Though women and girls comprise more than half of the U.S. population, philanthropy has long underfunded organizations that serve them. According to the Women & Girls Index from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, although giving to women and girls has increased marginally as a percentage of overall philanthropic funding over the past decade, it still only represents 1.9% of all philanthropic giving in the U.S.
We’ve been tracking giving to women and girls from big individual donors like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates, as well as expanding grantmaking from national funders like the Ms. Foundation for Women. But there’s also a vibrant set of regional women’s foundations dotted across the country. Alongside national players, they form a vital part of the funding ecosystem for women and girls.
Women have a long history of philanthropic giving in the U.S., but it wasn’t until the 1970s that, according to a 2019 report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, women began developing “specific types of philanthropic organizations — women’s foundations and funds — with the express purpose of directing money to organizations supporting women and girls.”
The report found that while grantmaking is the primary activity of women’s foundations and funds, at least 64% also engage in other activities that support their mission, including implementing their own programming, conducting research on women and girls in their communities and states, holding workshops or educational events and awarding scholarships.
Here, we take a look at five of the top regional women’s foundations in the U.S. These include some of the larger and more well-established funders in this space, as well as one relative newcomer.
New York Women’s Foundation
Established in 1987, the New York Women’s Foundation helped pioneer trust-based participatory grantmaking and has awarded more than $133 million to 518 community partners since its launch. In 2024 alone, it awarded $8.5 million in grants. The foundation prioritizes New York City, but also supports statewide and national efforts that impact the city’s five boroughs, as well as organizations in other states, including Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia, among others.
Its areas of focus are economic and environmental resilience; safety, health and reproductive rights; and civic engagement and leadership. The majority of the foundation’s grants (95%) support organizations that serve low- to moderate-income families and communities that face gender, economic and racial challenges. The foundation works to identify, fund and support emerging leaders and organizations, build long-term relationships with community partners and strengthen their organizational capacity.
Some of its community partners include Alliance for Families of Justice, Asian American Impact Fund, Better Bronx for Youth, Brooklyn Ghost Project, Caribbean Equality Project, Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City, Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, Harlem Wellness Center and the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.
Women’s Foundation California
Founded in 1979, Women’s Foundation California describes itself as a publicly supported foundation that works across the Golden State to achieve racial, economic and gender justice, centering the experiences and expertise of those most impacted by systemic injustice. The foundation provides grants to community-led organizations, trains community leaders through the Dr. Beatriz María Solís Policy Institute (formerly Women’s Policy Institute), and helps foster convenings where advocates, donors, policymakers, grantmakers and academics can come together to strengthen social justice movements in California.
A key component of the foundation’s work, the Solís Policy Institute is a policy advocacy training program that provides tools, helps build networks and develops leadership for those who seek to shape policies in the state. To date, the institute has trained more than 600 advocates and organizers who have helped pass more than 50 new laws and local policies. Other training is offered through the foundation’s Funders Policy Institute and Summer Leadership Institute.
Women’s Foundation California takes a trust-based approach to its grantmaking, offering multi-year support and flexible funding through general operating support. Grants are awarded through its Community Power Fund, Culture Change Fund, the Housing Opportunities Mean Everything (HOME) Cohort and its Bea Solís Power Fund. Some of the foundation’s grantees include ACCESS Reproductive Justice, Alliance for Girls, Black Women for Wellness, California Domestic Workers Coalition, California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, Courage California, Khmer Girls in Action and Women’s Health Specialists.
Chicago Foundation for Women
The Chicago Foundation for Women was launched in 1985 by four of Chicago’s philanthropic leaders — Majorie Craig Benton, Sunny Fischer, Iris J. Krieg and Lucia Woods Lindley. Since then, the foundation has awarded more than $50 million through 5,000 grants, and says it impacts 226,000 women, girls and nonbinary individuals in the region every year. The foundation’s grantmaking is focused on three areas: expanding economic security, ensuring freedom from violence and enhancing access to health services.
The Chicago Foundation for Women helps develop leaders through several training programs, including its Willie’s Warriors Leadership Initiative, which is open to Black women and nonbinary people in the Chicago region. The initiative focuses on “building a supportive ecosystem” and seeks to empower its participants to thrive in both their personal and professional lives. The foundation’s other training initiatives include a Board Member Boot Camp, Women of Color Leadership Initiative, Black Women-led Organizing Capacity Building Program, Core Concepts Coaching and Media Training.
The foundation also houses a number of giving councils and giving circles, including the LBTQ Giving Council, Young Women’s Giving Council, North Shore Giving Circle, South Side Giving Circle, West Side Giving Circle and Western Suburbs Giving Circle.
The Chicago Foundation for Women’s grantmaking includes its Reproductive Justice Champions program, which supports a cohort of BIPOC, Africana, Latin, Asian and Native American nonprofit organizations and leaders in Illinois that work at the intersection of reproductive and sexual justice and other social justice movements. Grantees include Chicago Volunteer Doulas, Equal Hope, Ever Thrive Illinois, Sister Reach, Holistic Birth Collective and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
Meanwhile, the foundation’s Epidemic of Violence: Missing and Murdered Women of Color program supports community solutions and interventions to understand the root causes of the crisis. Grantees include A Long Walk Home, Brave Space Alliance, Illinois Prison project, LIVE FREE Illinois, the Dreamcatcher Foundation and the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization.
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Women’s Foundation of the South
A newcomer on the scene, the New-Orleans-based Women’s Foundation of the South was launched in 2021 to address racial and gender gaps in philanthropy by shifting resources to organizations that are led by and serve women, girls and gender nonconforming people of color in the South. The foundation is expanding to cover all 13 states in the American South — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
The Women’s Foundation of the South seeks to build partnerships with those closest to issues within communities; create opportunities for investment in women and girls of color in the South; invest in healing-centered and capacity-building approaches; amplify stories, solutions and innovations to change narratives about women and girls of color in the South; and leverage investments in Southern women of color leaders, entrepreneurs and WOC-led organizations.
The foundation provides multi-year, general operating support and leadership development grants, and aims to increase the capital available to women of color entrepreneurs and executives. It has also created its WŌC@Rest program to bring together 300 women of color leaders in statewide cohorts to “engage in healing-centered, restorative practices over the next five years” to address some of the greatest challenges women of color leaders have reported: underfunding of their work, a need for self-healing and leadership development support, and help with strategic communities.
WŌC@Rest grantee organizations include Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Birthmark Doula Collective-New Orleans; El Pueblo NOLA; Power Coalition for Equity and Justice; Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund; Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic and Social Justice; Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia; Trans Women of Color Healing Project; and Daughters Across the Diaspora.
Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota was founded in 1983 and is the first statewide women’s foundation in the U.S. To this day, it is the only grantmaking institution in Minnesota dedicated exclusively to advancing equity and justice for women, girls and gender-expansive people. It does so through statewide grantmaking, funding research, policy advocacy, narrative change, and fostering cross-sector partnerships.
The foundation’s areas of impact are: economic justice, leadership and community power, holistic wellbeing and reproductive justice, and safety. Its funds include the Community Response Fund, Fund for Safety, girlsBEST and We Thrive. Last year, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota launched its Reproductive Freedom Fund to help protect and provide resources for organizations working around reproductive justice.
Some of the foundation’s grantees include Committee Against Domestic Abuse, Healthcare Reparations Cooperative, OutFront Minnesota Community Services, Women’s Rural Advocacy Program, Women Winning, Violence Free Minnesota, The Aliveness Project, Telling Queer History, St. Paul Youth Services, and Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation.
