Women’s Impact Fund’s grants committee kicked off the grants season with a webinar for potential grantees last month. In WIF’s second annual webinar grants leadership walked attendees through a wide range of topics including an intro to WIF, changes to the process over the last few years, eligibility requirements, information about our grants committee, and an overview of the application and the SlideRoom program used to collect applications. Patricia, Liz, and Claire also held a Q&A session to ensure all potential grantee questions were addressed.
To highlight a few of the changes, below is a list of updates WIF has made to the process:
- Move to provide unrestricted funding rather than program-based funding
- Shorten and simplify the application process
- Conduct an annual discovery process for the grants committee before applications open
- Show more transparency on grant-making priorities
- Consider the possibility of giving more than one grant per focus area
- Share honoraria for finalists that do not receive a grant
The webinar also included a discussion of WIF’s grantmaking priorities for the 2022-2023 grants cycle, included in the list below. It is important to note that organizations are not expected to encompass all these priorities, but we will make grants addressing one or more of these areas.
- Racial and/or gender equity
- Responsiveness to, or awareness of, root causes
- Work that focuses on reducing disparities in our community
- Increasing accessibility
- Building resilience and/or demonstrating the ability to adapt to changing societal and environmental circumstances
- Serving populations that are underserved or not reached through other resources or organizations
Members and potential grantees are welcome and encouraged to review the recording of the webinar or visit the Grants page on our website
.
