The mission of the Women & Girls Fund is to:

• provide opportunities to address basic needs or develop economic self-sufficiency for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals,
• strengthen and/or provide health and safety programs for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals
• promote the education of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, and/or
• invest in systems and sustainable change efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion.

What will we fund:

• Innovative new projects
• Short term projects
• Seed funding for long term projects
• Focus on vibrant, healthy, caring community through supporting, advocating, or addressing needs of women and girls

What we normally do not fund:

• Ongoing core administrative expenses
• Partisan political or singular direct religious activities
• Building an endowment, fundraising expenses
• Debt reduction or emergency funding

To be deemed eligible for the Women and Girls Fund grant, organizations must demonstrate that their proposal meets the following criteria:

• Applicants must be operating in and/or serving the Central Alberta region
• Applicants must be incorporated non-profit organizations and have a valid charitable number from Canada Revenue Agency or be a First Nations Band or municipality designated as a qualified donee by Canada Revenue Agency. If your organization does not have charitable status or is not a qualified donee, we can consider an application in partnership with another organization that is a registered charity or qualified donee with a mandate relevant to your proposal.
• Gender-based programming, services, and/or advocacy are central to your project’s mission, and you have experience offering gender-based programs, services, and/or advocacy initiatives with/for women, girls, Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people who face multiple barriers and are underserved, including:
•  First Nations, Métis, and InuitBlack2SLGBTQI+
• With disabilitiesLiving in rural or remote communities
• Racialized, Refugee, immigrant, or non-status
• Living on low incomes
• Older/Seniors
• Young
• Your organization is grassroots with a small budget (defined as organizations with an operating budget of less than $1 million per year OR shelters/transitional housing with an operating budget of less than $2 million per year).

NOTE: The Foundation will accept applications from a qualified donee applying on behalf of a grassroots nonprofit organization, coalition, network, or group without charitable or qualified donee status.

The proposed funding will support your organization’s ability to provide programs, services and/or advocacy initiatives, either directly through funding program or service costs or indirectly through funding core operational costs, that align with one or more of the Foundation’s funding priorities:

• provide opportunities to address basic needs or develop economic self-sufficiency for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals,
• strengthen and/or provide health and safety programs for women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals
• promote the education of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals, and/or
• invest in systems and sustainable change efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion.

For more information, contact Danielle Stewart at the Community Foundation: 403.341.6911 or daniellestewart@rddcf.ca

Application deadline: January 30, 2024, 4:00pm

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