Timeline

To give concrete expression to her commitment to women’s rights, Danièle Marcovici founded the RAJA-Danièle Marcovici Foundation to support projects run by French associations working to promote women’s economic rights and socio-professional integration in France and around the world.

The Foundation broadens its focus to cover more issues affecting women’s lives. It is now committed to combating violence against women and girls and promoting their education and leadership.

The Foundation’s team is growing and its annual budget has doubled to €360,000, enabling it to pass the milestone of 100 projects supported since 2006.

Benjamin Kapelusz, the Foundation’s first CEO, created the RAJA Women’s Awards to highlight remarkable projects promoting women’s rights supported by the Foundation.

He also initiated the internal RAJApeople program, launched in parallel to raise awareness and engage RAJA Group employees on the subject of women’s rights.

This program, funded by the RAJA Group, supports projects that operate at the intersection of women’s rights and environmental protection.

To highlight the link between climate, environment, and women’s empowerment, the Foundation presented an initial study at COP21, then published a report on the role of women in agroecology and agroforestry in 2018.

In 10 years, the Foundation has increased its budget tenfold. In total, more than 78,000 women have benefited from the Foundation’s actions through 345 projects in 48 countries.

In 2020, in response to the impact of Covid-19 on women and associations, the Foundation released exceptional aid of €170,000 to five associations, including the national emergency hotline for women victims of violence, 3919.

The Foundation participated in the creation of the Coalition for Feminist Philanthropy alongside several French foundations committed to women’s rights.

Danièle Marcovici, alongside Vandana Shiva, shared their expertise at the Generation Equality Forum (UN Women) in Paris, particularly on the empowerment of women in the face of climate challenges.

In 15 years, the Foundation has supported more than 110,000 women with €11 million invested and has announced a 50% increase in its budget.

In response to the war in Ukraine, the Foundation has created an Emergency Fund to provide support to women with urgent and immediate needs.

On International Abortion Rights Day, Danièle Marcovici announced that the Foundation would cover the abortion costs of RAJA Poland employees forced to travel abroad to terminate their pregnancies.

That same year, the Foundation launched the annual publication of Feminist Voices, a collection of interviews with figures committed to women’s rights.

This feminist fund aims to support and finance small associations created or run by women with an annual budget of less than €50,000 that work to promote social cohesion, gender equality, and the development of popular districts in France.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Women & Environment program and highlight the associations working for a fairer and more sustainable world, a special ceremony brought together 250 people at the Maison des Métallos in Paris in September 2025.