Women & Girls of Color Fund: Front Range focus Grant

The Women & Girls of Color Fund focuses on empowering women and girls of color in Colorado through targeted investments in their leadership and economic security. With only 0.5% of foundation funding allocated to this demographic, the fund aims to dismantle systemic barriers and uplift community-led initiatives. Prioritizing organizations led by women of color, it supports diverse programs that enhance economic opportunities while addressing intersecting oppressions, thereby fostering a brighter future for all.

Background
Women of color contribute immensely to the health, well-being, and advancement of our communities. At the same time, women of color face greater disparities in health outcomes, pay, wealth, access to capital, and more.
Women and girls of color are immense assets to our communities, yet women and girls of color receive just .5% of all foundation funding. The Women & Girls of Color Fund is a community-developed, community-led field-of-interest fund dedicated to investing in and partnering with women-of-color-led organizations that are committed to building economic power and dismantling oppressive systems through direct service or community organizing. Our approach will focus on elevating women and girls of color across the state of Colorado to create a better future for all of us.
Grantmaking priorities
Our funding priorities are grounded in increasing investments in Colorado women and girls of color, their leadership, their futures, and their economic security.
Led by Women and Girls of Color
Women of color Grantee organizations will be led by women of color executive directors.
Focused on Women and Girls of Color
Programs we fund will have a focus on the power and potential of women and girls of color.
Colorado-based and Colorado-focused
Colorado is a large and diverse state. Grantees will take a range of approaches to advancing the economic security of women and girls of color based on their specific communities' needs.
Liberatory Leadership
Grantees will not only reject systems of racism, classism, homophobia, and patriarchy, they will also demonstrate radical practices of liberatory leadership such as self care and collective leadership.
Advancing Economic Security
The fund will support programs that advance the economic security of women and girls of color.
Those Most Underfunded
Following principles of intersectionality, the Women & Girls of Color Fund will prioritize those communities marginalized by multiple systems of oppression and most underfunded.

Eligibility

501(c)(3) charitable organizations; tax-exempt educational institutions; tax-exempt state, tribal, local government entities; or initiatives working with a fiscal sponsor. (Organizations without nonprofit status who are interested in this fund should contact the donor relations manager)Organizations based in Front Range counties and statewide organizations are eligible for funding in the Front Range cycle.Organizations whose executive director or CEO is a woman of color, girl of color, or nonbinary person of color.Examples of exceptions that will be considered:After school programs or extra-curricular activities at K-12 schools led by women of color, girls of color, or nonbinary people of colorProjects or departments at institutions of higher education that are led by women of color, girls of color, or nonbinary people of colorCommunity organizing or direct service organizations that advance economic security for or build the economic power of women of color, girls of color, and/or nonbinary people of color along the continuum from birth through adulthood. (Excludes research- and public policy-exclusive organizations). Examples include:Early childhood education & child care; job training; entrepreneurship; financial education; self-esteem; trauma and healing;health; food insecurity; safety; reproductive justice; legal services; housing; leadership development; refugee and immigrant rights/services; grassroots advocacyCan an organization apply for funding if they currently receive funding from WFCO or received funding from WFCO in the past?Yes.Can an organization apply for a grant from the Women & Girls of Color Fund if they are also applying for a grant from WINcome or have received previous funding from WFCO?Yes.All grants from the Women & Girls of Color Fund are unrestricted. Grantee partners can use funds as startup funds, for operating expenses, to fund a new program, to supplement their work in areas traditionally difficult to fund (cash stipends, for example), to deepen their commitment to or work toward liberatory leadership, prevent staff burnout, uplift the leadership of women of color within their organizations or their community, or anything else necessary to achieve their mission.