Washington Women’s Foundation is thrilled to announce our five 2016 Pooled Fund Grant Award winners. After months of thorough research and careful deliberation, ballots were sent to all 500+ women members of the Foundation.

Scroll down to see the winners, and click here to see photos of yesterday’s event on Facebook.

2016 Pooled Fund Grant Award Winners

Terrain: $100,000 Grant Award in Arts & Culture
To enhance Spokane’s economic and cultural vitality by increasing its arts programming and opening new gallery and performing spaces that will benefit the region’s artists, musicians and performers. This is our first grant to a Spokane not-for-profit.

Team Read: $100,000 Grant Award in Education
To expand their summer reading program in order to combat the disproportionate impact of summer reading loss on minority and low-income students. Team Read also won a Pooled Fund Grant Award 10 years ago in 2006 – they are the second organization to win a second Pooled Fund Grant Award.

Washington Water Trust: $100,000 Grant Award in Environment
To build organizational capacity to effectively and rapidly respond to eminent water-related environmental threats, protect fish and wildlife in the Pacific Northwest and improve water flow and quality in Washington’s rivers.

Encompass Northwest: $100,000 Grant Award in Health
To improve health access by providing mobile, life-changing therapies for children and families in under-served rural areas as well as locations such as homeless shelters, transitional housing facilities, schools and community centers throughout East King County.

Coastal Harvest: $100,000 Grant Award in Human Services
To alleviate hunger and break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Southwest Washington by purchasing and maintaining a refrigerated truck ready to deliver fresh food donations to food banks.

 

 2016 Merit Award Winners

Washington Women’s Foundation presents a $2,000 Merit Award to each of our other five finalist organizations in appreciation of the time, effort and goodwill they invested in our rigorous grant making process. This year’s Merit Award Winners are:

Intiman Theatre: To close the opportunity gap for diverse actors, directors and writers, including women and artists of color, by providing training and ongoing professional development to up-and-coming artists who contribute nontraditional viewpoints to the cultural capital of King County.

 

Para Los Niños de Highline: To support and expand learning programs designed by and for Latino families in order to increase Latino students’ academic success in the Highline School District.

 

 

 

Puget Sound Sage: To increase the leadership of low-income people and people of color, who disproportionately suffer environmental hazards and pollution, in the climate movement and achieve policy wins for equitable carbon mitigation and adaptation strategies.

 

 

Seattle Children’s Hospital and Research Foundation: To support the Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, a collaboration of experts in injury prevention, safety, adolescent medicine, mental health, social media and public health who are dedicated to reducing children’s deaths by gun violence through outreach and research.

 

 

Northwest Justice Project: To combat rampant workplace sexual violence, secure justice for survivors of sexual harassment and create safer conditions for more than 28,000 farmworker women in Washington’s agricultural industry.

 

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Through our groundbreaking model of women-powered, collective philanthropy, Washington Women’s Foundation has awarded $16 million in transformational grants that have enabled not-for-profit organizations to improve lives, protect the environment, advance health and education and increase access to the arts throughout Washington state.

All women are invited to join our strong and inclusive collective of informed women influencing community transformation. The challenges ahead of us are never as great as the power behind us. www.wawomensfdn.org