CCF: Women and Girls - Women's Fund Grant

The Connecticut Community Foundation's Women's Fund Grant aims to empower girls and young women by fostering self-esteem, resilience, and advocacy through targeted programs. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Fund emphasizes collaboration among organizations to create inclusive environments, meaningful youth involvement, and positive role models. Funding projects may include planning grants for feasibility studies and core operational support for nonprofits. The initiative seeks to address low self-esteem among pre-teen and teenage girls in its 21-town service area.

Women’s Fund History
The 20th anniversary of Connecticut Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund prompted not only celebration, but contemplation. Reflecting on our grantmaking and other activities on behalf of women over the years and looking toward the future, we undertook an intensive effort in 2014 to listen to women and girls from across our 21-town region, to understand the issues they consider most important and to think strategically about how the Women’s Fund might best impact the community. Local brainstorming sessions and national research raised the persistent problem of low self-esteem among pre-teen and teenage girls. Read the report.
Women’s Fund Purpose
To identify, convene and support programs that promote advocacy and skill development while fostering resilience, self-esteem and self-respect among girls and young women in our region.
Women’s Fund, Possible Grant Funding Projects
Creation of inclusive, welcoming, and supportive conditions and positive role modelsOutreach that builds participation and inclusion of underrepresented populationsMeaningful youth involvement in creating the program’s plans and or implementationPrograms that contribute to positive youth development and utilize the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets; programs that have established achievable and meaningful goals for participants, as well as tracking systems to follow progress; and programs that include teenage and pre-teen girls.Multiple organizations working collaboratively on establishing goals, developing curricula or schedules, and addressing training needs, implementation and evaluation efforts.Planning grants that allow organizations the opportunity to explore and plan for a potential project. Costs associated with analyzing feasibility, solidifying partnerships, developing work plans or proofs of concept are eligible.

Eligibility

In order to apply for funding, an organization must:Be a not-for-profit organization recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a municipal entity seeking a grant for public purposes. Organizations may also have a nonprofit fiscal sponsor, if they do not have their own nonprofit status.
Have a board, representative of the community, of which a majority is neither employees nor relatives of employees.
Possess a Nonprofit Registration to Solicit Funds (or exemption, if appropriate) from the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. This registration must be renewed annually. Learn more, confirm registration or file for an exemption.

Ineligibility

We do not fund:Requests for political or religious purposesRequests for capital expenditures on buildings not owned by a nonprofit