agreement with three of the collective members: Equality Fund (previously The MATCH International Women’s Fund), World University Services of Canada and Toronto Foundation. The agreement sets out an ambitious agenda for achieving gender equality, enabled by financial and governance systems and structures that meet the Government’s due diligence requirements. As such, the Government of Canada can also serve as a vehicle for other bilateral donors interested in supporting and investing in the Equality Fund, including through delegated cooperation arrangements.

The Equality Fund plants the seeds of a lasting legacy and stands as a powerful example for the rest of the world.

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