“Overview
The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham is committed to economic opportunity for all women, most especially for women who aim to move beyond poverty for their own sake and the sake of their children. We create positive change for women and their children by engaging in advocacy, collaboration, and philanthropy.
For the 2018 grant cycle, The Women’s Fund will support programs that strengthen the economic security of single women and their children. We award grants to non-profit organizations and give priority to two-generation collaborative efforts that focus on post-secondary education and/or job training with wraparound support services in the five-county metropolitan area: Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker.
The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham will make awards to area non-profits in the amount of $20,000 to $50,000 for one year. Organizations may apply for grants through both this RFP process and Collaboration Institute. Receipt of funding through one program does not preclude an award of funding from the other program.
Program Must Serve
Single women and their children with a household income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
Program Requirements
The Women’s Fund will consider proposals for programs that promote women’s economic security through observable measures that:
- Increase the income of female-headed households, and/or
- Grow the assets of female-headed households (in the form of financial or tangible assets, e.g. bank deposits, savings bonds, a home/property), and/or
- Increase the educational and/or job skill level of female-headed households, and/or
- Ensure that children of single women who are advancing their education or job skill level are enrolled in quality early childhood development and/or after-school enrichment programs.
Please note that in order to show outcomes for the grant period, women must be able to complete definable components of education and/or job placement programs during the grant period.
Priority Consideration
Special consideration will be given to programs that:
- Combine two or more of the program requirements either in-house or through formal agency collaboration.
- Promote a two-generation approach by creating opportunities for and addressing the needs of both women and their children together.
- Provide post-secondary educational opportunities to single mothers combined with supportive wrap-around services, such as case management, career coaching, transportation assistance, and/or financial counseling.
The Women’s Fund has implemented the above program requirements based on community roundtable discussions, data-driven research, and organizational strategic planning. We recognize that many factors impact the economic security of single women and the ways in which economic security passes from one generation to the next, including, but not limited to, economic supports, access to supportive networks, access to workforce development opportunities, and education for their children. We encourage innovative programming. If you believe your program strengthens the economic security of single women and their children through these or other substantiated means, you are encouraged to apply.”
Excerpted from The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham’s Economic Opportunity for Women and Their Children 2018 Request for Proposals Application and Guidelines