The mission of the Women & Girls Fund is to:
- provide opportunities to address basic needs or develop economic self-sufficiency for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals,
- strengthen and/or provide health and safety programs for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals
- promote the education of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, and/or
- invest in systems and sustainable change efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion.
What will we fund:
- Innovative new projects
- Short term projects
- Seed funding for long term projects
- Focus on vibrant, healthy, caring community through supporting, advocating, or addressing needs of women and girls
What we normally do not fund:
- Ongoing core administrative expenses
- Partisan political or singular direct religious activities
- Building an endowment, fundraising expenses
- Debt reduction or emergency funding
To be deemed eligible for the Women and Girls Fund grant, organizations must demonstrate that their proposal meets the following criteria:
- Applicants must be operating in and/or serving within a region centered around Red Deer, Alberta. The catchment area extends to the following boundaries:
North: To Maskwacis
South: To Didsbury
West: To Rocky Mountain House
East: To Coronation
* Excluding the Special Areas - Applicants must be incorporated non-profit organizations and have a valid charitable number from Canada Revenue Agency or be a First Nations Band or municipality designated as a qualified donee by Canada Revenue Agency. To check if your organization is a registered charitable qualified donee search here on the CRA website.
If your organization does not have charitable status or is not a qualified donee, we can consider an application in partnership with another organization that is a registered charity or qualified donee with a mandate relevant to your proposal.
- Gender-based programming, services, and/or advocacy are central to your project’s mission, and you have experience offering gender-based programs, services, and/or advocacy initiatives with/for women, girls, Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people who face multiple barriers and are underserved, including:
-
- First Nations, Métis, and Inuit
- Black
- 2SLGBTQI+
- Living with disabilities
- Living in rural or remote communities
- Racialized, Refugee, immigrant, or non-status
- Living on low incomes
- Older/Seniors
- Young
NOTE: The Foundation will accept applications from a qualified donee applying on behalf of a grassroots nonprofit organization, coalition, network, or group without charitable or qualified donee status. The qualified partner needs to provide a letter confirming they will accept the grant funds and manage them for the applicant’s charitable activities. It’s important for the applicant and the partner to discuss the project and ensure the qualified partner feel secure about the applicant’s organization and plans, as they share risk by accepting the grant.
The proposed funding will support your organization’s ability to provide programs, services and/or advocacy initiatives, either directly through funding program or service costs or indirectly through funding core operational costs, that align with one or more of the Foundation’s funding priorities:
- provide opportunities to address basic needs or develop economic self-sufficiency for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals,
- strengthen and/or provide health and safety programs for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals
- promote the education of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, and/or
- invest in systems and sustainable change efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion.
