Lessons Learned

The remarkable growth of women's funds during the past 25 years—from a handful in the 1980s to more than 100 today—has spawned a new, promising offshoot: girls' grantmaking programs.

Just a few years ago, there were only half a dozen girl-driven programs in the entire country. Today, such programs are multiplying rapidly, showing real muscle and teaching the next generation about the essential role that nonprofit organizations play in creating stronger communities.

"Youth grantmaking helps young people understand the process of grantmaking and experience the personal satisfaction of working with a peer group to achieve philanthropic goals," said Liz Wilder, executive director of the Funders Alliance of Upstate New York. "They see the value of organized philanthropy and discover their ability to positively impact services in their community. The experience can give them a foundation for a lifetime of involvement with the nonprofit sector."

Mostly Urban

Girls' grantmaking programs in North America are based primarily in urban areas and are usually affiliated with a local women's fund that convenes the girls and offers meeting space and administrative and financial support.

These programs have three primary goals: To promote systemic change that expands girls' potential and capacity for leadership; to prepare a new generation of young women for the reins of leadership in philanthropic endeavors; and to increase the pool of money for projects designed especially for girls.

What Girls Fund

Examples of girls' grantmaking programs include Young Sisters for Justice at the Boston Women's Fund (www.bostonwomensfund.org), Sisters Empowering Sisters at the Girl's Best Friend Foundation in Chicago (www.girlsbestfriend.org/programs/index.html), Young Women for Change at the Michigan Women's Foundation (www.miwf.org/miwf/ywfc/ywfc.htm), the Girls Grant Project at the Women's Foundation of Greater Kansas City (www.wfgkc.org/html/Girls_Grant.html), The Sisterhood Fund, affiliated with the Women's Foundation of California (www.womensfoundca.org/grantmaking_grantmaking.html), and the Girls' Grantmaking Program at the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley (www.womensfoundation.org), in Rochester, New York.

Collectively, girls' grantmaking programs now award an estimated $250,000 or more each year, primarily to programs aimed at helping young women. Here are a few examples:

• The Sisterhood Fund is giving away $150,000 this year to projects in that state. Young women do all grant proposal reviews and site visits, and make funding recommendations. The funding priority is youth-led strategies that work toward long-term systemic change in economic and labor rights, reproductive rights, immigrant rights and in gender/sexual identity rights.     
• In Kansas City, the Girls Grant Project has recently given between $10,000 and $15,000 per year to programs for homeless teen moms and their babies, literacy projects and job-shadowing programs for inner city girls.     
• The Sisters Empowering Sisters program funds girl-driven projects from third- and fourth-grade girls designing and building their own space to videos highlighting young female artists in the noncommercial hip hop industry.

One Foundation's Story

At the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley, the girls' grantmaking program has been exceptionally successful. Since the girls' grantmaking committee was established in 2001, the Women's Foundation has seen a fourfold increase in numbers of proposals for girls' programs in its seven-county area. Also, the number of women who become donors to the foundation or ask about serving on the board has increased markedly. Last year, the girls' grantmaking committee received the Unsung Heroes Award from the mayor of Rochester for their commitment to the community.

Now the foundation envisions establishing a one-day Girls' Leadership Institute for 15- to 18-year-old girls with a leadership track, where girls will be able to build interpersonal, decisionmaking, communication, budgeting and finance skill sets, and a philanthropy track, where girls will be able to learn fundraising and effective grantmaking. The institute also will include an introduction to philanthropy, and sessions on why people give and how to find your passion. The first institute will coincide with the launch of the Girls' Endowment Fund, to create a permanent pool of money to sustain grantmaking by girls.

"So many good things come out of this program," said Rosemary C. Mitchell, executive director of the foundation. "Several girls have been involved for more than one grantmaking cycle. It's been rewarding to see them learn to make complex decisions—establishing priorities, using critical thinking to evaluate programs, applying resources strategically. The thinking skills and self-discipline that they develop through this activity serve them well academically and in every other way, too."

Currently, 15 girls serve on the girls' grantmaking committee. During the summer, they evaluated 14 proposals and discussed how well those proposals matched funding guidelines. They also explored how the prospective projects would help young women reach personal goals and become contributors to their communities. They went on eight site visits before choosing this year's two finalists—one project offering enrichment activities for girls in a group home to help them reach their personal goals, and another project that helps inner-city girls make sound personal choices about education, relationships and personal health.

How it all began

The Girls' Grantmaking program at the Women's Foundation was an outgrowth of an annual event called Voices of Experience. The idea was to model successful lifestyles and decision-making skills through a panel presentation.

Launched in 1997, Voices attracted the attention and support of dozens of teachers. To date, more than 1,500 girls have attended.

Each year, professional women and business owners speak frankly about how they got where they are and the choices they make to keep the life they have. Then, they respond to questions from the girls. Panelists have included female construction workers, doctors, dentists, accountants, policewomen, lawyers, television anchors and business owners. Ticket sales for the program, which has sold out the past two years, have raised $28,000 for Girls' Grantmaking since its inception.

"Voices of Experience inspires girls to think about whom and what they can become," said Mitchell. "Since we decided a few years ago to use the funds raised by Voices for a girls' grantmaking program, the whole enterprise has just mushroomed. Now, we have two Voices programs—one for urban girls and a new one this year for girls in the rural counties we serve. It's exciting to think about where this can go, because we've learned that the challenges urban and rural girls face are not always the same—and good strategies for each group are not the same."

This year, the Women's Funding Network (WFN) awarded Voices a $25,000 Venture Fund grant. The goal of WFN's Venture Fund, which is sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is to help unleash philanthropy in communities that have the potential to impact social change philanthropy for women and girls. "We are very pleased to support the Voices of Experience program, whose goals align with what we strive for—building stronger and better communities through women and girls. To this end, our funds are participating in a fund-forward branding campaign, which seeks to increase the number of people who invest in women's and girls' funds. Voices is doing just that, and we're proud to support it," said Christine Grumm, CEO and President of WFN.

Benefits of Girls' Grantmaking Programs

A girls' grantmaking program helps charitable organizations:

• Prepare the next generation of philanthropists and integrate the voices of young women into organizations committed to girls and women.     
• Increase the pool of money available to fund programs aimed at young women.     
• Shift the decisionmaking for grants into the hands of those closest to the issues—girls who understand the needs of their peers.     
• Provide girls with leadership and grantmaking training.     
• Train young women from diverse economic, ethnic and geographic backgrounds to become philanthropists.     
• Give girls and young women the power to make significant funding decisions.     
• Provide support and training on issues from social justice to money management.

"The Girls' Grantmaking Committee has given me a place to practice leadership skills, public speaking skills and to take part in a group decision-making process. I've learned a lot about philanthropy and the power of a dollar to accomplish change."
—Sarah, 16 

"It is wonderful to witness the impact that philanthropy has on my community. It shows me that giving can truly help those in need."
—Tiffany, 17

Funding Young Women's Priorities

To date, the Girls Grantmaking Program of the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley has funded $28,000 in programs. This table shows the range of awards and types of grants the girls have approved.

Photos by Annette Dragon

Above, in order: Voices of Experience attendees listen to panels of professional women; girls' grantmaking programs in upstate New York help young women earn their GEDs; girls ask questions of panelists during a Voices of Experience session.