GUIDELINES FOR NEVADA WOMEN'S FUND (NWF) GRANTS

The Fund is interested in reviewing and funding projects that impact social change in the following priority areas for Nevada’s women:

Physical and mental health

Aging issues

Prevention of violence

These three priority areas were identified as issues of concern in the Fund’s Status of Women and Girls in Nevada report (2005). Last year, the first year of focused funding in these three areas, the Fund awarded nearly $114,000 to 18 projects aiming to address these critical issues.

What’s new for 2008?

Like most women’s funds across the globe, the Nevada Women's Fund has an interest in strategically measuring the social change work that our organization supports. The Women’s Funding Network, a worldwide partnership of women's funds – of which the Nevada Women's Fund is a member - has created an evaluation framework to assist funds with the measurement and evaluation of funded social change initiatives. This framework was developed in collaboration with more than 70 women’s funds, grantees of women’s funds and other philanthropic organizations. The tool – called Making the Case – enables the Nevada Women's Fund and its grantees to enhance strategic planning for social change work, in addition to capturing stories of social change that enable aggregate measurement and documentation of collective impact.

An expectation of successful 2008 Nevada Women's Fund grantees is that these organizations will follow the Making the Case framework for project evaluation. Successful grantees will be trained in how to use this online evaluation tool at a half-day session tentatively scheduled for March, 2008.

Successful applicants will learn how to measure their work in terms of five indicators of social change:

A shift in Definitions

A shift in Behavior

A shift in Engagement

A shift in Policy

Maintaining Past Gains

The value of Making the Case

Making the Case:

Is a self-evaluation framework which is empowering to use

Can be used to evaluate programs and capacity building grants

Contains educational components which build the capacity of organizations to understand how to measure social change results

Is flexible and can be used to meet a variety of needs including evaluation, project planning and capacity building

Provides a framework for organizing social change results so the impact can be effectively communicated to Fund and grantee stakeholders

More than 400 grantees of women’s funds are currently using the Making the Case tool and report that the on-line resource provides a useful framework for planning and evaluation of programs and projects that extend beyond the purview of funding from women’s funds.

Use of the Making the Case framework as an evaluation tool is a first step in the Fund’s efforts to initiate and measure social change. In 2009, the Fund will integrate social change language and expectations in the annual grant application document and will educate and encourage prospective grantees to consider how specific projects or programs will impact the five indicators of social change as they prepare grant applications.

What about the Fund’s mini-grants program?

In 2008 the Fund will continue with the mini-grants program. A limited number of mini-grants will be awarded to organizations with projects of merit that do not fit within the Fund’s three priority areas. Mini-grants will range in amount from $500-$1,000.

Important dates to remember:

September 14, 2007 Nevada Women's Fund grant applications available

December 21, 2007 Grant applications due to the Fund office (grants must be delivered no later than 4:30 p.m.)

Week of February 25, 2008 Nevada Women's Fund grants allocations announced

March, 2008 Allocation decisions

Making the Case half-day training for successful applicants