Women's Foundation of Boston 2020 Annual Report

WFBoston implemented its inaugural grant cycle process, granting $745,000 to eight high-impact nonprofits. The grant cycle process is integral to WFBoston’s mission; its purpose is to review, vet and recommend projects that fit our criteria for return on investment and growth. It is a direct outcome of our strategic plan completed in April 2020. 2020 GRANT CYCLE PROCESS We identified specific criteria for our investments, ensuring that our funds are directly supporting women and girls in Greater Boston, and that our grantees are large enough to support some staff and leverage our funding. We analyzed the entire universe of women and girl serving organizations in Greater Boston and identified approximately 50 that fit our criteria and invited them to apply. Our process is committee-driven. The work is analytical, and in 2020 committee members spent over 50 hours meeting and vetting grant candidates. We use successive rounds of scorecards for systematic review of organizational fit, leadership and program goals and impacts. Our goal is to fund the most effective programs focused on economically empowering women and girls. We use custom grantmaking software, to compare, contrast and evaluate applicants. Our collective investment experience of over 30 years informed the system design that allows for multiple comparisons and in a variety of categories that drive decision-making and analysis. 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART