2024 GRANTS

$231,000

Three Year Grants

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem “The Girls Club and Leadership Groups of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem” in Salem

Centerboard Inc. “Phoenix Rising” in Lynn

Elevate New England “Helping Lawrence High School Girls Graduate and FLOURISH” in Lawrence

Express Yourself, Inc. “You Go Girls” in Beverly

Family Promise North Shore Boston “Homelessness Prevention and Shelter Diversion” across Essex County

Girls Inc. of Boston and Lynn “Project Accelerate” in Lynn

LEAP for Education “Sisters for Success” in Lynn

Merrimack Valley Immigrant & Education Center, Inc. “ESOL, Citizenship & Youth Writing Education Programs for Women Immigrants”

The Mabel Center for Immigration Justice “Legal Services Shelter Project” across Essex County

Three Sisters Garden Project “Winter Soup Share” in Ipswich

Uncommon Threads “Self-Esteem Styling (in person)” in Lawrence

Other Years' Recipients: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018  |  2017  |  2016  |  Previous Years

The Resilient Girls Project

The Women's Fund of Essex County has embarked on a new and unique initiative to address the crisis in mental health and wellbeing of adolescent girls. Our Resilient Girls Project has funded five nonprofits for three years in an intensive effort to find solutions to the crisis of building resilience in girls. Each of the give grant recipients proposed programs designed to build competence, confidence, connection, contribution, coping, and control --- the seven qualities research has tied to resilience. The supportive cohort of five will meet regularly to share successes and challenges, as well as hear from experts in the field. The Wellesley Centers for Women will help us evaluate the programs and publish results at the end of three years.

In a first for TWF, the Cummings Foundation agreed to fund 85% of this project. We are enormously proud and grateful for the trust Cummings Foundation has in us.

TWF Resilient Girls Project Cohort Members: Julie DiFilippo of Bellesini Academy, Stephanie McArdle of Beyond Soccer, Cindy Roy Gonzalez and Steph Gendron of Girls on the Run Greater Boston, Emilie Wilk of New American Association of MA, and Saronjini Schutt and Nissa Bisguier of The NAN Project.

The Women’s Fund of Essex County (TWF) raises funds specifically to award grants to non-profit organizations focused on gender-specific programs and services for at-risk women and girls and those who identify as women and girls of Essex County. Our grants are awarded annually to results-oriented organizations that have demonstrated success in positively impacting the lives of women and girls, addressing issues of systemic inequality. Our grants provide an essential infusion of funding to maximize the success and impact of the programs or services. By pooling the gifts of The Women’s Fund donors, we can increase the breadth and depth of each donor’s contribution across a broad range of issues and solutions specific to Essex County.

Since 2003, The Women’s Fund has donated more than $3.2 million to Essex County organizations offering gender-specific programs for women and girls.  

2024 Grants

All grants in the 2024 grant cycle for The Women’s Fund of Essex County will be multi-year grants of $21,000 each over 3-years. Grants will be awarded through a competitive grant process to Essex County non-profit organizations that address issues of systemic social inequities specific to women and girls.

3-year grants allow organizations to secure multi-year support for programs that address longer-term issues to improve lives for women and girls. If awarded, funded programs are eligible for consideration only every three years.

Funding Priorities

Funding must address racial or gender-based disparities faced by women and girls in Essex County. Funding must focus on gender-specific needs, provide solutions to problems for women and girls, and allow these unique needs to set the pace and determine the content and delivery of programs and services. The application must address at least one of the following areas to be considered eligible for funding.

Academic Achievement Gap for Girls

Programs/services which provide opportunities to reduce disparities in academic performance as a result of the pandemic and/or systemic barriers.

Economic Self-Sufficiency

Programs/services which directly encourage, train or facilitate the economic independence of women and girls. (Includes apprenticeships, basic skills training, education, financial management, workforce development etc.)

Equity and Social Justice

Programs/services which seek at the intersection of equity and gender to meet women and girls where they are, by providing resources that will allow them to thrive. (Examples include but are not limited to supporting access to housing, nutritious food and meal preparation, English language programming, and programs that address the root causes of racial inequality.)

Health and Mental Health

Programs/services which support equitable access to healthcare, promote, protect, and restore health - physical, emotional, psychological, social.

Leadership Development

Programs/services which provide opportunities to develop leadership skills that help to build confidence, ownership of their careers, resiliency, and advancement into new roles.

Eligibility

The Women’s Fund is limited to non-sectarian programming for Essex County women and girls of all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Programs sponsored by religious organizations are eligible if enrolment is open to all qualified women and girls and the program is free of mandatory sectarian religious instruction.

Generally, grants will not be awarded:

• To individuals

• To agencies with pending 501(c)3 status

• For debt or deficit reduction

• For political purposes

• For sectarian or religious purposes

• For endowment or capital campaigns

• For research or feasibility studies

Geographic Limitations

We support non-profit organizations serving the residents of Essex County, MA. We prefer the organization be based in Essex County, but it is not a requirement. Either way, the grant funds must be spent within the County.

Application Procedure

The application is completely electronic. Organizations can create and save application drafts and make changes any time prior to submission. We archive all submitted applications, allowing grant writers to view their grant history with The Women's Fund at any time.

The 2025 Grant Application will open on November 1, 2024. 

Review Process

The Women’s Fund Grants Allocation Committee will carefully review applications beginning in mid-January and will schedule any necessary follow-up conference calls or in-person visits with qualifying non-profit organizations in February and March.

The Committee will then make final funding decisions and present their recommendations for final approval by The Women’s Fund Advisory Board and by the Essex County Community Foundation Board of Trustees.

Grant Awards will be announced by May 17, 2024.

Reporting Requirements

Grant winners will be required to submit brief interim and final reports on the use of the grant via an online reporting portal.

We also require that our logo, identifying us as a funding partner, be displayed on a grant winner’s website and be featured in any press release or any social media platform related to the grant. You may contact Corinne Lippie with questions or for more information (c.lippie@eccf.org).