WOMEN'S WAY

WOMEN'S WAY is the region's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of women, girls, and gender equity. We invest in women and girls because research shows that when women thrive, everyone thrives. Since our founding, we have raised more than $24 million to enhance the lives of women, girls and families, and to provide vital support to the agencies that serve them.

WOMEN'S WAY is not a direct service organization; rather, we bring together community stakeholders to identify their most pressing needs and distribute grant funding to organizations that are best qualified to address them. Donors trust us to develop creative strategies to leverage philanthropy in order to improve women's lives and drive change.

Our two grant programs illustrate our ability to act quickly to meet community emergencies and plan deliberately to ensure economic security for women through systemic change:

• The Immediate Response Action Fund (IRAF) is designed to quickly address unanticipated and urgent needs of women and girls in the Philadelphia region. From receiving a completed application to communicating a decision, the IRAF grant review process is completed within 10 business days. Since launching in 2017, over $90,000 has been awarded to eleven organizations, impacting over 18,000 individuals.

• The Women's Economic Security Initiative (WESI) is a metrics-driven, collaborative effort to improve the economic security of women and families in the Philadelphia region. Through this initiative, WOMEN'S WAY has convened nearly 100 individuals from over 50 organizations to tackle this deep-rooted and complex issue. Our collective efforts resulted in the launching of our first pilot program, which integrates financial coaching services into early childhood and education centers in the region.

In addition to our grantmaking programs, WOMEN'S WAY also hosts community and educational events such as our annual book prize and runs the Young Women's Initiative (YWI), which is a volunteer-led young friends group comprised of action-oriented individuals focused on social justice who are dedicated to moving the needle on achieving gender equity for all.