Get to know Washington Area Women's Foundation. We've invested over $15 million in grants to more than 205 community-based organizations, and it doesn't stop there.

The Foundation launched Stepping Stones, our premier grantmaking program, in 2005. Since that time, we have helped over 16,000 women increase their income and assets by $53 million. Learn more about this transformative grantmaking program.

Through our new strategic plan, we are returning to our roots, embracing a bold vision and entrepreneurial thinking. We are committing to moving the nearly 500,000 women and girls living in poverty to a place of consistent economic stability. Together We Thrive - find out how when you read our latest strategic plan.

In 2020, your support allowed us to move money into the community more quickly, reduce barriers and burdens in our investment processes, and provide greater flexibility and trust to our partners. Because of you - we're excited to share our collective work over the past year in our 2020 Community Investment Report!

The Blueprint represents the collective voice of more than 250 young women, policymakers, philanthropists, scholars, service providers, and government officials, and provides guidance for policymakers, government entities, community based organizations, school districts, and funders on how to address challenges identified by young women of color living in the District.

The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (GW), with support from The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust and Washington Area Women’s Foundation (WAWF), conducted a community needs assessment aimed at providing an in-depth analysis of the family planning landscape for women aged 15–29 in DC. This comprehensive community assessment, which includes both primary and secondary data, was designed, implemented, and analyzed between July 2017 and May 2018.

"A Fair Chance: Improving Outcomes and Reducing Barriers to Success and Opportunity for Girls, Young Women, Transgender Young Women and Gender Non-Conforming Youth of Color in DC" provides key statistics regarding the state of young women and girls in DC.

"Towards A Thriving City: A Review of the Impact of the Proposed 2018 D.C. Budget on Girls, Women and Families" is the first of its kind for the Foundation. The report provides a detailed analysis of proposed expenditures in relation to the needs of low-income girls, women and families in the City in critical areas such as housing, childcare, social supports, workforce development and violence.

This issue brief illustrates how turning the corner on poverty for women and girls
in our region is within our grasp if we invest with a gender lens and tap into the unprecedented giving potential of women philanthropists in our region.

This issue brief highlights the latest employment and labor force participation trends for working women in the
Washington region -- particularly low-income women -- and identifies some of the strategies of successful workforce development programs that provide women with the effective education and job training programs necessary to build economic security.

This issue brief highlights key issues and demographic trends in the Washington region, and dives specifically into issues of poverty and opportunity that affect girls’ capacity to attain economic security in adulthood.

In this issue brief, we look at the economic state of women in the Washington region and how we can address the obstacles challenging them and foster strategies that support them in their journey to economic security.

A case study of nontraditional job training programs for women with lessons learned and recommendations for the field.

In 2013, The Women’s Foundation expanded its target population to take a life cycle approach, launching a new strategy for investing in our community’s girls. This issue brief discusses the challenges facing low-income middle school girls in our region, and the two-generation approach we're taking to address them.

The 2020 Census directly impacts how much federal funding each city and county will receive over the next decade. Find out how by reading the reports produced by the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation in collaboration with the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers and Washington Area Women’s Foundation in May, 2019.

April 10, Equal Pay Day in 2018, symbolizes on average how far into the New Year women in the United States have to work to earn what men earned the previous year. Nationwide the gender wage gap is 19.5 percent. The wage gap has been narrowing due to women’s progress in education and workforce participation. However, at the current rate of progress, the gap in the United States will not close until the year 2059. Here are some key facts you need to know about the gender wage gap in the Washington region.

Early care and education investments help prepare low-income children ages zero to five for kindergarten, a critical opportunity to increase readiness and close the achievement gap, provide an important work support for low-income working families and support the professional development and advancement of early care and education providers. In this fact sheet, we explore early care and education in our region.

An analysis of the 2018 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in the Washington Region. We dig into the numbers in this fact sheet.

More than ever, families rely on women's earnings to make ends meet. This fact sheet explores how the persistent wage gap affects the economic security of women and their families.

An analysis of the 2016 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in Prince George’s County, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. This and more facts in our poverty fact sheet.

An analysis of the 2016 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in Montgomery County, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. Learn more about poverty in Montgomery County in our fact sheet.

An analysis of the 2016 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in Fairfax County, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. This and more facts in our poverty fact sheet.

An analysis of the 2018 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in the District of Columbia, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. Explore more statistics in our poverty fact sheet.

An analysis of the 2016 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in Arlington County, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. Find out more information in our poverty fact sheet.

An analysis of the 2016 American Community Survey by The Women’s Foundation finds that women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty in the City of Alexandria, and that among women, single women with children and women of color are more likely to live below the poverty threshold. Find out more in our poverty fact sheet.