Program Home General Operating Fund Immediate Response Action Fund
The WOMEN'S WAY office will be closed from 12/23/24 through 1/1/25 and will not be accepting applications during that time as we rest and rejuvenate for the coming year. We hope you plan on taking some time for relaxation yourselves – Happy Holidays!
Goals
Important and urgent needs of women and girls are now arising more frequently than anyone could have predicted. As a result, we created the Immediate Response Action Fund (IRAF) to quickly distribute funds to organizations to address the needs of women and girls as they arise. The IRAF grant application and evaluation processes allow WOMEN’S WAY to assess urgent situations more thoroughly and quickly, and determine how to respond most effectively.
Download our FY2023 IRAF Executive Summary here.
View 2017 IRAF grantees here.
View 2018 IRAF grantees here.
View 2019 IRAF grantees here.
Our Process
01
The Fund will provide one-time small grants up to $10,000 for a grant period of up to 12 months. If approved, the grant will be processed in no more than 10 business days after receipt of application.
02
Priority will be given to requests from organizations that are addressing issues that disproportionately impact low-income and vulnerable women and girls, and communities of color. Priority will also be given to organizations with an annual budget of less than $2 million.
Criteria
Grant applications should meet the following criteria to be eligible for funding:
- Urgent and Unanticipated: the specific event, opportunity, or challenge that your organization is responding to must be unanticipated and must require urgent action. Some examples of unanticipated events include, but are not limited to: a sudden increase in demand for services, an unexpected loss of funding, or unforeseen physical damage to a structure preventing services from being provided
- Focus on WOMEN’S WAY Four Core Pillars: the proposal must be in response to an unexpected moment or opportunity to address the needs of women and girls in one of the following four areas:
- Advancing reproductive justice and sexual health
- Increasing safety against gender-based violence
- Promoting economic self-sufficiency & justice
- Developing the leadership of girls and young women
- Demographic: the program/service that you are requesting IRAF funds to support must primarily serve women and/or girls
- Geographic: must provide services in one or more of the following counties – Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Camden, Burlington, Gloucester
- Opportunity for Intervention: grant funds must be able to have an immediate impact on the defined issue
- Organizations: must be a nonprofit organization that is determined to be a tax-exempt organization under sections 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code or have a fiscal sponsor. WOMEN’S WAY cannot grant to individuals. Organizations must affirm that they do not have any policies, programs, services, or advocacy that conflict with WOMEN’S WAY’s position on issues, specifically our belief that people should have access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion
For the latest report, including a list of IRAF grantees, click here.
Apply Now
**Please Note: The WOMEN'S WAY office will be closed from 12/23/24 through 1/1/25 and will not be accepting applications during that time as we rest and rejuvenate for the coming year. We hope you plan on taking some time for relaxation yourselves – Happy Holidays!**
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. To apply, click the below button. Applications sent to any email address will not be reviewed.
