The Women’s Fund of Essex County raises funds specifically to award grants to non-profit organizations focused on gender-specific programs and services for at-risk women and girls of Essex County.
Donor Name: Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF)
State: Massachusetts
County: Essex County (MA)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/21/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The grants are awarded annually to results-oriented organizations that have demonstrated success in positively impacting the lives of women and girls, addressing issues of systemic inequities. The grants provide an essential infusion of funding to maximize the success and impact of the programs or services. By pooling the gifts of The Women’s Fund donors, they can increase the breadth and depth of each donor’s contribution across a broad range of issues and solutions specific to Essex County. Since 2003, The Women’s Fund has donated more than $4.335 million to Essex County organizations offering programs for women and girls.
Funding Priorities
- Economic Empowerment
- Programs/services which directly encourage, train or facilitate the economic empowerment of women and girls. (Includes apprenticeships, basic skills training, education, financial management, workforce development etc.)
- Health and Well-Being
- Programs/services which support equitable access to healthcare, nutritious food and meal preparation, promote, protect, and restore health and well-being- physical, emotional, psychological, social.
- Equity and Social Justice
- Programs/services which seek at the intersection of equity and gender to meet women and girls where they are, by providing resources that will allow them to thrive. (Examples include but are not limited to supporting access to housing, English language programming, and programs that address the root causes of racial inequity).
- Academic Achievement
- Programs/services which provide opportunities to reduce disparities in academic performance due to systemic or other barriers.
- Leadership Development
- Programs/services which provide opportunities to develop leadership skills that help to build confidence, ownership of their careers, resiliency, and advancement into new roles.
Funding Information
The Women’s Fund of Essex County will be multi-year grants of $30,000 each over 3-years.
Eligibility Criteria
The Women’s Fund is limited to non-sectarian programming for Essex County women and girls of all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Programs sponsored by religious organizations are eligible if enrolment is open to all qualified women and girls and the program is free of mandatory sectarian religious instruction.
Generally, grants will not be awarded:
- To individuals
- To agencies with pending 501(c)3 status
- For debt or deficit reduction
- For political purposes
- For sectarian or religious purposes
- For endowment or capital campaigns
- For research or feasibility studies.
For more information, visit ECCF.
