Economic Development Planning Committee:
Options & Recommendations
Board of Directors
April 4, 2008
OPTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONSActivity / Grant Making / Skills Training / Capacity Building / Policy and Research / Learning and Evaluation
Goal / Fund organizations tosupport women to develop sustainable livelihoods and transition out of poverty through participation in economic development programs and activities / Build a strong women’s economic development sector through targeted skills training and leadership development programs / Strengthen organizations and staff and Board leaders through funding for customized technical assistance and education programs / Build and develop research and public policy capacity and engagement to leverage change in the economic status of women / Design evaluation tools to assess the most effective strategies to build sustainable livelihoods and transition women out of poverty. Build evaluative capacity with grantees
Funding / Annually: $1.1 million
Five Years: $5.5 million / Annually: $260,000
Five Years: $1.3 million / Annually : $100,000
Five Years: $500,000 / Annually: $110,000
Five Years: $550,000 / Annually: $100,000
Five Years: $500,000
Ten 5 -year economic development program grants of up to $75,000 annually
Two partnership grants of up to $100,000 targeted to Aboriginal women
Six 1-2 year developmental grants of $25,000 targeted to the west, east, and north / One series of Regional Skills Institutes in BC, Alberta & the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada
Five one – week National Women’s Leadership Development Institutes.
(one in each of 5 years ) / Ten annual $6,000capacity building grants in years 2-5
Five grantee meetings
(one in each of 5 years) / $25,000 sectoral grant, in each of five years , to build capacity of women’s economic development sector
Fellowships / Research on Public Policy Issues:
Year 1 $50,000
Years 2 $75,000
Years 3-5 $100,000 per year / $70,000 for evaluation consultants
$30,000 for grantees
Total Annual Program Costs: $1,670,000 Operating Costs @ 12%: $200,000 Total Annual Investment: $1,870,000
Total Five Year Investment:$9,350,000
What’s New? / Number of program grants will increase from 10 to 18
Overall program grantmaking portfolio will increase by $450,000 annually and $2.25 million over 5 years
New partnership grants targeted to Aboriginal women
Developmental grants targeted to underserved regions in the country
Women into Trades and Technology a new funding priority
Consideration given to funding non-traditional higher paying work / $1 million in new funding for National Women’s Leadership Development Institutes
Development of advanced skills training programs
Investigation of “certification” for skills training participants / Grants for education programs and courses in leadership, public policy and fund development / Public policy and research a new focus for CWF
Annual grant to women’s CED sector to build sectoral capacity
Grants to women’s organizations to build public policy capacity and expertise
Public policy/research fellowship grants
Funding to build and deepen CWF’s capacity in research and public policy / Focus on strengthening data collection and tools, particularly in the area of economic indicators and financial outcomes
Develop tools to assess economic outcomes across different types of economic development activities and programs
What’s the Same? / Grant making continues to be CWF’s core function
Funding for self-employment and social purpose enterprises continues
Funding targeted to multi-barriered and rural women continues
Funding for both established and emerging organizations
Open application process for most grants / Continuation of Regional and National Skills Institutes
Skills Institutes Advisory Committees continue
Training provided to a range of organizations & skill levels / Capacity building grants customized to specific organizational development and technical assistance needs of organizations / Identification of public policy issues affecting women and the economy
Briefing government and budget standing committees on women’s economic status / Commitment to learning and building evaluative capacity in the field
Funding for evaluation research, training, and data design, collection, and analysis
Commitment to research and evaluation on women’s progress toward sustainable livelihoods, women’s transition out of poverty, and learnings for the field
Targeted to
Targeted to / Women’s and economic development organizations, gender specific/ focused programs / Basic Level:
New staff, small and emerging women’s and economic development organizations
Advanced Level:
Middle and senior management, program staff; established mid-sized women’s and economic development agencies; organizations with potential to grow and replicate best practice programs / Grantee organizations, staff in women’s and economic development organizations, women working in gender specific/focused programs / Grantee organizations, women working in economic development and women’s organizations, women’s CED sector, CWF / Grantee organizations, program participants, CWF and donor partners, CED field
Focus Areas
Focus Areas / Grants Criteria
- Self-employment
- Social Purpose Enterprises
- Women in Trades and Technology
- Women’s organizations or gender specific/ focused programs
- Poor & low-income women who are the most economically disadvantaged
- Multi-barriered and rural women
- Focus on building financial literacy
- Consider non-traditional work with higher income potential
- Fund education/ bridging programs in Trades and Technology
- Fund both established and emerging organizations
- Grantees use the sustainable livelihoods model
- Develop both open and targeted application processes
- Women’s Economic Development
- Financial management & strategic planning
- Small business development
- Partnership development
- Building the Case for Women’s CED
- Governance , leadership, and team building
- Fund development and proposal writing
- Research, public policy and advocacy
- Evaluation & Learning
- Foundations of women’s leadership
- Leading strategically
- Embracing diversity
- Managing change, growth, succession planning
- Developing high performance teams
- Advanced HR and financial management
- Partnership and fund development and management
- Understanding the women’s policy and funding environment
- Becoming a force for social change for women
- In depth customized technical assistance in strategic planning, feasibility studies, sector specific research, business planning
- Leadership development programs
- Coaching and mentoring
- Public policy development and advocacy
- Fund development
- Evaluation and learning
- Best practice replication
- Identification of policy and research issues
- Track, monitor and disseminate public policy trends impacting women
- Identify public policy challenges and solutions affecting women’s economic development such as child care, transition to work, income security, access to training, and non-traditional work, and putting women on the economic development agenda
- Build public awareness and influence public policy through dissemination of
- Develop Research Papers on topics such as:
-Building the Economic Case for Women’s CED
-A Report on The Status of Women in Canada
-National Report on Women’s Sector Funding /
- Develop a theory of change for the next economic development initiative
- Educate women and women’s organizations about the purpose and benefits of evaluation and data collection
- Strengthen data collection, particularly related to economic indicators
- Develop tools to assess economic outcomes across different economic development activities and programs
- Build the capacity of the
- Disseminate learnings
Potential Partnerships and Collaboratives /
- Collaborative Fund Donor Partners
- National Aboriginal and Women’s organizations
- Colleges, Trades and Technology organizations
- Universities and Colleges
- Foundations
- Professional Associations and Corporate Partners
- Government: Ontario Women’s Directorate, Status of Women Canada
- Capacity building organizations and technical assistance providers
- Management Service Organizations (MSO’s)
- Corporate Partners
- Foundations
- Government: Ontario Women’s Directorate, Status of Women Canada
- Foundations/donors with interest in public policy
- Policy/research groups and Institutes
- Women’s CED Council
- Evaluation Institutes
- Universities
- Funder Evaluation Tables
- Canadian Evaluation Society
- CED membership-based organizations
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