Who Should Apply

Organizations are eligible to submit a LOI if they are: A 501(c)(3) in good standing or a grassroots organization with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor conducting charitable work that services women and girls in Southern Arizona

Nonprofit partners should apply if:

• they achieve change that supports women and girls
• they create measurable impact
• they increase women’s income and assets
• they influence legislative/policy change

Outcome Requirements

Services, activities, and outputs vary widely among our non-profit partners, and we value the diversity of work being done in Southern Arizona. However, to be a successful applicant to the WFSA Annual Grants program, a non-profit organization must clearly present its ability to measure one or both of the WFSA required outcome metrics, as elaborated below:

Increasing Women’s Income and Assets through

• increased income
• debt reduction
• credit repair
• increased savings
• home purchase
• grade level gains
• high school graduation
• completion of higher education
• enrollment in public benefits
• access to scholarships
• workforce development to train women in a mid-skill, high-wage occupations

Influencing legislative or policy change through

• advocacy campaigns that educate decision-makers on the importance of the expansion of TANF funds
• pay equity that ensures comparable pay within fields
• comprehensive sex education that is evidence-based and age-appropriate
• a two-generation approach to policy advocacy that links early care and education for children with workforce development services
• coalition-building to prevent policy changes that are detrimental to women and girls

In addition to alignment with one or both outcomes, successful applicants will demonstrate how their organization applies a “2-Generation approach” to their work.

About the Letter of Intent (LOI)

All letters of intent must be submitted by July 9, 2021. The purpose of the LOI is to provide WFSA with the information needed to review whether your organization meets the criteria to submit a full application. It is an opportunity to share organizational information and how your organization aligns with WFSA’s priority areas.

Information we need includes:

• contact information
• financial summary and documents
• short responses to questions that summarize your funding need
• organizational capacity
• racial and gender lens to the work
• ‘2-Gen’ approach and any measurable results

How to Get Started

We use Common Grant as our grants management tool. The following steps describe how to begin the application process.

Step 1

If you are applying for the first time, register as a new user using this link.

If you are a returning user, log in using this link.

Step 2

When ready to start, click Start Grant Application. Select Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona and click Start Draft App.

You can watch this brief video for instructions on how to sign in and get started.

Returning Applicants

Organizations that applied last year will see some answers pre-populate. These responses can be edited and feel free to reference your last application if needed. No changes will be made to past applications by these edits. Please be sure to use the same account in order to see these prepopulated responses.

Questions/Technical Assistance

Technical questions about the Common Grant portal can be directed to Common Grant by clicking here.

Questions regarding the grant opportunity should be directed to Katharine Len Yee Mitchell at kmitchell@womengiving.org