Mission of The Women’s Fund

The Women’s Fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation is established to create and support programs that enhance the lives of all women and children, involving women as leaders and donors in the process.

Why a Women’s Fund?

Because…

In early adolescence, studies show that girls IQ scores drop and their math and science scores plummet.
Almost one in every eight women can expect to develop clinical depression during her lifetime.
Older women have lower educational levels. They have less formal labor force experience, and little visibility is given to the full extent of the work of older women, including unpaid work.
The U.S. has the highest poverty rate of older women of all post-industrial nations. The economic prospects for single elderly women of color are drastically affected during retirement. In 2000, 43% of elderly single African-American women and 37.7% of elderly single Hispanic women lived in poverty.

The forecast is that two-thirds of Minnesota girls will be minimum wage earners as adults.
Women and the children they solely support represent more than 75 percent of those in poverty in the U.S.
According to a 1999 Foundation Center report, only 6.4 percent of foundation dollars went to programs specifically aimed at women and girls. Similarly, a recent national study of youth-serving agencies found that coed-youth programs on average serve 3 times more boys than girls.

For a single mother in Minnesota to raise one child on a “no frills budget” she must earn an hourly wage of $13.94; yet 60 percent of our state’s females earn less than this. The average wage parents on MFIP were receiving was $6.56 per hour.
Half of all women work in jobs without pensions.
10.5% of women age 65 to 74 are living below the poverty line, as are 15% of women age 75 and over, which is double the rate of men in that age category.
By the year 2010, almost half of all adult women will be at least 50 years old. Despite the large number, the National Center on Women and Aging holds forth “…scant attention has been given their needs and concerns.” (Phyllis Mutschler, Director)
Depression, more common in women, is the top ranking problem of older adults.

“I think it's sad that only men discovered America and only men can be presidents.” –middle school girl from the Butterfly Project

While self-esteem for both girls and boys is strong as children, there is a significant drop in girls' self-esteem around the age of 12.
Before the onset of puberty there is no difference in depression rates between boys and girls. By age 15, girls are twice as likely to become depressed and 10 times as likely to develop an eating disorder than their male peers.

Vision

·        To strengthen the personal and financial resources needed for girls, women and those they love to live their best lives (safe and productive lives).

·        To encourage non-profits to see their services through the eyes of girls and women, working together with them to develop new ideas and initiatives through the grant process.

·        To provide a vehicle that unites the community around a common theme.

·        To help women understand and utilize their giving potential.

Funding Priorities

We intend for the Women’s Fund to be flexible, to effectively leverage the efforts of non profits, and to provide resources that will make a difference—to single individuals or to systems. We have chosen three time periods in the lives of girls and women for our initial focus: middle school years, mid-point years, and later years. The examples of specific programs under each priority are just that—examples—chosen to demonstrate what would be possible. The Committee will have to determine specific criteria and processes for awarding grants in the future.

Middle-school Girls

·        Give funds to a local non profit to be used to solicit proposals that move middle school girls toward greater self esteem and self reliance.

·        Create our own Women’s Fund mentoring program for middle school girls which ultimately results in scholarships for post-secondary education.

Women at Mid-Point

·        Provide funds to increase existing scholarship programs for non-traditional women.

·        Create our own Women’s Fund scholarship fund for the first-in-the-family to attend college.

·        Provide funds to a non-profit that provides technical tools and loans for help women start and grow a business with the direction that the funds be administered in central Minnesota.

Older Women

·        Give grant funds to a non profit to encourage grants that target the financial, educational, and emotional needs of women fifty and above.

·        Create our own program to promote the security, health and dignity of women in their later years by providing education on income security and financial independence.

Rationale

“There is now overwhelming evidence that women’s (girls’) empowerment and economic development has the most far reaching effect in improving the lives of all…men, women, and children.”

Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate and Economist

                                                Harvard Commencement 2000