Guidelines for Grant Making:
Pre-Application, September 2009

B A C K G R O U N D

What is the Women’s Fund of the Capital Region?

The Women’s Fund of the Capital Region is a collaboration of The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region and United Way of the Greater Capital Region. The Women’s Fund promotes the independence, growth, and self-determination of women and girls by supporting projects that create systemic change and move women and girls toward financial stability and independence.

What challenges do women face as they work toward financial stability and independence?

• Gender discrimination
• Barriers to securing high paying jobs
• Difficulty finding affordable, reliable transportation
• Limited access to affordable, high-quality child care
• Domestic violence
• Scattered and fragmented support services

What challenges do girls face as they strive to become self-sufficient women?

• Lack of opportunities to develop new skills and competencies
• Lack of a support structure for opportunities to see and learn from women in leadership positions

Why is financial stability and independence so important for women?
Families and communities are stronger when women are financially stable. Women who are financially independent are able to make positive and informed decisions about their families and futures and are significantly more likely:

• To be in safe, healthy relationships
• To provide quality care for their families
• To participate to their fullest ability in the workforce, and
• To contribute their time, talent, and resources to their communities.

F U N D I N G   P R I O R I T I E S

What are the funding priorities?
The Women’s Fund of the Capital Region supports programs and initiatives that directly address the challenges faced by women and girls as presented in the background section above. The Women’s Fund encourages organizations to work collaboratively to overcome these challenges. Through effective collaboration, organizations can develop cohesive and comprehensive responses to one of the following two priorities:

• Women often simultaneously face multiple barriers to financial stability and independence. To successfully navigate through these barriers, women need multi-faceted guidance and support. Specifically, The Women’s Fund is most interested in funding initiatives that:
  • Promote sustained financial stability and independence for women
  • Provide guidance and support to women working toward the goal of financial stability and independence

• Girls receive many messages early in their lives that make it difficult for them to achieve financial stability and independence as women. The Women’s Fund seeks to support projects that (1) provide long-term and sustained support for at-risk girls, and/or (2) encourage greater career awareness in all girls. Consequently, The Women’s Fund solicits grant applications that:
  • Offer encouragement to explore career opportunities and problem-solve
    • Help girls develop and use valuable new skills and competencies
  • Offer encouragement to explore non-traditional education and career options
    • Provide opportunities for girls to experience and understand the full range of opportunities and career choices from successful women in various careers.
  • Help girls develop a positive sense of self

What are the funding requirements?
Grant funds must be used only to serve women and girls within Albany, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Schenectady and/or Saratoga counties. To be considered for funding, the project must:

1. Serve women and/or girls living in the counties listed above.

2. Be led by an organization with a 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status. Collaborative partners for the project may include partners from all community sectors including businesses, educational institutions, the faith community, and governmental agencies. However, funds will only be paid to not-for-profit organizations.

Pre-Application

A Pre-application form can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. Pre-Applications are due November 5, 2009. Please email the completed pre-application to jmahoney@cfgcr.org. Please note that the Pre-Application is the only information The Women’s Fund Grants Committee will accept to determine if an organization will be invited to submit a formal grant application. Consequently, a concise but thorough pre-application is required.

D E C I S I O N   M A K I N G

What is the funding cycle?
The deadline for the Pre-Application is November 5, 2009. If the Pre-Application is approved, a formal grant application will be requested by The Women’s Fund Grants Committee via email by December 1, and will be due January 21, 2010. Final funding decisions will be mailed by March 31, 2010.

What is the size of a grant award?
Grants may be awarded in amounts up to $20,000. Grants generally range from $2,000-$10,000 and are meant to supplement other funding sources. Grants are for a one-year period. Only one application maybe submitted by an organization as a lead agency.

What is the application review process?
The Women’s Fund Grants Committee reviews pre-applications. The Committee is composed of a diverse group of women with leadership experience in the not-for-profit, education, and business communities.

Can applications be submitted by fax or email?
Pre-applications can be emailed to jmahoney@cfgcr.org.

F R E Q U E N T L Y   A S K E D   Q U E S T I O N S

What is the purpose of the Pre-Application?
Formal applications require time and effort for applicants to develop. The pre-application process has been implemented to reduce this work and to facilitate matching of projects with the priorities of The Women’s Fund.

Do you grant money to individuals?
No, we do not grant money to individuals for any purpose.

What is financial stability and independence?
The Self-Sufficiency Standard (SSS) developed by Wider Opportunities for Women is the measurement used by the Fund to determine the amount of income necessary for women to be financially stable and independent. The SSS measures the amount of income necessary for a family to meet its basic needs—without public or private assistance. The SSS incorporates realistic costs for housing, food, transportation, health expenses, and taxes. For more information on the Self-Sufficiency Standard, visit www.wowonline.org.

Will my proposal submission be acknowledged?
Yes. We will acknowledge receipt of your pre-application by email and indicate if any additional information is required to complete your pre-application.

Can I speak with a representative about my proposal idea before I submit it?
Grant applicants are encouraged to email questions about their pre-application proposals to Director of Grantmaking Jackie Mahoney, at jmahoney@cfgcr.org. Please include the words “Women’s Fund question” in the subject line of your email. She will either respond directly to the question, or refer it to the appropriate Women’s Fund representative. Please allow 2-3 days for response to questions.

Does The Women’s Fund accept pre-applications from faith-based organizations?
Yes. However, the lead organization must have a 501(c)(3) federal tax exempt status and not make provision of services contingent upon the practice of any specific faith.

Does The Women’s Fund accept applications for programs that provide services to men and boys?
Funding is available to projects that provide services to women and girls. However, funding for a project will be considered if the project is designed to benefit women/girls by including men/boys. For example: to successfully address the issue of domestic violence, men/boys must sometimes be included in group discussion. All applications will be judged based on how well they help women and girls achieve economic stability and independence.

Can I speak with a representative about my denied pre-application?
All decisions are final. You may contact Director of Grantmaking Jackie Mahoney, at jmahoney@cfgcr.org or 518-446-9638 to set up an appointment to discuss the decision.

P R E - A P P L I C A T I O N   F O R M S

If you are planning to apply for a grant from the Women's Fund of the Capital Region, download the pre-application materials here: