An estimated 37 percent of surveyed European foundations made grants or operated programs designed to benefit women and girls in 2009, a new report from Netherlands-based Mama Cash and the New York-based Foundation Center finds.

Commissioned by Mama Cash with support from the Ford Foundation, Untapped Potential: European Foundation Funding for Women and Girls (52 pages, PDF) found that while 90 percent of the 145 foundations surveyed have an interest in at least one issue related to women and girls, only a small portion provided funding in support of their rights, well-being, and empowerment. According to the report — the first to examine the scope, distribution, and diversity of European-based funding for women and girls as well as the most comprehensive study to date on the philanthropic activities of European foundations in general — the median percentage of total grant monies allocated in 2009 in support of women and girls was 4.8 percent.

Released during the European Foundation Centre's annual general assembly in Portugal, the report found that among foundations that expressed an interest in issues related to women and girls, violence against women (74 percent), poverty among women and/or girls (73 percent), and women's and/or girls' access to education (71 percent) were top priorities, with lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights (30 percent) generating the least interest.

"The gap between interest and investment tells us is that there is genuine potential and motivation for European foundations to step up and provide more funding for women and girls," said Mama Cash executive director Nicky McIntyre. "Data consistently show that no country has yet achieved gender equality. We at Mama Cash hope that this report's findings will inspire conversations and collaborations that will, in turn, contribute to mobilizing leadership and realizing increased giving in support of the rights, well-being, and empowerment of women and girls."