Upcoming Event
Inside the Leaders’ Studio: From Passion to Product
Begins Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Join us September 21 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress St., Portland for Inside the Leaders’ Studio: From Passion to…
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Economic Security Initiative
The mission of the Maine Women’s Fund is to create lasting social change by investing in the power of women and the dreams of girls. Our past grantmaking experience has taught us many things. Most importantly, that a woman’s ability to take care of herself, her family and her ability to contribute to her community, depend on her ability to obtain financial security.
We have found economic security to be the cornerstone of all aspects of our mission; without it, Maine women cannot meet their basic needs and girls cannot reach their full potential. With financial security, women can break the cycle of violence and access better housing, healthcare, and employment. Economic stability enables a woman to improve the quality of life for her family, her community and our entire state. Every dollar that comes our way supports our mission.
We invest in non-profits committed to helping us achieve our goal of economic security for all Maine women and girls. In the 20 years since our inception, we have granted over $1.5 million. In our 2008-2009 grant cycle, we granted nearly $80,000. The non-profits we support help us by focusing their work on four strategic areas that t
ogether will advance economic security:
- Entrepreneurship and Better Jobs & Wages
- Education
- Public Policy
- Asset Building & Financial Literacy
Goals
The Economic Security Initiative is our sole grantmaking project for 2009-10. The initiative has three specific goals:
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To build economically secure futures for low-income women across Maine by investing in our four strategic funding areas.
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To ensure the sustainability of our grantees and their social change solutions by investing technical assistance in those individuals, nonprofits and institutions delivering social services.
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To help all women feel economically secure through public education, cultural awareness, and policy changes.
To read more about our 2010 Funding Opportunities and Grant Application, click here or download our 2009-10 Grant Application.
Participate in the grantmaking process
Part of our grantmaking process is a public review of each application we receive and that is where we need your help. We invite community members to be part of this exciting process. Reviewers will read up to four applications and make their recommendations to our board via electronic survey. We will assign applications to grant review volunteers and give directions for the review survey starting April 16, 2010. Reviewers have until April 30, 2010 to complete the survey for each application. If you would like to sign up to be a reviewer or if you have further questions, please contact Jessica Wallner at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 207- 774-5513 by April 9. We truly value your input and appreciate your involvement in this process!
