Funding Opportunities
As one of the country’s premiere women’s foundations, our grantmaking primarily takes four forms:
Leadership Awards
The Leadership Awards Program invests in the work of outstanding, emerging community-based organizations that exhibit vision and impact in serving the critical needs of women and girls. Each year, the Leadership Awards recognizes innovative nonprofit organizations in the Washington metropolitan area working to positively impact the lives of women and girls in a given issue area.
The embodiment of “citizen philanthropy,” the Leadership Awards Program engages 40-60 volunteers in every level of the selection of awardees – doing telephone interviews with key staff at the organizations, visiting the organizations to see their work in action, and evaluating all they have learned to select the final winners through deliberation and consensus.
In addition, with 8,538 votes in 2009 (up from 1,187 in 2008), an online vote further opens up engagement opportunities to the rest of the community, allowing anyone to cast a vote for the organization of their choice to get an additional $5,000 award.
For more information about the Leadership Awards Program and this year’s theme, click here.
See a complete list of past Leadership Awards recipients.
Stepping Stones
In response to the findings in A Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, The Women’s Foundation created Stepping Stones to help build the economic security and financial independence of low-income, women-headed families. Stepping Stones is the first multi-year initiative of its kind for our region and will be the major focus of our grants and program work. Grantmaking funds include:
- Financial Education and Wealth Creation Fund
- Jobs Fund
- Strategic Opportunity and Partnership Fund
- Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative
To complement our grantmaking efforts, Stepping Stones also has community education, advocacy, and leadership development components.
To learn more about how Stepping Stones is changing lives and empowering local women, check out the 2008 Stepping Stones Report or download the audio and presentations from the 2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing!
Giving Circles
Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s Giving Circles provide creative and exciting opportunities to engage women in meaningful philanthropy in the region, while cultivating new leaders for The Women’s Foundation and our community. Giving Circles provide a vehicle for like-minded women to pool their money, uncover specific community needs, and decide as a group where to make grants. Each Giving Circle determines both how and where they will make their grants. We currently have two Giving Circles: Rainmakers and the African American Women’s Giving Circle.
Rainmakers Giving Circle
Launched in 2003, Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s Rainmakers Giving Circle’s mission is to improve the lives of young women in the Washington metropolitan area by applying combined resources to support their empowerment, foster their self-esteem and achieve their full potential. The Rainmakers Giving Circle makes grants that:
- Support programs for young women and girls (10-21) that encourage the healthy development of and prevention of risk factors among young women and girls. Although young women and girls are the target population, the circle funds programs that include young men and boys of the same age group when their inclusion is integral to the success of the program;
- Focus on programs that empower and increase competence among young women and girls in the areas of employment, education, health, and life skills; and,
- Contribute to programs where the grants make a significant impact in the continuation, expansion or enhancement of the program.
See the Rainmakers Giving Circle fact sheet or their Web page for more information about this giving circle.
The Rainmakers Giving Circle is not currently accepting proposals.
Contact Nicole Cozier at 202.347.7737 ext. 203 or ncozier@wawf.org for additional information.
Open Door Capacity Fund:
The Open Door Capacity Fund helps our Grantee Partners build their organizational capacity and strengthen their work and infrastructure.
The Open Door Capacity Fund is not currently accepting proposals.
Contact Nicole Cozier at 202.347.7737 x203 or ncozier@wawf.org for additional information.