Believe in a Black Girl Grantmaking Guidelines 2016-2017
Black Women for Black Girls (BW4BG) is a giving circle composed of Black women from the greater New York area that support organizations, causes and initiatives that seek to enhance the lives of black girls throughout the five boroughs. BW4BG members pledge a financial contribution to create grant‐making opportunities. The Believe in a Black Girl Grant will be issued to programs and organizations that have demonstrated both the ability and the capacity to improve the lives of black girls in the New York area.
Our funding philosophy: grant recipients must demonstrate that the programs for which they are being awarded funds make a tangible impact in supporting Black girls’ education, economic opportunity or esteem, as recommended by the study, Black Girls in New York City: Untold Strength & Resilience. Specifically, we wants grants to connect to at least one of the actions recommended in the report:
- A. Develop affinity groups for Black girls to promote a strong sense of racial identity during critical developmental years.
- B. Support the development of healthy parent‐child relationships.
- C. Reach out to adolescent Black girls about their reproductive health, domestic violence and community safety.
- D. Develop and expand one‐on‐one mentorship programs.
- E. Create faith‐based and community‐based organizational alliances for Black girls
- F. Increased policy action focused on poverty reduction, lifting up the voices of youth
Awards Awards include $1,000 and leadership volunteers or technical assistance to support projects to begin in 2017. Technical assistance can include: recruiting volunteers, PR and communications, policy and advocacy, community outreach, additional fundraising or other areas. of support We expect to make two awards during this cycle.
Eligibility Criteria To be eligible for consideration, applying organizations must: • Have 501(c)(3) tax‐exemption. If an applying organization is separately incorporated but tax‐exempt through a group ruling, the applicant should supply the 501(c)(3) letter of the parent organization and documentation that it is part of the group. • Have an operating budget between $10,000 and $1 million • Be a community‐based organization (CBO) that provides services to young people in any of the five boroughs of New York City.
Proposal Documents Prepare the following sections to send as a single application. All pages of the application should use a 12‐point font, and be single‐spaced. Do not use headers or footers. Save and send the document in .doc, or .pdf format.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION (ONE PAGE TOTAL) What is your organization’s mission? How long have you been in operation? What services do you currently provide? What populations and/or communities do you serve? What was your organization’s budget last year?
LEADERSHIP INFORMATION (ONE PAGE TOTAL) Please share a short bio for the organization’s leader and any staff who will be heavily involved with the project.
PROJECT NARRATIVE (TWO PAGES TOTAL) Describe the project you plan to undertake with this funding, including: 1) Which of the BW4BG programmatic areas it is most connected to; 2) What short‐term and long‐term outcomes you expect to achieve; 3) Which areas you could use additional support: recruiting volunteers, PR and communications, policy and advocacy or community outreach. If it is a large project that will only be partially funded by our award, please specifically describe the elements that the BW4BG grant will cover.
Our 2016‐2017 grantmaking process will begin in August 2016, and conclude with a grant in early 2017. The first round is a 4‐page written proposal due on September 28th. This will be followed by interviews, additional material submission and site visits for finalists.
Please submit your proposal by September 28th, 2016 by emailing bw4bg.grants@gmail.com, including contact information for the organizational leadership in the body of the email and attach the 4 page application.
