Introduction: Sex Work Donor Collaborative Research on Strengthening the Funding Base for Sex Worker Rights
The Sex Work Donor Collaborative (SWDC) was established to increase the amount and quality of funding for sex worker rights. When we began our work together, we know that less than 1% of human rights funding across the globe goes to sex worker rights. But to be successful in our goal we knew we needed an accurate picture of what funding currently exists, how that funding is changing, and what quality funding means to sex worker organizations. Deeper still, we needed to know what the barriers are preventing funders from moving more money to sex worker rights organizations, and what kinds of data, engagement and strategy could help surmount those barriers.
In 2019-2020, we worked with Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, a research and evaluation firm, on Phase 1 of this project. Our goal was to discover:
What funding is currently available for sex worker rights?
What kinds of data could inform, support and strengthen advocacy for more and better funding for sex worker’ rights globally?
What strategies would help funders deepen existing support or unlock new funding opportunities for sex workers?
What opportunities exist to build allies with funders in adjacent movements (e.g.: feminist, LGBTQI, anti-trafficking, labor rights, gender-based violence, etc.)?
Strength in Numbers made a targeted data request and did quantitative analysis: obtaining data from Candid for all grants tagged with the key word “sex work” in 2017, the most recent data available on this topic.
Strength in Numbers also engaged 28 activists from the sex worker rights movement, in interviews and group consultations. These activists were from regional/global networks and local organizations. Nine (32%) were from Latin America, seven (25%) from Asia, seven (25%) from the US and Canada, and the rest (18%) were from parts of Europe and Africa. Two interviews were also conducted with organizations representing feminist and labor rights perspectives.
Strength in Numbers also reached funders, including our members and staff at private foundations outside of the SWDC. A total of 17 donors were reached through interviews and group consultations.
Since many interviews were conducted confidentially, we decided not to release this research publicly, but want to share the major findings. What we learned challenged our ideas about how to leverage funding for sex workers rights, and re-affirmed the urgency of doing so. Please read the two posts below to learn more about the findings, and stay tuned for future research from the SWDC.