Competitive Grantmaking

Competitive Grantmaking is sponsored by Women's Foundation of Alabama. The Women's Foundation of Alabama focuses on granting funds to local organizations committed to enhancing economic opportunities for women.

Competitive Grantmaking - Women's Foundation of Alabama The Fall 2025 Grant Cycle closed on August 29th, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST. Learn more about the recipients. Each year, Women’s Foundation of Alabama accepts proposals from local, community-based organizations across the state, representing greater potential for even broader impact towards gender and economic equity for women in the state.

Through this process, Women’s Foundation of Alabama aims to support high-impact organizations and projects working to usher women and girls along the path of greater economic opportunity and to remove the complex, interconnected barriers women face along that same path. This Fall 2025 cycle awarded grants of $50,000 each to innovative, high-impact programs that advance women’s economic opportunity.

This cycle reflected a strategic shift in the Foundation’s approach to grantmaking, deepening investments while sharpening focus on its goal of moving 10,000 women into the workforce and on the path to economic mobility by 2027. Alabama has one of the lowest labor force participation rates for women in the country and in the South, at just 51%.

Despite 74% of Alabama women serving as breadwinners, many still face challenges such as limited access to workforce training and child care, which can make it harder to find quality employment. Our three grant focus areas were Women + Work, Women + Leadership, and Women + Wellbeing — Financial Wellbeing, reflecting the foundation’s interest in holistic, innovative approaches to women’s economic opportunity.

We fuel organizations that address the barriers to entering the workforce. For questions or more information, please reach out to us at community@wfalabama. org.

Fall 2025 Grant Cycle Overview Meet the Fall 2025 Grantees Women’s Foundation of Alabama Awards $500,000 to Fall 2025 Grant Recipients Advancing Women’s Economic Opportunity The Fall 2025 grant cycle is closed. The deadline for submitting brief proposals was Friday, August 29, 2025, at 11:59 p. m.

For this cycle, we followed a two-stage process (brief proposal and full proposal stages). For applicants advancing to the full proposal stage, site visits took place in October, and final decisions were announced in December.

Deadline for Brief Proposal Application Site Visits for Applicants Advancing to Full Proposal Stage Frequently Asked Questions As of October 2022, Alabama had 143,000 job openings, but only 53 workers for every 100 vacancies. It hasn’t gotten appreciably better.

Now, consider the fact that more than 80,000 Alabama women are missing from the workforce because of barriers that prevent them from holding a job such as child care, training, maternity leave, and pay. To address these problems, we must mobilize an army of organizations, and that is what our grantmaking does. We fuel the organizations that address these barriers to entering the workforce for women.

Only 52% of Working Women Participate in the Economy, vs 63% of Men Alabama has a 40% Supply Gap in Affordable, Quality Childcare Alabama has the 3rd Highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the US for Every Dollar a Man Makes The future of Alabama’s workforce depends upon inclusion and equity for women.

In 2022, over 80,000 women were missing from the state’s workforce, placing Alabama dead last in labor force participation for women in the South. This doesn’t have to be Alabama’s fate.

Through this focus area, the foundation plans to fund nonprofit organizations providing education, skills training, credentials, critical supports, and public policy initiatives that enable women to access quality jobs and advance along their career path.

Athens Limestone County Family Resource Center – Workforce Development Birmingham Corps – Place for Purpose Community Care Development Network – CCDN Mothers Matter Initiative Hope Inspired Ministries – Workforce Development Legal Services Alabama – Income Protection Project Pathways, Inc. – Early Learning Center Vincent’s Foundation of Alabama – Jeremiah’s Hope United Women of Color – Career Certificate Scholarship Program Where women lead, change follows.

Whether on the job, in the community, at the highest levels of power, or in the home, decades of studies show women leaders help increase productivity, enhance collaboration, and improve fairness for everyone. Through this focus area, we aim to support programs and public policy efforts that invest in the personal and professional leadership development of women and the implementation of women led solutions.

’ Alabama Campaign for Adolescent Sexual Health – Girls at the Center Youth Advisory Council Alabama Justice Initiative – AJI’s Reimagine Community Fellowship Breakthrough Birmingham – Thrive Teachers Program Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama – Girl Scout Leadership Experience Girls Inc. of Central Alabama – Project Accelerate Girls Inc. Huntsville – GEL-Girls Excelling in Leadership Greensboro Middle School – Girls Engaged in Math and Science (GEMS) STEM Leadership Program Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama – Elevating Hispanic/Latinx & Immigrant Women in Leadership Momentum Leaders – Expanding Momentum Works to Greater Birmingham The Aum Foundation – Pathways 2 Success – Girls at the Center Troy Resilience Project- Sprout Early Learning Center Preschool Salary Support Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema – Women in Film Week 2024 Success at work and personal well-being do not have to be mutually exclusive.

At Women’s Foundation of Alabama, we believe good jobs and living wages are only the beginning. For this focus area, we are focused on funding programs and public policy solutions that enable women to thrive, within and beyond their career, along the eight dimensions of wellness with a focus on the following three: financial, physical, and mental wellness.

Alabama Prison Birth Project – Advancing the Emotional, Physical, and Financial Wellness of Incarcerated, Pregnant Women The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama -Alabama Maternal Health Project BirthWell Partners – Leveraging the Power of DOULAS to Improve the Health and Wellbeing of AL Women The Birth Sanctuary – Birth Center Equipment and Outfitting Community of Hope Health Clinic – Improving Women’s Wellness Through Access to Mental Health Care and Counseling Community on the Rise – WHOLE Restoration Diane’s Heart – She Knew There Was More Coaching and Mentoring Program Diamonds for Doulas – Childbirth Support for Medicaid and WIC Clients Dumas Wesley Community Center – Protecting the Women and Children of the Sybil Smith Family Village East Lake Initiative (ELI Thrive) – Building Healthy Relationships Elmore County Family Resource Center – Nurturing Together Global Ties Alabama – Refugee Resettlement Women’s Program Khairi and Little Angels’ Memorial – Childbirth Education Project – CHILDBIRTH Megan Montgomery Foundation to prevent domestic violence, Inc. – State-wide Volunteer Speakers’ Bureau Outreach One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center – Developing Agency and Pathways to Hope for Survivors Shelby Emergency Assistance- Thrive Together Shelby County Tuscaloosa Latino Coalition – Bridging the Gaps – Service Connection for Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders West Alabama Women’s Center – Prenatal Care & Support for Uninsured Patients Women Under Construction Network – What I Learned At Home Project YMCA of Greater Birmingham – Women helping women – a program for Latinas to access well-being resources 2213 1st Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35233