Women’s Foundation of Collier County
/OVERVIEW: This foundation is an endowment fund of a local community foundation and supports at-risk women and girls in Collier County, Florida. Funding areas include senior women, teen girls, female heads of household, homeless women and families, senior women, policy research, and the gender wage gaps.
IP TAKE: WFCC awards only a few grants each year, but it funds new grantees each year. Some of the WFCC’s staff and board also works at it’s umbrella organization, Collier Community Foundation. While grantmaking is accessible here, you’ll need to apply for a grant and follow extensive eligibility requirements through CCF to be considered for a grant. However, you can get in touch with the approachable WFCC staff itself for direct grant questions and networking. Patience pays off here.
PROFILE: The Women’s Foundation of Collier County (WFCC) is based in Naples, Florida, and has been an endowment fund at the Collier Community Foundation (CCF), previously named the Community Foundation of Collier County (CFCC), since 2002. WFCC seeks to be a “catalyst for change in the lives of women and girls in Collier County through grantmaking, advocacy, and education.”
WFCC’s grant money derives from investment earnings and the proceeds of local women’s events. Grantmaking also includes at-risk senior women, homeless women and families, at-risk teen girls, and impoverished female heads of household with children, as well as policy research.
Grants for Women and Girls, Education and Homelessness
This funder conducts all of it’s giving through a gender lens; however, the Women’s Foundation of Collier County concentrates it’s funds on addressing three main priorities:
Addressing the needs of at-risk female senior citizens. Specifically:
by providing funding for homeless programs that identify and assist housing senior women in need.
by addressing social isolation issues.
WFCC works with the JFCS of Southwest Florida to address stated needs in the community.
Empowering young women and girls’ empowerment by:
offering education scholarships.
offering mentorship and career development through Junior Women of Initiative program, which focuses on middle school girls in Collier. In addition to it’s Junior Women of Initiative program,WFCC also mentors young women in middle school at the Boys & Girls Club of Collier County, called the Junior Women of Initiative (JWOI), gathers an array of experienced community women from the Women’s Foundation who seek to “inspire confidence, character and leadership in the next generation of at-risk girls.” JWOI mentors serve for at least 5 sessions.
Fundraising for the WFCC Endowment Fund will a goal of $5,000,000 to support future WFCC projects, events and community funding in Collier County.
In addressing the above, WFCC also offers a Meals of Hope Grant, which provides feminine hygiene products to local women and girls in need - so no one has to choose between basic food stuffs and hygiene - as well as food “in an environment filled with dignity and want to address the subject of basic feminine needs with that same dignity.”
Recent grantees include NAMI of Collier County, NCH Healthcare Foundation, Neighborhood Health Clinic, Our Mother’s Home of Southwest Florida, Parkinson’s Association of SW Florida, Inc., Planned Parenthood of Collier County, Project Help, Inc., Shelter for Abused Women & Children, Alzheimer’s Support Network, American Association of University Women, Boys & Girls Club of Collier County, Collier County Public Schools/Teenage Pregnancy Program, Early Years Education Foundation, Inc., Families in Need Fund, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Philanthropic Network, Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida, Healthy Start Coalition of SW FL, Immokalee Child Care Center, Care Club of Collier County, Collier County Education Foundation and Our Mother’s Home of Southwest Florida, among many others.
Important Grant Details:
Grants typically range from $2,500 to $40,000. Beyond it’s dedication to funding women’s issues in Collier County, WFCC prioritizes addressing women’s employment, policy efforts and the gender wage gap. In addition to this funding, WFCC also makes grants to support violence prevention and women’s policy research, which addresses and supports topics like women in philanthropy, economic security, gender in media, health, and social change.
The grantmaking deadline typically falls in April, with grants are announced in early December at the Power of the Purse luncheon. To apply for a WFCC grant, go through the Collier Community Foundation’s online system. Note that you will have to meet CCF’s multitude of eligibility requirements to get a grant here.
Grantmaking is restricted to groups that serve Collier County, Florida., but it also gives to grantees that have a national presence.
Foundation events can be viewed on the WFCC website, as well as news about recent grantees and funding interests.
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