ABOUT THE CONSORTIUM
The Women and Economic Development Consortium is a new national philanthropic strategy bringing together several public and private foundations, corporations and the co-operative sector to strengthen the Canadian economy through making better use of the potential of women. The Consortium will fund projects that support enterprise development benefitting low-income women, with a focus on cooperative and community-based businesses. Grants will be made to women's organizations (not individuals), and will be awarded on a multi-year basis.
The Consortium's goals include:
Organizations that receive grants for projects through the Consortium will be delivery partners. In exchange for Consortium funds, they will implement and evaluate model enterprise development projects, and contribute to economic and social change through their work with individual women and their local communities, as well as by identifying policy and regulatory barriers to effective enterprise development benefitting low-income women. In order to most effectively share learning, delivery partners will be expected to keep detailed records and participate actively in implementing the Consortium's evaluation component.
- building knowledge about the role of women in the economy
- supporting models and strategies of enterprise development to maximize the contribution of women
- to help women and girls achieve greater self-reliance and economic independence through testing, evaluating and sharing learning about what enterprise development activities really work.
The Canadian Women's Foundation (CWF/FFC) is the administrative partner for the Consortium. Consortium staff and volunteers will work with delivery partners/grantees to identify technical assistance needs and find human and other resources to meet those needs. Levi Strauss & Co. (Canada) Inc. is supporting the Consortium's technical assistance work. Consortium donor partners include:
The Atkinson Charitable Foundation The Kahanoff Foundation Bank of Montreal Nancy's Very Own Foundation Canadian Women's Foundation The Trillium Foundation
Through the Canadian Alternative Investment Cooperative (CAIC), the Consortium's lending partner, delivery partners/grantees may also be eligible for loans, if their project reaches a viable business start-up stage.
PROJECTS ELIGIBLE FOR WOMEN AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM GRANTS
Projects eligible for grants from the Consortium will increase economic opportunity for low- income women through the support of enterprise development strategies, with a particular focus on community-based businesses or cooperatives.
Grants will be considered for microenterprise training or development projects that result in women's cooperatives or community-based businesses. The cooperatives or businesses can be initiated or incubated by a community-based organization, with the intention that they will ultimately run on a "standalone basis", or they can be productive enterprises for the organization, with a portion of profits reinvested to train new participants.
Also considered will be entrepreneurial/self employment training projects that have a component in which participants get hands on business experience through developing or working in the organization's community-based business, before "graduating" into setting up their own businesses. Business development networks and projects providing support to women's microenterprises, including cooperative and community-based businesses, will also be considered.
Project activities may include the following:
NOTE: The primary focus should be business development, but priority will be given to holistic projects that help women deal with all their life circumstances. This may include such personal supports as transportation and childcare, and life skills planning support to help women balance their work and family responsibilities or deal with violence in their lives.
- business training and life skills planning for participants
- market research to test the viability of business ideas
- development of a business plan and business start-up activities
- implementation of marketing plans and activities, or projects that link women's small businesses with each other or with outside markets
- ongoing business support, consultation and/or mentoring for participants
- linking participants to credit/lending programs, or developing a loan pool for participants
- personal supports that increase the likelihood of women achieving and maintaining economic independence
- identifying policy and regulatory barriers making it difficult for low-income women to be involved in enterprise
- development, and activities to address those barriers
- planning or organizational development activities to build the capacity of the organization and its leadership to do effective enterprise development work with women.
SELECTION PRIORITIES
There will not be enough money to fund all of the eligible projects. Priority will be given to:
Projects offering the best potential for women to become economically self-reliant;
Projects which support enterprise development in scientific, technical and/or sectors of the economy that are growing or stable;
Smaller, grassroots women's organizations and projects that focus on the development and support of community-based businesses or cooperatives involving low-income women, particularly those which address the needs of low-income women facing multiple barriers (aboriginal women, farm, northern or rural women, lesbian women, refugee and immigrant women, women with disabilities, women of colour, young or older women);
Projects for which government or other funding is not available, or where Consortium funds would play an important role in leveraging other support. Organizations with experience in monitoring and documenting the outcomes of their programs, and in linking with other organizations and individuals in their communities to improve programs and contribute to the overall development of the community.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The criteria which will be considered include:
Your organization's ability to carry out the project and to attract other funds required if your request is for partial support of the project costs. The amount of your request should be realistically linked to your previous fundraising, the level of support you expect to receive from other sources, and the likelihood of achieving your objectives.
The ability of your group to assess your local economic context and market to see whether your ideas have a good chance of succeeding.
A realistic multi-year plan and budget with a plan about how the project will become self-supporting. The extent of involvement by women in all levels of your organization and of potential participants in planning and decision making about the project.
The extent to which decision making and programs of your organization reflect the diversity of women in the geographic area you serve.
Your organization's recent accomplishments, including previous experience with business development/self employment training or development work with low-income women, and evidence of organizational capacity to do this work.
SIZE OF GRANTS
In 1997, the Consortium will award grants to between 8 and 12 projects, each for a period of two to five years. A total of $385,000 will be available for grants in each year. Your organization may request up to a maximum of $50,000 a year. If your request is for more than three years, the amount of the request must be reduced in years four and five.
Successful grantees will receive their grant in annual instalments, with each payment after the first being dependent on factors such as satisfactory evaluation of business starts, business outcomes and the milestones reached for individual women through the training.
WHO MAY APPLY
Please note that we will only accept one grant request from an organization or group. The same group cannot apply for several different projects.
Consortium funds are being legally administered by the Canadian Women's Foundation. Since CWF is a registered public charitable foundation, by law it is permitted only to fund organizations which are charities registered with Revenue Canada.
However, we recognize that many excellent projects and programs are developed by groups without this status. If your group or organization does not have charitable status, we may be able to accept an application made on your behalf by a sponsoring organization that is a registered charity. This means that the volunteer Board of Directors of the sponsoring organization is legally responsible for seeing that the funds are spent as intended, and the sponsoring organization will be expected to sign a letter of agreement to this effect.
THE CONSORTIUM WILL NOT FUND
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
- Individuals
- Federal, provincial or municipal government agencies and school boards (they can be involved in a project but the grant will be ade to the women's organization directly)
- Profit-based organizations
- Fundraising events
- Conferences (although we may consider projects that involve some meetings)
- Projects outside of Canada
- Projects not solely or primarily focused on women and girls.
- Deficit or emergency funding
- The development of films or video (unless this is part of a larger project)
- Capital expenditures such as furniture or computers
A CWF staff person or volunteer is available to provide information and consultation about your Consortium grant application. Delivery partners receiving a Consortium grant will work with the Consortium technical assistance staff to develop a plan for technical assistance requirements, and to identify the human resources and materials needed to meet those requirements, including help with locating and supporting volunteer mentors.
The technical assistance staff will provide ongoing consultation and support as the projects are being implemented, and provide ways to share learning between projects and with the Consortium Grants Committee.
HOW THE PROCESS WORKS
All Letters of Intent postmarked by the deadline will be reviewed by a Consortium Grants Committee including representatives of all Consortium partners, and community volunteers knowledgeable about enterprise development and the economic needs of women.
This is a two step process. Your Letter of Intent (in the attached format only please) will be considered by the Consortium Grants Committee. A few Letters of Intent will be selected for further consideration.
If your Letter of Intent is selected, you will be sent a proposal format and asked to submit a more detailed proposal.
The Consortium Grants Committee will review the detailed proposals and has discretion to select the projects to be funded. In addition to considering the priorities and criteria already referred to, the Committee will aim to select projects from all across Canada, and to include a variety of projects in the final selection. The Board of Directors of CWF will do the final legal approval of all grants. All applicants will receive a response.
TIMING
Letters of Intent must be sent by mail and postmarked no later than January 17, 1997. We are not able to accept Letters of Intent sent by fax.
If your Letter of Intent is selected for further consideration, you will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal postmarked no later than April 25, 1997.
Grants will be awarded in June 1997. All organizations will be notified whether or not they have received a grant.
EVALUATION
As a condition of receiving the grant, delivery partners will be required to submit a detailed progress report yearly, and a final evaluation report upon the completion of the project. A Consortium representative will discuss the format of these reports with you.
In order to help identify and share learnings from these projects, you will be expected to keep detailed records and participate actively in evaluation activities.
Because you will be asked to compare the actual results of your project to your original objectives, it is important that the objectives in your Letter of Intent be as concrete and measurable as possible. In addition to quantitative results, qualitative information from project participants about the impact of the project on their lives, both economically and in such areas as confidence and self esteem, will be requested.
A final unaudited financial statement must be included with each year's report.
FURTHER INFORMATION/ASSISTANCE
The most important thing is to give us a good description of what you want to do, and how it will affect the women involved.
If you have questions or need assistance, please write, fax or call:
Consortium Grants Coordinator
Canadian Women's Foundation/La fondation des femmes canadiennes
214 Merton St., Suite 208,
Toronto Ontario M4S 1A6.
Tel. (416)484-8268 Fax (416)486-8604
WE ARE MOVING! IF YOU MAIL YOUR GRANT APPLICATION AFTER DECEMBER 31, 1996, PLEASE MAIL TO: 133 RICHMOND ST. WEST, SUITE 504 TORONTO, ON.
M5H 2L3
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