Women's Foundation California
/OVERVIEW: The Women’s Foundation California makes grants to organizations that work toward racial, economic and gender justice in the state of California.
IP TAKE: A signatory of the GUTC Pledge, this foundation works mainly in the state of California, and its largest area of giving in recent years has been reproductive health. The foundation prioritizes organizations that are led by women, as well as those that serve communities of color in California’s urban areas. Only a few grants have gone to national organizations. In 2020, the foundation launched a relief and resilience program to “address the racial, gendered, and economic impacts of COVID-19” in California. To qualify for a grant, your work must align with the foundation’s feminist ethos.
This is not an accessible funder, but it is responsive. Grantseekers may contact the foundation’s director of community investment via telephone or an online form with inquiries.
PROFILE: Established in 1979, the Women’s Foundation California is “dedicated to achieving racial, economic, and gender justice by centering the experience and expertise of communities most impacted by systemic injustice.” A GUTC signatory, the foundation is known for its leadership training, policy development, research initiatives and grantmaking, which totals about $1.5 million annually from three separate programs.
The Community Power Fund supports community organizations that advance solutions to inequity and that are led by women and girls. Grants generally range from $5,000 to $30,000, with a maximum grant amount of $75,000. The fund provides ongoing support to the foundation’s core grant partners and established a relief and resilience funding program in 2020 to “address the racial, gendered, and economic impacts of COVID-19” in California.
The Culture Change Fund focuses on “accelerating a new way of thinking that centers gender, racial, and economic justice at the heart of the solution to any systemic problem.” Grants aim to give “organizations and campaigns the opportunity to explore and build on culture change strategies.”
The Alum Advocacy Fund supports participants and past participants in the foundation’s programs “as they continue to build racial, economic, and gender justice.” Applications for this program are reviewed on a rolling basis and prioritize alumnae working in areas of criminal justice reform, health, economic opportunity, racial justice, reproductive rights and violence prevention. The average grant size for this program is $2,000.
The California Gender Justice Funders Network is a collaborative venture between the Women’s Foundation of California, Philanthropy California and others. Funding aims to “invest in accelerating the shifts happening in our culture through organizing, building coalitions, and changing the way we ‘think’ and ‘talk’ about gender.”
Grants for Women and Girls
Grantmaking for women and girls is the primary focus of all three of the Women’s Foundation California’s funding programs. Women’s reproductive health initiatives appear to have received the majority of grants in recent years, but other areas of interest have included mental health, youth development and civic engagement. Recent grants for reproductive health include the California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, Los Angeles’s Black Women Wellness and Oakland’s Access Reproductive Justice. Other grantees include Oakland’s Alliance for Girls, Los Angeles’s Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective and Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto. National women’s organizations that have received support in recent years include the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, the Tides Center and Facing History and Ourselves, a Massachusetts-based organization that “uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.”
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The foundation’s grants for work and economic opportunity overlap with grantmaking for women and girls. Although it is not a major area of giving, the foundation has given to several organizations that run professional and vocational development programs as well as programs that protect the rights of women workers. Grantees include Equal Rights Advocates of San Francisco, the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network and Teen Success, Inc., which “creates economic advancement for multiple generations, by partnering with young mothers to further their education, build life and career skills, and nurture their children’s development.”
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
The Women’s Foundation California prioritizes organizations that are led by and serve communities of color across each of its grantmaking programs. In the area of reproductive health, the foundation has given to Oakland’s Asian Health Services, the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and Los Angeles’s Black Women Wellness.
Grants for Public Health
This funder’s public health grantmaking prioritizes women’s reproductive health and justice in the state of California, with a significant number of recent grants going to organizations serving communities of color in urban areas. Recent grants have gone to Oakland’s Access Reproductive Justice, the Women’s Community Clinic of San Francisco and Sacramento’s Chico Feminist Women’s Health Center.
Grants for California
More than 90% of the Women’s Foundation California’s grantmaking remains in California. In a recent year, the foundation supported the California Budget Project, which works “to improve public policies affecting the economic and social well-being of Californians with low and middle incomes.” Other grantees include the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, San Diego Grantmakers, the East Bay Community Foundation and multiple local chapters of the YWCA.
Important Grant Details:
The Women’s Foundation California makes about $1.5 million a year in grants ranging from $5,000 to $500,000. The foundation’s average grant size is about $25,000. This funder works mainly in the state of California and prioritizes organizations that are led by women and girls and those that serve communities of color. Women’s reproductive health appears to be the foundation’s largest giving area in recent years. For additional information about past grantmaking see the foundation’s recent tax filings and its foundation updates page.
The Women’s Foundation California accepts grant applications by invitation only. Grantseekers may contact Huong Nguyen Yap, Director of Community Investment, via online form or telephone at 510-740-2500.
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