Beyond Our Borders Fund
OVERVIEW: The Beyond Our Borders Fund supports girls and women’s organizations working both domestically and internationally.
IP TAKE: This funder supports capacity-building of United States based organizations serving girls and women. While not an accessible funder, preferring a proactive approach, Beyond Our Borders is a group-advised fund that prioritizes organizations in Colorado, but works internationally. To learn more about the grantmaking process, contact Colleen LaFontaine, director of development, at colleenl@wfco.org. Your work must predominately focus on serving women and girls, or both, in order to qualify for funds.
PROFILE: The Women’s Foundation of Colorado (WFCO) created the group-advised fund Beyond Our Borders in 1999. Recognizing “[t]he interconnectedness we have to women and girls around the world,” the Beyond Our Borders Fund invests in women’s and girls’ comprehensive human rights, social justice, economic opportunities, social opportunities and empowerment.
Broadly dedicated to women and girls' causes, Beyond Our Borders offers a wide variety of grantmaking opportunities. It prioritizes projects and programs that focus on women and/or girls through innovative and collaborative strategies. It also prioritizes programs that "display program impact in women’s and girls’ empowerment and social and economic justice" and feature "local women in management and decision-making positions." Additionally, applicants' programs must "employ local people in all areas of management and fieldwork and purchase local goods and materials from the host country" while demonstrating an articulated "need in the community through local requests by residents." All projects must focus on systemic change.
Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000. Past grantees include the Women Win Foundation and Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa.
Beyond Our Borders does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding. The board meets each May to discuss its grantmaking priorities at which time, members nominate organizations they are interested in supporting. Should the board decide to pursue the nomination it assigns a sponsor to the nominee. The sponsor conducts further research into the nominee and advises the board regarding the organization's projects and programs. Final grant nominations are made each September and final funding decisions are made in October of each year.
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