Since its inception, Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade County has been a catalyst for social change, working to support organizations that see an equitable future for women and girls. Support from Women’s Fund has helped organizations expand their services to new communities, it has encouraged alliances among unlikely partners, and it has grown one high school girl’s dream into a national model for empowering girls. Along the way, Women’s Fund has used its funding opportunities as a way to encourage others to think differently about social change and how their organization’s work plays a pivotal role in changing the way women and girls are perceived in our society.
Social change, however, is not a linear process, nor is it easy to measure. Challenging societal norms takes time, it takes commitment, and it takes a multi-pronged approach. Yet, one evaluation tool, Making the Case™, created by Women’s Funding Network, allows grantees to capture the complexity of the process and identify ways the organization has been able to make an impact on individual beliefs and society’s actions. Making the Case for Change reviews data available for 116 projects funded from 2007-2009 and includes insights collected through key informant interviews conducted in February of 2010 with staff at seven organizations.
Some key findings are:
Over three-quarters of programs funded by Women’s Fund focus on education in some way, including improving academic skills, increasing financial literacy, or providing comprehensive sex education.
95% of programs funded in the past 3 years work with low-income women and girls.
While 63% of women working in Miami-Dade County are immigrants, they are not usually on the forefront of advocating for policy change. Yet, almost all of the grantees working to advocate for policy change included immigrant women.
Grantees believe that the value of the technical assistance, guidance, and networking opportunities offered to them by Women’s Fund is at least as important as the monetary support they receive.
Grantees view Women’s Fund as a partner in their work and believe that alliance building, often with the assistance and guidance of Women’s Fund, is the single most important accelerator of their success. For more information and to review this important publication,Click here to read the whole report.