Norfolk Women’s Fund supports women’s economic empowerment in Norfolk, offering small grants to seed fund transformational ideas.

NWF specifically wants to support nascent projects or initiatives that are finding it difficult to get support anywhere else.

We aim to offer small amounts that could make a big difference. For example,

• Seed or development funding to help you to test your idea or make a case to larger funders.
• Upskilling or capacity building for you or your team, that will enable you to do more.
• Projects that have the potential to be transformational (ie. they have longer-term ambitions to change systems, organisations or barriers to equality).

We usually offer a grant of up to £5,000, but we may consider more for exceptional cases

Applications should be focused on women’s economic empowerment. That is the process of achieving women’s equal access to and control over economic resources, and ensuring they can use them to exert increased control over other areas of their lives. It can include:

• Skills and learning
• Employability and job search
• Self-employment and entrepreneurship
• Assisting women to access better quality and higher-level employment
• Career and life planning
• Childcare and dependent care to enable participation in activities
• Social protection (ie. systems to help people cope with economic shocks, including pensions, unemployment, health etc.)
• Access to financial services and information

We welcome applications that target groups of women who are particularly disadvantaged, including, but not limited to, those from particular ethnic origins or with a disability.

Eligibility

You don’t have to be a registered charity, but your group needs to be constituted and the work you want us to fund must be charitable in purpose. See here for details: https://www.norfolkfoundation.com/funding-support/guidance-resources/is-my-group-eligible-to-apply/

How to Apply

If you would like some preliminary feedback on a potential application, please send an Expression of Interest in the form of a brief email, including the following details: Your proposal; why you need funding; how it supports women’s empowerment. Email: norfolkwomensfund@gmail.com

We consider full applications on a quarterly basis (please get your application to us by 31 March / 30 June / 30 September / 31 December each year).  If your initiative is particularly time sensitive, then we may be able to consider it on an ad-hoc basis.

To apply please write no more than 3 pages of A4, responding to the following questions:

1. What is your proposal – and how does it support women’s economic empowerment?
2. What is different or innovative about this initiative?
3. Who are the key people involved, what relevant experience do they have and what is driving their interest in this issue?
4. Who will benefit from the project?
5. What does success look like and how will you measure it?
6. How do you hope to build on this seed funding and make your plans sustainable?
7. What are the key project milestones and time-scales?
8. How much funding do you need for your project and how much of that are you applying for from Norfolk Women’s Fund?
9. How would the requested grant be spent? If the grant requested will not cover the full cost, explain how the remainder will be covered
10. Name and contact details of organisation applying, and main contact for the application.
11. Two references and their relationship to you.

Note: the above questions form the basis of the scoring criteria for this fund. Please provide evidence of any claims you make and give sources where you can.

Please send your application, by email to: norfolkwomensfund@gmail.com. Clearly mark the subject line: Norfolk Women’s Fund Application.

Support and follow up

If we agree to award a grant we will discuss and agree an appropriate follow-up and support process (including how best to provide evidence of what your project hopes to achieve.) This may include a report or presentation and a mentor from our steering group.