The Sex Work Donor Collaborative (SWDC) is a left-of-center advocacy group aimed at increasing and coordinating the amount of funding from left-of-center human rights organizations throughout the globe that are directed towards advocacy and assistance organizations and programs benefiting sex workers. The group is a project of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), a women’s advocacy group that has supported a variety of far-left policy positions including the abolition of law enforcement and border control. The SWDC was originally convened in 2008 by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, and Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA). ¹

Members of the group include the Global Fund for Women, FRIDA- The Young Feminist Fund, and the Equality Fund. ²

Background

The Sex Work Donor Collaborative was originally formed as a working group under the name Donor-Activist Collaboration for the Advancement of the Human Rights of Sex Workers. The group was first convened during a donor event held in 2008 by George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, and Creating Resources for Empowerment in Action (CREA) with the goal of addressing a perceived lack of funding from human rights groups and large left-of-center grantmaking foundations towards sex workers’ advocacy organizations throughout the world. ³

The group states that “resourcing of the sex workers’ rights movement remains unacceptably low at less than 1 percent of all global human rights funding.” The group also identifies the goal of the organization as being to facilitate donor-to-donor relations that can lead to increased funding in the sex work area. ⁴

The group notes that one of the key outcomes of its early work was the founding of the Red Umbrella Fund, identified as the first global fund “led by and for sex workers, founded in 2012” which shares many donors with the SWDC. ⁵

In 2021, the SWDC became a fiscally sponsored project of NEO Philanthropy, and the group released a strategic plan that stated, “What sex worker activists have in common is a focus on collaborative action to challenge criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of sex workers of all genders and identities and to advance the human rights of sex workers.” ⁶

As of 2024, the SWDC website stated that the group was fiscally sponsored by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), a far-left advocacy group based in Canada that has supported a variety of left-of-center and far-left positions on immigration, prostitution, abortion, and criminal justice. AWID received $15 million from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2021. AWID has endorsed the abolition of police and prisons, open borders, and the legalization of hard drugs. ⁷

Open Society Foundation Funding

The Sex Work Donors Collaborative released a 2023 report after the Open Society Foundations, a left-of-center foundation funded by George Soros, ceased giving to sex work-related initiatives. The group shared that OSF had contributed $9 million “over the last 5 years to these movements, and also played a key role as a movement builder, trusted confidant, and advisor.” ⁸

Members

Members of the Sex Work Donor Collaborative include the Red Umbrella Fund, Aidsfonds, Equality Fund, the Global Fund for Women, the Third Wave Fund, the Emergent Fund, FRIDA-The Young Feminist Fund, the New Moon Fund, the Elton John Foundation, the International Trans Fund, Hispanics In Philanthropy, and American Jewish World Service. ⁹

1. “History.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/history
2. “Current Members.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/current-members
3. “History.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/history
4. “Strategic Plan 2021-2025.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/news/sex-work-donor-collaborative-strategic-plan-2021-2025
5. “Strategic Plan 2021-2025.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/news/sex-work-donor-collaborative-strategic-plan-2021-2025
6. “Strategic Plan 2021-2025.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/news/sex-work-donor-collaborative-strategic-plan-2021-2025
7. “No Borders, No Walls: Feminists for Abolition.” Association for Women’s Rights in Development. May 7, 2021. https://www.awid.org/resources/no-borders-no-walls-feminists-abolition-0
8. “The impact of Open Society Foundations funding withdrawal on the sex workers right movement and recommendations for a path forward.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/news/the-impact-of-open-society-foundations-funding-withdrawal-on-the-sex-worker-rights-movement-and-recommendations-for-a-path-forward
9. “Current Members.” Sex Work Donor Collaborative. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://sexworkdonorcollaborative.org/current-members