GRANTMAKING

Our Grantmaking

Since our first grants in 2002, Women’s Giving Alliance has awarded more than $8.9 million in grants to 70 local nonprofits that support women and girls in Northeast Florida.

While we evaluate each grant opportunity on its own merits, we strive to balance taking well-calculated risks and new programs with supporting core activities. Much of our funding is two-year grants, but some is for shorter periods.

WGA awards grants to organizations that serve women and girls in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns Counties. We strive to make strategic, research-based grants that apply creative solutions to critical needs, focus on equitable grantmaking and produce measurable impact on the lives of women and girls.

WGA Grants Decision Team

How It Works

Funding for our annual grant pool is driven by member contributions, annual spending from our endowment and additional grant pool gifts.

Board room table

The entire Grants Process is member-driven, with approximately 70 volunteer Grants Committee Members guiding grants from decision to evaluation.

  • Our grantmaking begins with careful decision-making.
  • Once funding is underway, our evaluation process places great emphasis on collaborating with nonprofit grantees to maximize impact and effectiveness throughout the grant period.

We strive not only to be good stewards of our investment, but to also share learnings and fine-tune projects as we go. We utilize research to make sure we focus on the greatest areas of impact for women and girls in Northeast Florida.

Board room table

Grantmaking Principles

Like the world we live in, our grantmaking strategy has evolved to address pressing issues for women and girls. However, our goals and guiding principles have remained fairly constant.

In our grantmaking, we:

  • Use community research to develop initiatives
  •  Focus on prevention and effective intervention
  •  Support new ideas and untested efforts, as well as programs that have demonstrated results and impact
  •  Establish expectations for sustainability, significant lasting value and impact
  •  Apply an equity lens