Women's & Girls' Fund offers grants

The Women’s & Girls’ Fund, a leadership initiative of Kern Community Foundation, announced up to $50,000 in grant allocations in its 13th cycle of competitive grant making to Kern County nonprofit organizations that serve local women or girls within the focus area of education and training

The WGF values social change grant making that emphasizes finding long-term solutions to societal problems facing women and girls in all parts of Kern County.

“Since its inception, the Women’s and Girls’ Fund has provided over $370,000 in grants to local nonprofits that serve women and girls, primarily in the area of educational attainment,” said WGF Vision Committee Vice-Chair Cathy Bennett, who is also the facilitator of the fund’s Grants Allocation Committee.

“The Grants Allocation Committee at the Fund is always impressed and inspired by the breadth and depth of service our local nonprofits provide, which always makes it hard to choose our grant recipients,” she said. “The future is our youth, and last year’s grants recognized two agencies who serve teen girls:

[BOX] We provided Latina Leaders of Kern County with a capacity-building grant to allow them to increase the number of high schools where their program can help more girls succeed in school and go on to college.

[BOX] We were similarly happy to provide funds to Teen Success to support their Kern County program working with teen mothers to assure they graduate from high school, not increase their family size and prepare for meaningful occupations or college. Both organizations are very successful, and we are thrilled to partner with them this year.

[BOX] The first step in this competitive grant cycle is to submit a letter of intent through Kern Community Foundation’s Online Grants Platform, which can be accessed at kernfoundation.org/grants, by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8.

Organizations interested in applying should have a 501(c) (3) nonprofit designation or fiscal sponsor. All organizations seeking funds must have a presence in Kern County and all programs must benefit women and/or girls within Kern County.

Funding is typically for one year only; and while multiyear grant requests may be considered, applicants should also be prepared to accept one year’s funding only. All requested followup reports for previous grants received from Kern Community Foundation, including The Women’s and Girls’ Fund, must be on file before an agency can apply for additional funding. Agencies must also comply with Kern Community Foundation’s grant-making guidelines, which include:

[BOX] Being registered with Kern Community Foundation through the same Online Grants Platform that can be accessed via the hyperlink above; and

[BOX] Having a Silver or higher transparency rating on GuideStar.org, a database of nonprofits. Please refer to the “WGF’s Grantmaking Policy and Focus Area Document”

(at kernfoundation.org/WGF > Grantmaking) for more details.

Following evaluation of LOIs by the WGF’s Grants Allocation Committee, agencies will be invited in early December to submit full grant applications. The maximum individual award is $25,000, and the total monies to be awarded are $50,000.

The Women’s and Girls’ Fund was launched in 2005 as a leadership initiative of Kern Community Foundation. It is primarily a volunteer effort guided by the leadership of the Vision Committee and community advisors. The assets of the fund are professionally managed and invested by the Kern Community Foundation, which also provides oversight of fund grant decisions.

For more information, contact the fund at the Kern Community Foundation, 661-328-5212, or cbennett@kleinlaw.com

—Kern Community Foundation