B.     CONTEXT

Women's groups face enormous barriers to securing adequate funding. Traditional funding sources give predominantly to "gender neutral" services and programming. Government funding is dwindling, presenting major challenges for the financial future for national equality-seeking women's groups.

Experts estimate that traditional funding sources give less than 5% of their donations to women-specific programming. The work of many women's groups concentrates on generating systemic change, an approach which many foundations and corporations will not support. As a result, many women's groups currently receive the majority of their - funding from government sources which, in the current climate of government expense reduction, stand only to diminish.

Women's groups recognize the need to employ new fundraising strategies and reach new markets. However, they are caught in a vicious cycle. The largest obstacles to launching new fundraising initiatives include lack of staff and volunteer time and the lack of financial resources. This project is envisioned as the first step toward breaking that cycle.

Chrow

Gibson

Omidvar