Grant FAQ

What are the funding priorities of the Iowa Women's Foundation (IWF)?

The Iowa Women's Foundation (IWF) fund a broad range of issue areas ranging from women's health to after-school programming for girls. We make grants to organizations and projects that fit within our mission, principles, and goals and that:

• Go beyond provision of direct services to create underlying social change for women and girls as a group.
• Value the involvement of the women/girls they serve by including methods by which the women and girls served by the project actively participate in the planning and decision-making about the project or program.
• A program's design and intent should demonstrate an understanding of the role of gender in shaping the options available to women and girls. Responsiveness to gender issues includes more than serving a majority of women and/or girls.

Who is eligible to apply for a grant from the Iowa Women's Foundation?

Grassroots groups or formal non profit organizations committed to working for social and systemic change on behalf of women and girls in Iowa are encouraged to apply. Your organization does not need to have non-profit status to apply for funding. Prior grantees are eligible to re-apply; however, all applicants contend on an open basis and are evaluated using the same selection criteria. Funding in previous grant cycles does not guarantee continued or subsequent funding. There are currently no restrictions on the number of consecutive grants an organization can receive.

Do you make grants to individuals?

We do not make grants to individuals, nor do we provide scholarships to individuals.

Do you fund general operating expenses?

Yes, the Iowa Women's Foundation makes grants for general operating expenses for projects, programs, or organizations that are creating positive social change for women and girls as a group. This does not include overall salaries, but IWF will consider funding or partial funding of contract wages essential to the project.

How are your grantmaking decisions made?

Community Review Panels are responsible for the first screening of the grant proposals. These Review Panels are committees of diverse members in various communities across the state. Each Panel looks at 6-10 proposals. The proposals are divided to ensure that the Panels do not review those from organizations in their own city or region.

The Grants Committee is made up of representatives from all the Community Review Panels. The Grants Committee evaluates the top-ranked proposals from each Community Review Panel, and any additional proposals that the Program Committee wishes to further evaluate. The Grants Committee makes funding recommendations to the IWF Board of Directors. The Board of Directors makes the final grant funding decisions.

Will you fund a program that provides services to men or boys?

We believe that to change the world for women and girls, men and boys must be involved. Therefore, we will fund projects that involve men and/or boys in an effort to benefit women and girls. As with other projects funded by the IWF, such projects should involve the use of a gender lens in their design and implementation.