GWIS

What GWIS does

GWIS (Graduate Women In Science), legally registered as Sigma Delta Epsilon-Graduate Women in Science, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional society founded in 1921 at Cornell University by twelve women graduate students seeking to overcome isolation in research programs. The organization operates a chapter-based membership model with over 900 members across more than 30 active chapters in the United States and one International Chapter, governed by an elected Board of Directors and a volunteer Executive Board led by a President. Its headquarters is at 244 5th Ave, Suite #1825, New York, with a mailing address in Mullica Hill, NJ, and a small staff of 1-10 employees.

The organization's core offerings are the National Fellowship Program, which distributes research awards (up to $10,000 per award, $75,000 across ten recipients in 2025-2026, cumulative $750,000 since 2008), the annual National Conference (the 106th scheduled for June 10-12, 2027 in Northeast Oklahoma), and a tiered membership program ranging from $15 affiliate dues to $650 lifetime membership, plus industry partnership tiers from $600 to $2,500 annually. Supporting products include the GWIS Career Center on a dedicated job-board platform, three newsletters (Connect, Empower, Lead), a Published! blog, a podcast on Anchor.fm, and a Slack workspace. Technology infrastructure is entirely third-party: YourMembership for website and member management, MailChimp for email communications, and WizeHive (webportalapp.com) for the fellowship application portal, which serves more than 1,200 users annually.

The business model is a combination of membership dues, donations, endowment income (named funds requiring minimum $50,000 to establish, mostly generated from bequests), and corporate sponsorship. Distribution is primarily via the volunteer chapter network and a web-based self-serve member experience, with the annual conference serving as the principal in-person engagement event. Sources of funding include individual philanthropy, corporate ESG/DEI partnerships, and a small life-member onetime-payment tier. The organization is not capitalized via venture or private equity, and governance is exercised through an annually rotating executive board drawn from the academic community.

Name

GWIS

Legal name

Graduate Women In Science

Website

https://gwis.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1921

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

GWIS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional society founded in 1921 that supports women in STEM through a 30+ chapter network, annual research fellowships, and a national conference.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Scientific Society

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits (BPAGADAE)

Keywords

• Women in science
• Scientific fellowship program
• Professional society membership
• STEM research grants
• Annual scientific conference

Headquarters

HQ city

Mullica Hill

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues collected from individual members across various categories including Regular ($85), Transitional ($60), Graduate Student ($40), Emeritus ($35), Affiliate ($15), and National Life Member ($650 one-time payment). Industry partnership tiers range from $600 to $2,500 annually for corporate sponsors.
2. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Tax-deductible donations from individuals and corporations to support fellowship funds, travel stipends for young scientists, and organizational programming. GWIS is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
3. Endowed Fellowship Program: Endowment funds, mostly generated from bequests, provide annual income supporting scientific research conducted by GWIS fellowship winners. Named endowments require minimum $50,000 donation.
4. Corporate Sponsorship: Corporate sponsorship opportunities provide exposure while empowering women scientists. Companies can contact [email protected] for sponsorship opportunities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

GWIS (Graduate Women In Science) is a nonprofit professional society that supports women in STEM through tiered memberships, research fellowships (up to $10,000 per award), an annual National Conference, and a 30+ chapter networking and mentoring network. The organization funds these programs through annual member dues, tax-deductible donations, corporate sponsorships, and an endowment portfolio that has distributed nearly $750,000 in research awards since 2008.

Product overview

GWIS (Graduate Women In Science) is a professional society organization offering membership-based services to women in STEM. The core offerings include the National Fellowship Program providing research awards, the annual National Conference for professional development, and membership with access to local chapters, career resources, and newsletters (Connect, Empower, Lead). GWIS operates through a network of over 30 chapters and uses third-party platforms (YourMembership, WizeHive, MailChimp) for member management, fellowship applications, and communications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• National Fellowship Program
• GWIS National Conference
• GWIS Membership
• GWIS Career Center
• Local Chapters Network

Quantifiable outcome

• $75,000 in research awards distributed to 10 women scientists in 2025-2026 funding cycle
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Oregon State University Marine Mammal InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute for Christine O'Sullivan's dolphin-fisheries interaction research project in Jamaica. GWIS fellowship recipient conducting research in collaboration with this academic institution.
• University of the West Indies, Mona CampuscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with University of the West Indies, Mona Campus for Christine O'Sullivan's marine mammal research. GWIS fellow is both a PhD student at this institution and conducting collaborative fieldwork in Jamaica.
• South Dakota School of Mines & TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost venue for the 2026 GWIS National Conference in Rapid City, South Dakota. Conference facilities include Pete Lien & Sons Lecture Hall and Nucor Mineral Industries Building.
• University of GroningenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic institution where GWIS fellowship recipient Joana Oliveira Carvalho completed her PhD in Computational Visual Neuroscience before becoming Assistant Professor at University of Coimbra.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science: Global fellowship program supporting women scientists with significantly larger individual awards (up to $100K) across international chapters. Comparable fellowship-administration mission, but operates at materially greater scale and geographic breadth than GWIS.
• Ford Foundation Fellowship Program: Ford Foundation Fellowships fund predoctoral, dissertation, and postdoctoral researchers including a substantial cohort of women scholars in STEM. Comparable fellowship mission for women scientists, with materially larger individual stipends.
• Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future: Faculty for the Future provides fellowships to women from developing economies pursuing STEM PhD/postdoc research. Comparable women-in-STEM fellowship administration model, but with much larger individual award amounts and a global developing-economy focus.
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society: Sigma Xi is a long-established honor society for scientists that awards research grants (Grants-in-Aid of Research) to investigators across disciplines. Comparable grantmaking and member-society model, though co-ed rather than women-specific.
• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): AAAS is the largest general scientific society with extensive programs supporting women in STEM, including the L'Oréal-UNESCO partnership and mentorship programs. Overlaps with GWIS on mission but operates at vastly larger institutional scale.

Direct peers

• Association for Women in Science (AWIS): AWIS is a national membership organization advocating for women in STEM with chapters, networking, and award programs. It is the closest direct peer to GWIS in mission, member base (women scientists), and chapter-based structure.
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE): SWE is a major professional society supporting women in engineering with scholarships, awards, and a national conference. Comparable women-in-STEM fellowship/scholarship model, though focused specifically on engineering rather than natural/social sciences broadly.
• American Association of University Women (AAUW): AAUW administers the American Fellowships program, one of the oldest and largest fellowship programs for women in graduate and postdoctoral study. Directly comparable grantmaking activity targeting women researchers, with significantly larger scale.

Emerging players

• National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT): NCWIT is a coalition working to increase women's participation in computing. It overlaps with GWIS in supporting women-in-STEM pipelines and academic awards but focuses narrowly on IT rather than the broader natural/social sciences GWIS covers.

Others

• Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Programs: University-based WiSE programs (e.g., at UC San Diego, MIT, University of Michigan) provide local chapters, mentoring, and fellowships for women in STEM. Comparable mission at the institutional level; GWIS's national chapter model is the umbrella equivalent.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GWISci
• Facebookfacebook.com/GWISci
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gwis

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about GWIS