On Monday 18th November 150 people came together for the re-launch and celebration of the Women’s Fund for Scotland. The Women’s Fund has been rebranded and repositioned now it is supported by private donations. It was a very exciting evening with a real buzz!
Electronic voting was used to give audience members a real-time response to what they saw.
Guests then gained a feel for the types of causes the Women’s Fund helps through the presentations of 6 groups working with girls and women. Each group showed a short video on their work and made a 5-minute presentation. The work of the 6 groups fitted perfectly into our four investment themes of building skills and confidence, building social networks, improving health and well-being and moving on from violence.
The audience then ranked the groups and the group with most votes secured a £10,000 grant, with the next two groups getting £5,000 grants and the remaining ones getting either £3,000 or £1,000. This initial funding was established primarily through past and some recent donations.
Everyone was a winner:
- Glasgow Girls FC were awarded a £10,000 grant
- Karibu Scotland were awarded a £5,000 grant
- Home Start MAJIK received a £5,000 grant
- Dress for Success Strathclyde received a £3,000 grant
- The Libertie Project were delighted with a £1,000 grant
- And Scottish Churches Housing Action took £1,000 to help deliver their starter pack programme in the North East.
Every group will get to use their short film to help with their on-going fundraising which is another benefit from the evening, for many of the groups creating this sort of resource would have been out of their reach. It is an example of the Women’s Fund wishing to help groups do more.
You can view a selection of photographs here:
Now that the fund has been re-launched groups working with women will be able to apply for grants to develop new work or to strengthen their sustainability. Our challenge is to keep raising funds so that we can meet these requests, allowing girls and women to reach their true potential, thereby benefiting their families and their communities.
Can you help us to inspire women and girls in Scotland? If yes please get in touch with our Development Manager on 0131 524 0353 or womens@foundationscotland.org.uk.
