Women’s Fund Announces $240,000 in Grant Funding
EASTHAMPTON — The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts (WFWM) announced the availability of $240,000 in grant funding for organizations that serve women and girls in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties.
Grant recipients will each receive $60,000 over three years to deploy innovative programs that help shift the landscape for women and girls within the agency’s focus areas of educational access and success, economic justice, and safety and freedom from violence. Grant applications will be available on the WFWM website on Jan. 10 and will be due on March 23.
“Due to renewed and expanded investments from community members in the Women’s Fund mission, we are thrilled to be able to offer another round of multi-year grants in 2015,” said Elizabeth Barajas-Román, chief executive officer of the WFWM. “Multi-year grants allow us to partner with organizations in a sustained way that helps make a significant impact in communities. This funding will increase our ability to scale up and positively affect the lives of women and girls.”
Successful applications will demonstrate meaningful partnerships among two or more organizations, agencies, or projects. “We know that effective solutions require creative collaboration,” said Barajas-Román.
In addition to the financial award, the Women’s Fund will invest an additional $20,000 into each grantee by giving each project the opportunity to select two staff, constituents, or board members as participants of the Women’s Fund’s Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI). LIPPI, a program of the Women’s Fund, has equipped 200 women from across the four western counties to become civic leaders in their communities; to impact policy on the local, state, and national levels; and to seek and retain elected positions.
The WFWM invests in the lives of women and girls through strategic grant making and leadership development. Since 1997, the WFWM has awarded more than $2 million to more than 150 nonprofit organizations, impacting more than 80,000 women and girls.
