The Global Fund for Women is a grant giving operation that gives moeny to women’s organizations around the world. They’ve granted $71 million dollars to 3,800 women’s groups since 1987. I just read through the bio’s of their board and staff and the depth of their organization is immensely impressive.
Their group focuses on a number of broad issues with a gender analysis; Economic Security, Violence Against Women, Education, Health and Leadership. It’s encouraging to see how many organizations are acknowledging women at the center of their economic development projects. I hope that some day we’ll see this be the rule rather than the exception. It’s a growing belief that women should be the center of economic development when discussing lesser developed countries, but on the flip side – I haven’t heard anyone suggest that the current economic debacle here in the states could be addressed by giving loans to women run ventures.
Check out some of their success stories – truly inspiring. If you’re looking to get educated about how a hi-level grant giving operation works, be sure to check out their publications. Their 08-09 Annual Report outlines each grant they made. I was surprised to see a wide range in the size of grants made. Lesson Learned: Small Organizations shouldn’t be intimidated about approaching larger grant making organizations.
