From Poverty to Prosperity

Increasing the economic security of women and their families will take more than job training, wrap-around services at community colleges, or diversity programs in the workplace. While those programs are critical, lasting change requires shifts in how people think and act, and in the policies that support women.

We make lasting change by:

  1. Redefining economic security by challenging social assumptions and beliefs that, for example, keep women out of nontraditional fields, such as construction, plumbing, and transportation.
  2. Affecting behavior by supporting women through programs that provide tools, skills, education, and services for women to gain access to living wage jobs—and keep them.
  3. Promoting policies that support working families and women’s equality in the workplace, such as equal pay and paid family and medical leave.
  4. Building critical mass by engaging advocates, forming cross-sector alliances, and training diverse groups of women leaders.
  5. Maintaining past gains in advancing women’s economic security—often in the face of opposition.

 

Strategies

What makes women’s foundations so effective is their integrated approach – incorporating a community and gender-specific lens as they invest in multiple strategies and programs.

View the top strategies that women’s foundations use to advance the economic security of women and girls. Each strategy lists the most commonly funded programs.

 

Research

  • Baseline Data
  • Needs Assessment
  • Benchmarking
 
  • Framing of the Issue
  • Identifying Solutions

Thought Leadership

  • Policymakers
  • Elected Officials
  • Community Leaders
 
  • Donors
  • Media

Education + Training

  • Job Training
  • Post-Secondary Education
  • Certificate Programs
 
  • Credentials
  • Wrap-around Services

Employment + Earnings

  • Licenses and Credentials
  • Apprenticeships
  • Financial Skills
 
  • Asset Acumen
  • Job Placement
  • Wrap-around Services

Workplace Policy

  • Engage Leadership in Best Practice
  • Corporate Policy Implementation
  • Evaluation

Policy

  • Policy Research
  • Bill Writing/Language
  • Testimony
  • Coalition Building
 
  • Advocacy Days
  • Bill Passage
  • Implementation
  • Evaluation

Community Organizing

  • Alliance Building
  • Cross-Sector Partnerships
  • Establishing Coalition
  • Communications and Media Strategy

Leadership

  • Training Diverse Advocates
  • Training Diverse Leaders

Assessment

  • Outcomes & Impact
  • Effectiveness
  • Efficiency

Accountability

  • Directed Resources
  • Outreach & Communications

Strategies in action

Most Common Programs

The three most reported grantmaking programs advancing women’s economic security are:

Financial Literacy
Job Training
Trades Training and Placement
Measuring Impact

Within these three programs, the most reported indicators for measuring impact, as reported by women’s foundations, are:

The number of women:
Participating in job or trade training

Participating in job or trade training

Completing job or trade training that leads to placement

Completing job or trade training that leads to placement

Participating in financial literacy training

Participating in financial literacy training

Obtaining credentials or degrees that better position them in the workforce

Obtaining credentials or degrees that better position them in the workforce

Who secure a job

Who secure a job

Obtaining non-traditional or higher-paid jobs

Obtaining non-traditional or higher-paid jobs

Earning higher wages than at time of entering a program

Earning higher wages than at time of entering a program

Retaining jobs for 90 days or more

Retaining jobs for 90 days or more

Gaining access to work supports, such as childcare and transportation

Gaining access to work supports, such as childcare and transportation

And:
Average wage increase of women that complete training

Average wage increase of women that complete training

Total dollar increase in income for women who secure jobs

Total dollar increase in income for women who secure jobs

Investing in change

Strategy

Education & Training

Program

Financial Literacy

Indicator

Number of women participating in financial literacy training

Example

Between 2012 and 2015, 4104 women completed Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s financial literacy training.

Maria's Story

@dallaswomensfdn

2160 Memphis women

From 2012 to 2015, 2160 women in Memphis received job training and job placement assistance.

@WFGM_ORG

29867

women provided with education, job training, & employment

#PWP