Applications Invited for the Democracy at Work Fund 2025/2026 Call

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About the Organization

FORGE is a collaborative of philanthropic donors working to advance a global economy that works for all. By pooling expertise and resources from ten different funders, we enable community and worker-led movements to catalyze change at the intersections of the world’s most pressing issues.

The Democracy at Work Fund is a collaborative fund to build resilience among frontline workers’ organizations leading efforts at the intersection of labor rights, democracy, and a just transition. The inaugural round of the DAWF supported 19 initiatives across eleven countries. Groups supported included: journalists in Argentina, Indonesian migrant fishers in Taiwan, content moderators in Kenya, nurses in Uganda, domestic workers in South Africa, waste pickers in Bangladesh, nickel mining workers in Indonesia and more.

About the Grant

Workers around the world are on the frontlines of the struggle for rights, equity and justice. Amidst their mounting calls for just wages, benefits and protections, they face multiple global crises – deepening inequality and persistent challenges of gender justice, rapid technological transition and anxieties connected to it, extreme environmental degradation hastened by the climate crisis, conflict, and rollbacks in civic freedoms and the erosion of democratic space.

This is a crucial moment to bolster support for worker organizations at community level and support grassroots worker organizations to secure better rights, livelihoods and protections which can deliver positive outcomes for individuals, families and entire communities.

The Democracy at Work Fund pools support from multiple funders to deliver grants to frontline organizations in Asia, Africa, and South America aimed at building resilience and strengthening the capacity of workers’ organizations. Initiatives from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil are eligible to apply to this year’s fund. The Fund prioritizes efforts led directly by informal workers, those led by women and underrepresented groups, as well as efforts at the intersection of workers’ rights, gender justice, racial justice, and climate justice.

Work in the following interconnected areas will be supported:

• Worker organizing with a specific focus on unrepresented or underrepresented groups

Supporting worker organizations to lead inclusive organizing strategies focused on unrepresented or underrepresented categories of workers such migrant workers, informal economy workers and platform workers. We are keen to support the organizing of groups who are marginalized by their employment status alongside characteristics such as race, ethnicity and gender identity. The fund is open to worker organizations in all sectors and industries, with a particular emphasis on supporting informal and/or misclassified workers either as part of the informal sector or as part of the formal sector.

• Efforts by worker organizations to increase strength and influence

This may include deepening connections with other social movements such as the gender and climate justice movements or building innovative external partners with other actors such as civil society, cooperatives, NGOs or the private sector, alliance-building between capable and willing worker organizations including cross-sectoral, transnational and regional approaches or informal organizations transitioning to trade unions and affiliating with other entities where it increases their voice and status.

• Organizing to address major crises and transitions

The DAWF will support worker organizations' efforts to build the foundations and innovations needed for worker resilience in the face of the major crises and transitions that are concurrently affecting the world of work. These interconnected areas include the climate crisis, rapid technological changes, the global migration crisis and a rise in gender-based violence and harassment. Examples of work DAWF will support include:

• Organizing efforts centered around climate adaptation and just transition issues.
• Organizing efforts centered around addressing rising gender-based violence and harassment and ensuring greater accountability tools, responses and protections.
• Organizing efforts centered around adapting, upskilling and protecting workers through technological change deriving from automation, AI and digitization.
• Organizing efforts centered around inclusion and representation of migrant workers, expanding their worker protections and advocating for systemschanges to support more effective responses to increased migration.

Eligibility

• Organizations led directly by workers, whether in trade unions or more hybrid associations or groups, working on labor organizing, collective bargaining, advocacy and other forms of movement-building. We are seeking to support locally-based organizations as opposed to global organizations. Informal organizations and cooperatives active in the labor movement are welcome to apply.
• Priority will be given to organizations led by women and underrepresented groups with democratically-elected leadership structures and dues-paying membership.
• Proposals from more than one organization or entity as co-applicants should indicate the division of labor and respective roles of each organization.
• Geographic Scope: The Fund will be rolled out in 6 focus countries in the Global Majority. These are: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. Geographic scope will be given priority. Cross-country and regional initiatives involving these countries will also be considered.
• Budget & Duration of Support: Budget requests within the range of $10,000 to $80,000 total for up to 18 months will be considered. Projects can start from February 2026 and range in duration from 6 to 18 months.

How to Apply

On the website Democracyatworkfund.org you will find templates for the application form in different languages.

Applications can be filled out in this format and sent in PDF format to the email address applications@forgefunders.org, or can be submitted via this google form. Proposals can be sent in English, Bengali, Bahasa Indonesia, Portuguese and Spanish.

The deadline for submission is October 27th 2025. If you have questions about the process and eligibility criteria, please write to applications@forgefunders.org.

For more information please check the Link

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