Nonprofit Spotlight: Women First

Innovest is invested in our clients’ missions. We serve dozens of nonprofit clients by providing custom investment solutions, fiduciary guidance and uncommon stewardship so they can focus on doing what they do best. The Women First International Fund is best at empowering women and girls by investing in grassroots initiatives led by women and girls in developing economies. 

The unique grant making model of Women First is designed to support and partner with new and emerging women-led organizations in countries where gender inequities remain pervasive. Sustainable advances and success for these women depends on far more than money. Women First’s flexible funding, network building, and targeted capacity support strengthen partners’ organizations, as well as their programs and communities.

The protection of women and girls is especially important as COVID-19 continues to have a devastating impact around the world. While all of the repercussions of COVID-19 are still unknown, through 50 years of experience, Women First knows that grassroot organizations are always on the front lines of community responses to crises. Their grants help partners to quickly protect and prepare women and girls.  For example:

• Golden Women Vision in Uganda is producing liquid soap for their community, including for those unable to afford market prices. They are also growing food on their own land to combat acute hunger, which could affect 265 million people this year.

• WE-Trust in India is using their tailoring supplies to make masks for those most at risk and living in places where social distancing is impossible.

• Making a Difference (MAD) Sisters are going door-to-door in Kibera, Kenya, providing menstrual supplies and checking on adolescent girls who face rising tensions in the densely populated Nairobi slum. Serious, violent conditions are present in many homes.

To ensure that their grantees can respond to the needs of women around the world, the Women First Board of Directors has created a special COVID-19 Emergency Fund. For every dollar donated to the  Emergency Fund, Women First has committed to matching that gift dollar-for-dollar, making donations twice as powerful. To learn more about Women’s First and its COVID-19 emergency fund, please visit womenfirstfund.org.

Innovest prides itself on being stewards of our clients, professionals, and the world in which we live. To learn more about our stewardship mission, visit innovestinc.com.