Stand with Us Fund

The Stand With Us fund (SWU) addresses the critical lack of investment in frontline organisations supporting women and girls who experience male violence in the UK. Originally set up using money raised by Reclaim the Streets in the wake of the appalling kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer in 2021, SWU supports individual organisations to become stronger and more sustainable, and strengthens the network of violence against women and girls (VAWG) organisations working across the UK through: 

• Organisational development grants of up to £25,000 for up to 12 months, funding areas including strategy, governance, leadership, alliance building, fundraising, systems and processes. 
• A high-quality programme of training and networking opportunities, which aims to build capacity and resilience in the sector.

STAND WITH US – ROUNDS 1 and 2

Thanks to your support, we have successfully run two rounds of the Stand With Us fund. The first round awarded £510,000 through 25 grants in 2022. A second round of the fund opened for applications in June and July 2024. In December 2025, we were pleased to announce the distribution of £537,322 in grants to 23 organisations. Of these, 50% are led by-and-for Black and racially minoritised women and girls, and 54% are operating in the top 10% of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK.

See the announcement here.

Alongside grants of up to £25k, organisations received access to a free, high-quality programme of networking and training opportunities, helping them build community, capacity and skills in areas including governance, social media, fundraising, safeguarding, finance and leadership.

The current round of SWU funded projects are ongoing, due for completion at the end of the 2025, so we will publish a full impact report for round 2  in Spring 2026. But from the interim reports grant holders submitted we can already see SWU's significant impact these organisations – and the women and girls they support:

• Over 10,000 women and girls have already benefitted– nearly matching the number of beneficiaries in total from round one of the fund.
• Grant holders have noted their organisations’ foundations strengthened, feeling better prepared to sustain and grow under the pressing challenges of reduced funding and resources, and rising need.
• New strategic partnerships flourished as SWU provided leaders with the time and space for collaboration, strengthening the women and girls sector as a whole.

STORY OF IMPACT

Quetzal is a Leicester-based charity offering free, trauma-informed counselling and support to women recovering from childhood sexual abuse. In November 2024, a Stand With Us grant allowed the organisation to hire a part-time Operations Manager, giving CEO Deborah Knight vital headspace for strategic planning. “The real impact is, with time, you can see where the best opportunities are,” she says.

With Rosa funding, Quetzal maximised its team's strengths and developed valuable income streams. These included launching an in-house counselling course, finding opportunities for paid advisory work, and transforming unused office space into a virtual charity shop. While none of these ventures alone ensure sustainability, Knight says, they “all have the dual benefit of mission and income”. This flexibility helps reduce reliance on grants. “These ideas have been floating around for a while,” Knight explains, “but without the space to properly assess and plan, we’ve struggled to get them off the ground.”

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are proud of the impact Stand With Us has delivered to date, but  we know our work to make the UK safer for all women and girls is not done.  As women and girls organisations face rising levels and complexity of need against a backdrop of decreased funding, Stand With Us is more important than ever. 

So, funding permitted, we aim to open a third round of Stand with Us n Spring 2026, distributing a minimum of 25 grants of up to £25k by autumn 2026. Alongside funding, grant holders will receive free training and networking opportunities, shaped around the needs and skills gaps they’ve identified.  

Links:

• Rosa's website
• Stand With Us (Round 1) Impact Report
• Rosa's new strategy

TheStand With Us (SWU) fund was set up to address the critical lack of investment in frontline organisations supporting women and girls who experience male violence.  Originally started with money raised by Reclaim These Streets in the wake of the appalling kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police Officer, SWU exists to make the UK safer for all women and girls. The fund supports organisations to become stronger and more effectively arming them to better meet the needs of women and girls across the UK, while influencing for wider change.

Thanks to your support, we have now run two rounds of the fund (in 2022 and 2024) and we are planning to run a third round in 2026.

STAND WITH US – ROUND 2

In November 2024, Rosa awarded over £550k to 24 organisations from across the UK with one-year grants of up to £25,000. The funding enabled organisations to be in a stronger position to survive, thrive and grow by investing in organisational development work such as developing strategy, strengthening governance and leadership, increasing fundraising, volunteering and activism and creating a stronger voice for themselves in the women’s movement. All the funded organisations focus on either violence against women and girls or rape and sexual violence; their primary purpose is providing services directly to women and girls.

Details of the fund criteria can be found here: https://rosauk.org/our-programmes/stand-with-us/

GRANT AWARDS
Among the organisations who received grants are:

• Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds, which supports women and girls who have been through the trauma of child sexual abuse, rape or any form of sexual violence.
• Luton-based, Stepping Stones, which provides a range of practical and emotional support to women living in Luton and Bedfordshire who are affected by multiple complex issues, including domestic abuse.
• Muslim Women’s Network, which works in the West Midlands to advance social justice for Muslim women and girls from minoritised communities.  
• Halo Project, a Middlesborough-based charity dedicated to supporting Black and minoritised women and girls affected by male abuse and sexual violence.

The press release and map of funded organisations can be found here.

Two organisations explain what the funding means to them:

Katie Russell, CEO of Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds:

“It feels fantastic to be awarded a Stand With Us grant. It’s a rare gift to be able to focus some dedicated time and other resource on organisational development and sustainability, and to look to the longer-term future with optimism. Ultimately, this will ensure women and girls in Leeds who’ve been through the trauma of sexual violence and abuse have access to the specialist services they need, want and deserve. It will support them to process, heal and move forward positively with their lives in whatever ways feel right for them. It will enable and empower them to pursue criminal and social justice.

We plan to use this funding to diversify our income in new and innovative ways, to boost our sustainability and enable us to maintain and grow our specialist services so we can help more of the women and girls who want and need us long into the future.”

Kristina Piggott, Manager for Strategy and Operations, Dundee International Women’s Centre

“This funding will enable us to expand our work supporting women and girls, particularly those from minority ethnic backgrounds who face significant cultural and structural barriers to accessing support.  We are honoured to receive this grant, which recognises the vital work we do in supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse and coercive control.

This funding comes at a crucial time as we work to deepen our Violence Against Women (VAW) services and improve our organisational capacity. It is a significant step in strengthening our ability to advocate for and support women who may otherwise struggle to access help. This funding will have a profound impact on the women and girls we support. The Stand With Us grant will allow us to enhance our services, helping more women make informed choices about their futures while ensuring they receive the support they need.”

IMPACT OF STAND WITH US
The impact report Rosa published following SWU’s first round demonstrates the fund’s profound impact on the sustainability of 25 frontline VAWG organisations: £510k in grants were awarded to 25 organisations, dramatically improving their sustainability, raising £4 for every £1 invested.  

Links:

• Rosa's Website
• Stand With Us impact report