Boston Women's Fund

What Boston Women's Fund does

Boston Women's Fund is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation founded in 1981 and incorporated in 1983, recognized as the first women's fund in Massachusetts. Its mission is to advance gender, racial, and economic justice for women, girls, and gender-expansive people across Greater Boston through community-led, participatory grantmaking.

The Fund operates a portfolio of grant programs — Movement Building Grants, Community Impact Grants, and Momentum Grants — alongside two leadership development initiatives: the Horizon Collective for movement leaders and GROWUP LeadHership for youth. Grantmaking decisions are made by a committee of 12 community members with direct lived experience of the issues being funded, a structural choice that redistributes philanthropic authority to the communities the Fund serves. Since 1985, the organization has deployed more than $8.4M across 420+ grants to grassroots organizations, with explicit prioritization of women of color-led and trans-led groups.

The revenue model combines institutional foundation grants from a named set of funders (Boston Foundation, Angell Foundation, Barr Foundation, Imago Dei Fund) with grassroots individual giving through "The Current," a recurring donor program with a $5/month minimum commitment. Operations are run by a small staff (1–10 employees) based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In recent years the Fund has expanded beyond grantmaking into research, education, and field-building through published reports and webinar series, broadening its product surface within the regional gender-justice ecosystem.

Name

Boston Women's Fund

Legal name

Boston Women's Fund

Website

https://bostonwomensfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Boston Women's Fund is a 501(c)(3) community foundation, the first women's fund in Massachusetts, that advances gender, racial, and economic justice in Greater Boston through participatory grantmaking, leadership programs, and research across 420+ grants since 1985.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Foundation Grantmaking Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN), Gender Lens / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Funds (FSANAJAM), Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

Keywords

• Participatory grantmaking
• Women's philanthropy
• Community foundation services
• Grassroots grantmaking
• Gender justice funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Boston Women's Fund receives contributions from individual donors through one-time donations and monthly recurring donations via 'The Current' membership program starting at $5/month. The organization pioneered the 2000 Club model where many small donors collectively build sustainable funding.
2. Foundation Grants Received: BWF receives grant funding from institutional foundations including The Boston Foundation, Angell Foundation, Barr Foundation, and Imago Dei Fund to support programs like Horizon Collective and operational costs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Boston Women's Fund is a community foundation that provides grants, leadership development, and research support to grassroots organizations led by women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals in Greater Boston. Its core deliverables include Movement Building Grants, Community Impact Grants, Momentum Grants, and Youth-Centered Movement Building grants selected through a participatory Allocations Committee, as well as the Horizon Collective leadership program and youth initiatives.

Product overview

Boston Women's Fund is a nonprofit grantmaking organization offering a portfolio of grant programs and leadership development initiatives. Its core offerings include Movement Building Grants and Community Impact Grants for grassroots organizations, the Horizon Collective leadership program for women and gender-expansive leaders of color, Youth Programming (GROWUP LeadHership), the research report "Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change," and the From Insight to Impact webinar series. The organization employs a participatory grantmaking model through its Allocations Committee. As a philanthropic organization rather than a technology product company, Boston Women's Fund does not offer an API, integrations with third-party platforms, or AI/ML-powered features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Horizon Collective: A free, six-month leadership program supporting women and gender-expansive leaders of color in Boston who are building grassroots power and change. Created by and for women and gender-expansive leaders of color, it offers a brave space for truth-telling, boundary-setting, and bold visioning while rejecting burnout culture and honoring rest as resistance.

Products and services

• Movement Building Grants Grants for grassroots organizations led by women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals that invest in leaders, infrastructure, and capacity building to promote systemic change through community-driven solutions. Awarded amounts of $25,000 in the 2024 cycle.
• Community Impact Grants Grants of $20,000 for organizations serving their communities through outstanding programs addressing social justice issues affecting women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals in Greater Boston.
• Momentum Grants Grants of $20,000 awarded in 2024 to grassroots organizations using culture, movement building, and community engagement to advance intersectional equity, including dance companies, peer-led health networks, and youth empowerment organizations.
• Youth-Centered Movement Building Grants Grants of $15,000 in 2024 awarded to grassroots organizations dedicated to championing the empowerment of Black women, girls, and other youth of color through movement building.
• Horizon Collective Leadership Program A free, six-month leadership development program for women and gender-expansive leaders of color in Greater Boston, offering in-person sessions, an overnight wellness retreat, liberatory leadership development, and an alumni network.
• GROWUP LeadHership Youth Programming A dual-approach youth program that funds community partners to lead youth programming while giving young people real grant- and decision-making power through an internal Youth Advisory Council. Affiliated with The National Philanthropic Collaborative of Young Women's Initiatives.
• Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change Research Report A research report developed in partnership with UMass Boston's Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy that documents how women and gender-expansive leaders of color navigate inequities while driving solutions in Greater Boston's grassroots landscape. Includes a downloadable report and technical appendix.
• Allocations Committee Participatory Grantmaking A community-powered grant review and selection process where diverse committee members assess applications, conduct research, and use a consensus model to select grant awardees, decentralizing power from foundations to the community.
• From Insight to Impact Webinar Series A five-part free community learning and action webinar series that explores how charitable giving shapes equity in Greater Boston, pairing research data from Carrying the Weight with insights from grassroots leaders.

Quantifiable outcome

• $8.4 million invested in 420+ grant awards since 1985
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at UMass BostoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024BWF partnered with UMass Boston's Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy (CWPPP) to produce the Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change research report. The partnership combined CWPPP's academic rigor with BWF's community expertise to document inequities facing women and gender-expansive grassroots leaders of color in Greater Boston. Research team included Director Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson and Research & Policy Director Christa Kelleher.
• Jessica K. Martin (Research Consultant)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Independent research consultant who partnered with BWF and UMass Boston to conduct the Carrying the Weight research, bridging quantitative analysis and qualitative insight to inform equitable grantmaking decision-making.
• ForbesminorOthers · 1 January 2024Forbes published an article featuring BWF's Carrying the Weight research, highlighting the hidden toll on communities and the costs of leadership for women of color grassroots leaders.
• Axios BostonminorOthers · 1 January 2024Axios Boston covered BWF's research findings showing less than 1% of Greater Boston nonprofit revenue helps women of color, amplifying awareness of funding inequities.
• WCVB CityLineminorOthers · 1 January 2024WCVB CityLine featured BWF CEO Natanja Craig Oquendo and researcher Jessica Martin discussing the Carrying the Weight report and supporting women and girls of color.
• CandidminorOthers · 1 January 2024Candid published an article on nonprofit burnout among women of color leaders, featuring BWF's Carrying the Weight research on structural inequities in philanthropy.
• The Boston FoundationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020The Boston Foundation originally housed and supported the Horizon Collective program (originally Women of Color Leadership Circle) from 2020-2021 alongside Angell Foundation, with facilitation by Interaction Institute for Social Change. BWF began leading the program in 2022 with continued Boston Foundation support. Boston Foundation leaders Andrea Madu and Stephanie Guidry co-conceived the program with BWF CEO Natanja Craig Oquendo.
• Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020IISC provided design and facilitation services for Horizon Collective, with team members Aba Taylor, Kelly Bates, and Talissa Lahaliyed shaping the program's liberatory leadership approach.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ms. Foundation for Women: National women's fund founded in 1973 that supports women and girls of color-led organizing through grantmaking and capacity building. Highly comparable mission and participatory grantmaking model, but operates nationally rather than regionally.

Others

• Women's Funding Network: Network of more than 100 women's funds and foundations globally, of which BWF is a member. Directly comparable as an umbrella peer representing the broader women's fund category BWF belongs to.
• Asian American Women's Political Initiative: Grantee partner of BWF focused on political leadership for AAPI women in Massachusetts. Comparable as a community-based organization receiving BWF funding, illustrative of the type of grassroots entity BWF supports.

Direct peers

• The Boston Foundation: Greater Boston's community foundation and a flagship funder of BWF's Horizon Collective. Comparable as a regional grantmaking entity serving the same geography, though with a broader programmatic scope beyond gender.
• New York Women's Foundation: City-level women's fund investing in grassroots organizations led by women and girls of color in New York City. Closely comparable in mission, grantmaking model, and target beneficiary communities, but operates in a larger urban market.
• Chicago Foundation for Women: Regional women's foundation investing in organizations advancing gender equity across the Chicago area. Directly comparable in scope, mission, and grantmaking approach, but serving a different metro market.
• Groundswell Fund: National fund that pools resources from donors and foundations to resource reproductive justice, LGBTQ, and women's of color-led organizing. Comparable in trust-based grantmaking and intersectional focus, though operating nationally and across multiple issue areas.
• Women's Foundation of Colorado: Statewide women's foundation funding gender equity work across Colorado. Comparable in mission and participatory grantmaking ethos, though focused on a different region.

Emerging players

• Proteus Fund: Philanthropic intermediary providing grants and fiscal sponsorship to progressive social justice movements including gender and racial justice initiatives. Comparable as a movement-supporting grantmaker with similar values, but broader thematic scope.
• Black Women's Blueprint: National organization mobilizing Black women and girls through organizing, advocacy, and culture change work. Comparable in target constituency (women and girls of color) and movement-building approach, though BWF is a funder rather than direct organizer.

Market position

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BosWomensFund
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@bostonwomensfund
• Facebookfacebook.com/bostonwomensfund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/boston-women's-fund
• Instagraminstagram.com/bostonwomensfund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Boston Women's Fund