Asian Women Giving Circle Grants

Asian Women Giving Circle Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Ms. Foundation For Women
Amount: Up to US $8,000
Last Updated: February 04, 2026

Summary

The Asian Women Giving Circle Grants support projects led by Asian American women and gender-expansive individuals using arts and culture for social change. Established in 2005, this initiative has awarded over $1 million to promote grassroots philanthropy, highlight community stories, and engage local resources. This grant cycle anticipates awarding 6-8 project grants to foster progressive transformation and raise awareness of critical issues affecting Asian American communities.

Overview

Who We Are The first and largest giving circle in the nation led by Asian American women, AWGC is a donor-advised fund at the Ms. Foundation for Women. Since our founding in 2005, we’ve raised and awarded more than $1 million dollars in grants to individual artists and community groups that use the transformative power of arts and culture to fuel progressive change. Our Mission We promote grassroots philanthropy and pool our resources to fund projects led by Asian American women who use their creativity to move hearts, minds and communities to be free of fear, bias and injustice. Our goals are to: Channel more resources into our local communitiesEngage more people to invest in creative projects by and for our communitiesShine an authentic spotlight on our experiences and storiesPromote progressive social changeRaise the visibility of Asian American women doing philanthropic work RFP Overview Advance a just, free and safe society  Raise awareness and catalyze action around critical issues that affect Asian American women, girls, gender-expansive people, and familiesShine an authentic spotlight on our experiences and stories In this grants cycle, we anticipate that 8 – 10 project grants will be awarded, contingent on available funding. The maximum grant amount is $8,000.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. This RFP is open to both 501(c)(3) organizations and individual artistsArtists and collectives that are not 501(c)(3)s must apply under a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) organization, which they must list on their application as the applying organization.All artistic disciplines will be considered, including cross-disciplinary workProjects must incorporate the arts in an integral wayProjects must highlight women’s and gender-expansive people’s leadership and/or central role Projects must demonstrate a commitment to NYC-based communities Grants must be applied to specific projects and cannot support the organization’s ongoing programs, operations, capital or endowments Applicants can be at any stage in their careers but must have a track record of developed work that demonstrates their capacity to complete the proposed project and manage the funds requested Proposals must make a clear case for the theory of social justice change envisioned by the project, based on the applicants’ own criteria for defining and measuring impact

Ineligibility

What We Do Not FundCapital or endowment campaignsEquipment purchasesSupport to address financial crises or shortfallsPurely personal works of artistic expression with little or no social justice impactDocumentation that is primarily of cultural eventsPerformances or personalities that do not provide a social change analysis or social justice focusStudent productions or projects associated with a degree program and academic credit