Women’s Fund of Essex County
/OVERVIEW: The Women’s Fund of Essex County supports economic self-sufficiency, health, and empowerment for women and girls in Essex County, Massachusetts.
FUNDING AREAS: Women and girls, economic self-sufficiency and security, health and wellbeing, leadership and empowerment
IP TAKE: Approach this accessible foundation for multi-year support and for a women and girls-centric program that gets the whole community involved.
PROFILE: Established in 2003, the Women’s Fund of Essex County is a field-of-interest fund of the Essex County Community Foundation in Danvers, Massachusetts. A volunteer board of 21 women make up the foundation to promote positive social change for local women, girls, families, and communities. The foundation aims to change “the lives of women and girls in need or at risk by targeting highly effective programs that address complex and overlapping social issues.” Its grantmaking focuses on economic self-sufficiency and security, health and wellbeing, and leadership and empowerment.
This foundation provides steady support in each of these three funding areas. Economic grants typically go towards homelessness solutions, financial planning, STEM education programs, and stay-in-school programs. Health grants typically go towards self-esteem, addiction recovery, and abuse prevention programs. Finally, leadership support typically goes to programs that promote mentoring and boost leadership skills. The foundation specifically looks to support programs that provide skills training and employment readiness, promote women’s health, offer financial literacy resources, and empower local women and girls through mentoring. Ultimately, self-sufficiency is the foundation’s goal for local women and girls. In recent times, it has emphasized the need to support single mothers and work with local volunteers and businesses to build community.
Total annual grantmaking is typically around $300,000, and individual grant awards are up to $10,000 in one year or up to $21,000 over a three-year period. Grantseekers can view a list of past awards on the Grant Recipients page of the funder’s website. Grantmaking is restricted to groups that serve the residents of Essex County, Massachusetts, and the fund prefers that grantees be located in Essex County too. This fund provides one-year to three-year commitments and prefers to provide multi-year grants.
This women’s fund accepts unsolicited grant requests by the first business day each December. Grant awards are announced the following May. The grant application process is online and uses the same system as the Essex County Community Foundation. Grantseekers can direct general questions to the fund’s staff at info@thewomensfundec.org or 978-777-8876.
PEOPLE:
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