About Us

The Maypole Fund is a small grant-giving organization that funds feminist activism against militarism and war. The women who run The Maypole Fund are volunteers firmly committed to feminist activism against militarism and war in its many and diverse forms. In legal terms, we are registered in England and Wales as Maypole Grants Ltd, a company limited by guarantee (company number: 14829488).

Several women of The Maypole Fund were involved in the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, some join in activities of the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp, which protests against the development and production of nuclear weapons in the UK, some are members of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and involved in one its country sections, and yet others are active in Women in Black, a worldwide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence.

The money held by The Maypole Fund is donated by women for The Maypole Fund to use. This contrasts with the usual situation in which men own and control money. The Fund’s money is invested so as to produce an income each year to distribute as grants. It is invested ‘ethically’ according to principles avoiding companies involved in armaments, gambling, tobacco and environmentally damaging activities.

Our History

The Maypole Fund was set up in 1986 by women activists involved in the peace movement in the UK. The founders were especially active in the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in southern England, where women from all over the world gathered to campaign and protest against nuclear weapons — those stored at the Greenham Common Royal Airforce base, as well as those stored and produced elsewhere in the UK and in other countries.

Our name and the associated logo signal our activist stance. They derive from a protest action against nuclear weapons carried out in 1985. Women activists breached the perimeter fence of a British Royal Airforce base, erected a maypole on top of the weapon storage facility at the base and danced around the maypole until they were discovered and arrested.

‘Dancing around the maypole’ is an old European Mayday tradition, celebrating the arrival of spring. The dancing mostly took place on common land; that is, land which belongs to everyone. Because of this important action and the symbolic meaning associated with dancing around the maypole, the women founders adopted the name The Maypole Fund.

Our Aims

The aim of The Maypole Fund is to financially support feminist activism against militarism and war and closely related issues.

We are particularly interested to fund imaginative projects and activities which pro-actively challenge militarism and war and closely related issues from a feminist female-focussed perspective in locally relevant and appropriate ways.

Applicants can be individual feminists or feminist groups, and we welcome applications for projects and activities for any of the following areas of feminist activism:

• Action against militarism
• Action against war
• Action against the arms trade
• Action against nuclear weapons and weapons systems
• Action to support disarmament policies and processes

All projects and activities funded by The Maypole Fund have to meet our aims, be non-violent, and demonstrate how a feminist perspective informs the proposed project or activity.

We do not fund:

• On-going running costs by groups, including recurring salaries or office rental
• Undergraduate or graduate studies
• Economic development or poverty reduction, such as investment in machinery or materials, or investment in private businesses
• Participation in conferences, study visits, etc by individuals from the Global North