Guidelines and Application for Funding
Grants for Women’s Economic Self-sufficiency, 2015
The Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation leads our community in ensuring the economic self-sufficiency of women in our region. The Women’s Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to transforming the lives of women and girls through fund raising, grant making, research, and advocacy to make our community a national leader in creating opportunities for women and girls.
Our grant focus is to make sustained change by supporting systemic efforts to improve women’s incomes, job security and their ability to provide adequately for themselves and their families.
We envision all women as fully contributing members of society. Women lacking economic self-sufficiency struggle every day to meet their own and their family’s most basic needs.
Our expertise includes:
- Identifying the best programs and services to meet the needs in our region and funding them through Women’s Fund grants and collaborative funding pools.
- Researching the local issues affecting women and girls to create benchmarks and tracking mechanisms to measure the progress
- Convening the stakeholders who can effect positive change
- Creating collaborations among non-profit organizations to work on systemic change
Economic Self-Sufficiency Mini-Grants:
Programs for adult women (examples include but are not limited to: female headed households with children or women in transition, etc.). Grant applicant programs should impact one or more of the following factors that affect women’s economic self-sufficiency:
- Childcare• Living Wage
- Employment• Training & Education
Applications are being accepted through April 10, 2015
A committee of community volunteers will evaluate each application and make funding recommendations. Proposals will be evaluated according to the criteria listed in the guidelines on this page and the next. Please read carefully all the information contained in this document. If a grant is awarded, it must be used as intended or the funds must be returned.
All applicants will be notified of funding decisions by May 22, 2015
Background:
Improving Women’s Economic Self-sufficiency: The Women’s Fund is dedicated to improving the lives and economic status of women and girls in the greater Cincinnati area and is funding organizations that provide services and programming. The Women’s Fund is using our knowledge of the needs in our community as identified by research including The Pulse Study and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Through our responsive grant process, we award the strongest and most needed programs and services dedicated to improving women’s economic security.
The Pulse Study found that there were large disparities in economic security for women in our region. Key issues identified among women were: greater rates of poverty; significantly lower wage earnings; lack of affordable childcare.
Guidelines:
•Be as specific as possible in describing your project; how it will fill a need.
•Provide a clear and concise project title and description of the project.
•Clearly outline project objectives and efficient use of grant funds.
•Provide specific details about the women being served (age group, ethnicity, income, geographic location) and their selection into the program.
•Be sure the project budget is reasonable and sufficiently detailed.
•Please be sure your request is easy to read. Do not change the application format. A user-friendly version of the application is available on our website at The completed two-page application must be submitted by regular first-class mail or delivered to our offices on or before the deadline.
Funding Criteria:
•Project must address one or more of these specific barriers to economic self-sufficiency: childcare, employment, living wage, training and education.
•Organization must be a designated a 501(c)(3).
•Program must solely or primarily serve women.
•Only one application per nonprofit organization will be accepted.
•The Greater Cincinnati Foundation guidelines do not permit the funding of programs for religious purposes.
•Program must serve women in the following greater Cincinnati counties: Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont in Ohio, Dearborn in Indiana, Kenton, Campbell or Boone in Kentucky
•Proposals may be submitted for any amount up to $1,500.
Funding Obligations:
If you receive a grant, you will be required to complete an evaluation form for The Women's Fund.
Please Remember:
•The deadline for application is April 10, 2015, but earlier submission is appreciated.
•Send just the original signed application form (no supplementary materials, please).
•All applicants will be notified of grant decisions by mail by May 22, 2015.
•Be sure your application is fully complete, and easy to read and understand.
If you have any questions while completing this form,
please call Barb Linder at (513) 768-6119
Application Form
Women’s Economic Self-sufficiency2015
Complete Formal Name of Organization: ______
Address ______Phone: ______
City, State, Zip ______County: ______
Executive Director ______Phone: ______
Contact Person/Title ______Email: ______
Other Team Members:______
IRS 501(c)(3) or Federal ID number: ______
Include copy of IRS tax exemption letter
Total Amount RequestedTotal Project Budget
(maximum request is $1,500)
$______.XX$______.XX
(whole dollar amounts only)
Project Title______
Project Description and Objectives (up to one page)
Describethe project and the objective(s)
Describe the opportunity or need to be addressed
Identify the specific women served (age group, ethnicity, socio-economic status)
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What is this project’s time frame?
What barrier(s) to women’s economic self-sufficiency will this impact? (up to ½ page)
What will be the long-term effects for the women participating?(up to ½ page)
PEOPLE: Who will be responsible for coordinating this project?______
Who will be assisting? ______
Evaluation: Explain how you will measure outcomes or determine if your project is successful? (up to ½ page)
Project Budget
Please carefully detail the financial needs of this project and specify where grant dollars will be used. Summarize description of materials and other expenses. Be sure to note any donated items or services. If you need more space, you can provide a separate expense sheet.
Description of ItemQuantityDollar Amount
______
______
______
______
Are there other sources of funding for this project? If so, please list source and amount below:
Funding SourceAmount
______
______
WE HAVE CAREFULLY READ THE ENCLOSED INFORMATION. If we receive a grant, we agree to use the funds as granted and will complete a simple evaluation report within 30 days of the program’s completion or by June 30, 2016, whichever comes first. (The form will be supplied.) We will allow The Greater Cincinnati Foundation to use information provided in this request for news releases, reports and other public information. In addition, we will mention the Foundation's support in any publicity regarding this project.
______
SIGNATURE OF ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR DATE SIGNATURE OF CONTACT PERSON
Your application must be mailed or delivered to the address below on or before April 10, 2015. Please do not fax.
The Women’s Fund
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
200 West Fourth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-2775
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