Redesigning How the World Funds Gender Equality
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Jessica Houssian
This story is part of the Architects of Impact series, highlighting stories of innovation that demonstrate how our Community is mobilizing to ensure a world that works for all people and the planet.
Jessica Houssian is a Canadian philanthropist and strategist whose work has helped redefine how gender equality is funded globally. Based in Vancouver and a member of Forward Global since 2011, Jessica is widely recognized for her role in advancing feminist philanthropy that is strategic, sustainable, and movement‑led.
Her influence is perhaps most visible through the Equality Fund, which she co-founded with Jess Tomlin. As one of the world’s largest feminist funds, the Equality Fund is rooted in decades of leadership that has aligned capital with gender justice across philanthropy, policy, and investment.
A Feminist Funder Shaping the Field
Jessica has long been committed to gender equality as a core philanthropic priority, with a focus that—through her personal work and her family foundation—spans gender, climate, and community. Earlier in her career, she served as Executive Director of Women Moving Millions, a global philanthropic community dedicated to mobilizing substantial resources for women and girls. That experience positioned her at the forefront of efforts to move beyond short‑term or symbolic funding toward long‑term, systems‑level change.
Her approach is firmly built on the idea that women’s rights funding is most effective when it supports women‑led organizations and movements directly—particularly those working at the grassroots level and closest to the challenges they seek to address. “Traditional models hold money and power at the top, putting everyone’s future at risk. It was time to bet big on an entirely new strategy,” she says.
Building the Equality Fund: A Sustainable Model
Launched in 2019, the Equality Fund is a Canadian‑led global fund, united by a shared vision: to transform and sustain funding for women’s organizations and feminist movements, now and for the future. It combines feminist grantmaking with gender‑lens investing and systems change advocacy, allowing capital to both support women‑led movements and generate long‑term financial sustainability.
“The Equality Fund was born of a vision and commitment to design something that creates sustainability for women’s movements around the world, once and for all,” says Jessica, who served as co-CEO from 2019-2024.
The Equality Fund represents a major innovation in feminist philanthropy. It was launched following a successful proposal to the Canadian federal government after the rollout of its Feminist International Assistance Policy, resulting in a landmark CAD 300 million commitment that the Equality Fund has invested into 100 percent values-aligned vehicles. Crucially, the Fund was structured to operate independently of political leadership, ensuring durability beyond any single administration.
“We designed an ecosystem that puts all of the money to work—philanthropy, grant-making, and gender-lens impact investing—all under one tent. The result is a different kind of capital that can move in different ways and pull different levers for impact,” Jess says.
With the ambition to resource feminist movements sustainably and at Scale, the Equality Fund stands apart as the only initiative of its kind—designed to permanently change how gender equality work is financed. “We imagined a model that would deliver urgently, sustainably, and at scale,” says Houssian. To date, the Fund has moved $100 million to 1,800 organizations in 100 countries, per their five-year report.
Global Reach and Collective Action
Beyond Canada, the Equality Fund has expanded through partnerships with philanthropic collaborators such as Ford Foundation and Chanel Foundation, and through bilateral agreements with governments including the United Kingdom. These efforts have enabled support for women’s rights, civil liberties, and policy advocacy across the Global South, reinforcing the Fund’s emphasis on movement‑building rather than project‑based funding.
This global orientation reflects Jessica’s broader philosophy: philanthropy should prioritize trust, flexibility, and long‑term commitment to locally led change.
“At its very best, philanthropy is agile and risk-taking and trusting and paves the way for other, less nimble capital,” she says. “At the center of the entire model is trust.”
Jessica has cited Forward Global as an important space for learning and exchange throughout her philanthropic journey. As a long‑time member, she has engaged with peers across issues and geographies, including participating in a Global Journey to Sierra Leone—an experience that reinforced the importance of grounding strategy in lived context and genuine relationships.
For Forward Global members and the broader philanthropy field, Jessica exemplifies how influence can be exercised not through visibility alone, but through institution‑building, collaboration, and a sustained commitment to gender equality as a driver of systemic change.
Jessica shared one of her core lessons at our 2022 Toronto Summit: “We’ve learned that with your partners, it’s critical to work towards the same North Star. And if you can’t find it, you can build a constellation.”
