On January 25th, Women for Women and our partners from UNC Asheville unveiled the 2018 Collaborative High Impact Grant during a meeting with past grantees and current 2017 grant applicants. Representatives from twenty-five nonprofits from communities throughout Western North Carolina attended the event, which was held at UNC Asheville.
Four years ago, WFW members discussed a pilot grant program that would have greater impact by promoting systemic change. Key components required were adequate funding plus resources and time to allow for the long-term success of a project. With that in mind, WFW decided to launch a Collaborative High Impact Grant (CHIG) of up to $450,000 to be used over a three-year period.
At the convening session, designers of CHIG described it as a working partnership among three or more organizations centered on facilitating safe living environments for women and girls. CHIG partnerships will create a vision and execute a program around a common goal related to one or more aspects of safe living environments. There will be shared responsibility, authority and accountability within the program. And lastly, the partnership's articulation of a shared vision will have the potential to push well past the boundaries of what could have been accomplished individually.
The 2018 grant application will be available to interested collaborations in July of 2017. Submissions must be made by early December with site visits taking place the first two months of 2018. WFW members will vote on applicant collaborations in April 2018. The selected partnership will be announced at the 2018 Power of the Purse®.