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Impact & Overview

from Women's Foundation of Alabama 2022 Annual Report

from Women's Foundation of Alabama 2022 Annual Report, page 2

About Us

365 Days of Expansion

Because of you, our multiplier effect as a place-based funder has never been stronger. Since growing into the state’s most powerful philanthropic voice for women and announcing we would carry out our work without borders:

We doubled our investments to women-serving organizations, moving more than $800,000 to 21 counties, and expanded our grantmaking infrastructure statewide with the launch of community-led Giving Circles in three of Alabama’s most populous counties.

We invested in women-led solutions through our Women’s Policy Institute, equipping our third cohort of grassroots leaders with expert training to spearhead public policy change in their own backyards.

We produced the state’s first-ever study on the economic impact of women in Alabama – Clearing the Path – a landmark report that now serves as a policy roadmap for businesses, government, and civic leaders.

Our rese arch led to us chairing the Alabama Legislature’s Workforce and Wage Gap Task Force, a committee that delivered formal policy recommendations to address women’s labor force participation rate and age-old wage disparities.

Alongside hundreds of volunteers, donors, and supporters, we shaped women-focused policy, securing four significant victories in the Alabama legislature including measures to expand access to maternal healthcare, address the work and wage gap, and allocate a historic multi-million-dollar investment in quality childcare.

Unders tanding true transformation occurs at the enterprise level, we grew our people power, including bringing on the first Chief Operating Officer in the Foundation’s history. Our team expanded not simply in size, but in the depth of knowledge and expertise required to catapult and sustain us at the next level – priming the launch of even bolder plans for targeted grantmaking and policy strategy that accelerate women’s economic opportunity.

Women’s Foundation of Alabama awards grants to high-impact organizations and initiatives proven to accelerate economic opportunity for women. In 2022, we strengthened that commitment by awarding $800,000 in 21 counties across the state. As part of our strategy the Foundation continued funding for eight community colleges across the state implementing our two generation Economic Mobility Model which aligns career-specific training programs with wraparound support services, including high-quality child care, transportation, and coaching for student-parents. The Foundation also continued to invest in and galvanize resources to amplify the collective power of young women through our Girls at the Center model. This effort is focused on ensuring young women, specifically young women of color, can lead, prosper economically, and live safe and healthy lives.

Morgan County Giving Circle

Last year we expanded our grantmaking statewide through giving circles, a strategy that empowers passionate individuals to propel resources and spark change in their own communities.

In 2021, Representative Terri Collins and a group of like-minded women reached out to Women’s Foundation of Alabama to explore ways to give back to their community. The Morgan County Giving Circle was established in 2022 to unite the group’s passion and empowers its members to pool resources and award large, high-impact, and strategically selected grants to organizations and initiatives benefiting women and children in North Alabama.

Created out of a desire to harness the collective giving power, influence, and joy of women philanthropists, Morgan County Giving Circle membership currently has 15 members and is actively recruiting more. Membership consists of women of all ages and backgrounds who come together and make funding decisions to enrich the earning capacity for women, promote quality child care for families, and most importantly, change lives.