Women’s funds provide financial support to nonprofit groups working to improve the lives of women and girls. Most women’s funds are public, meaning they are nonprofits themselves, working to raise the money to support their programs.

Women’s funds differ from other foundations in several ways. 

• Women’s funds make grants to programs that address the underlying causes of an issue.  Specifically, The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio evaluates grant proposals based on how well they achieve key shifts in mindset and behavior. 
• Women’s funds have a unique relationship with their grantees. At The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, we call them Grant Partners. 
• Women’s funds bring together funds, grassroots organizations, donors, and the women and girls we serve. In central Ohio, we’re proud that this takes the form of several events and grant workshops.

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio is part of the Women’s Funding Network, a world-wide membership of 167 women’s and girls’ funds. WFN supports us through innovative programs and capacity-building expertise and we support WFN through participation in their programming and use of their evaluation tool.