Improving the lives of Iowa’s women and girls by shattering the barriers to their economic self-sufficiency drives the work of the Iowa Women’s Foundation. Core Grants are used to address the barriers of employment, child care, housing, education/training, transportation and mentoring.
Donor Name: Iowa Women’s Foundation
State: Iowa
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/28/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $25,000
Grant Duration: 1 year
Details:
As the only statewide organization focused on the economic empowerment of women and girls, IWF awards Core Grants to programs that tackle one of the six identified barriers to women’s self-sufficiency: employment, child care, housing, education/training, transportation, and mentoring.
Grant Priorities
- Economic self-sufficiency for all of Iowa’s women and girls is central to the mission of the Iowa Women’s Foundation and to their grants program. To be successful, proposed projects must focus primarily on serving the needs and aspirations of women and girls as it relates to their economic self-sufficiency.
- The IWF looks to communities across Iowa to help us better understand the barriers impacting women and girls’ economic security.
- IWF seeks to foster an environment in which each woman and girl has the resources – human, social, and financial – necessary for a successful future. These resources come in many forms, a living wage, warm roofs overhead, enough food on the table, adequate clothing, and timely care for medical needs, readily available transportation, appropriate vocational training, and safe affordable quality child care. In this vision of the future, human security is the norm and all women are active, contributing members of society.
- The IWF uses research to identify the biggest barriers to women’s success as well as their greatest needs and encourages others, including potential grantees, to do the same.
Funding Information
- For many years, IWF grants were generally limited to $5,000 – $10,000 per project. In celebration of 25 years of grant making in 2022, requests of up to $25,000 will now be considered for funding.
- IWF grants run January 1 to December 31. Projects must be completed within one year.
Eligible Projects
In addition to addressing one of the six previously stated barriers, projects funded by IWF grants typically embody one or more of the following characteristics:
- Advocate on issues that lead to long-term change for women and girls
- Employ strategies designed to address causes of systemic, societal issues
- Address activities that enable women and/or girls as a group to achieve economic self-sufficiency
- Offer strategies that develop positive self-images for young and adolescent girls
- Promote prevention, early intervention, and enrichment activities
- Are creative, innovative, and new to the community they serve
- Increase the range of choices and expand opportunities for women and girls
- Work toward the elimination of bias and discrimination
- Could provide a model for replication by other service providers addressing the same clients or similar needs
- Promote the interconnectedness of issues across states, regions, or countries between the women in Iowa and the global world.
- IWF places no restrictions on the number of years a program can be funded. However, to receive subsequent funding for the same program, IWF will want to see growth, expansion, and or innovation to the original program.
Eligibility Criteria
Nonprofit 501(C) 3 tax-exempt organizations or grassroots groups serving women and girls in Iowa are encouraged to apply for IWF grants.
For more information, visit Iowa Women’s Foundation.
