Background
Building on what we’ve learned through previous grantmaking initiatives, such as WAGES & the WFCO Relief Fund and insights from partners across the state, WFCO launched WINcome in 2021, a program designed to address the economic realities of women in Colorado.
Through grant investments and partnerships, WINcome demonstrates that individuals can advance economically when they are trusted to make their own decisions about what they & their families need. WINcome provides grantee partners with unrestricted funding of up to 50% of the grant and funds that will be dedicated to providing flexible cash assistance. WINcome grants also advance systemic changes that support gender, racial, & economic equity for Colorado women and families.
- Read the Year One WINcome Evaluation & Learning: Process & Impact Report
Why flexible cash assistance?
Across the country and around the world, there is renewed interest in direct cash assistance, a proven anti-poverty strategy with a long history rooted in communities of color, that means giving money to those who need it most and trusting individuals to spend it as they choose. Nonprofits and governments have seen remarkable outcomes among recipients of monthly cash assistance payments. WFCO has witnessed through our own work that cash assistance is a successful way to directly support economic security for individuals and communities.
WINcome: Women + Income = Women Thriving
Meet the women advancing economically with the help of our grantee partner, Posada
Posada of Pueblo is a WINcome grantee partner that is moving women forward faster with flexible cash assistance and affordable housing support.
Grantmaking cycle
Funding opportunities are currently closed. WFCO partners with WINcome grantees for three years, with the first annual grants made in late 2021 and yearly renewals for up to three years of funding through 2024.
| FROM THE BLOG |
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| Women + Income = WINcome |
| WFCO announces WINcome, a new grantmaking program that promotes gender, racial, and economic equity through flexible and holistic resources such as cash assistance |
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WFCO Announces 19 WINcome Grantees
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| The Women’s Foundation of Colorado selected 19 grantee partners through our new community-informed grantmaking strategy, WINcome. |
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Read Now
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About WINcome grantees
Through WINcome, WFCO partners with organizations that serve women, including trans women, intersex women, and non-trans women, and nonbinary people who are seeking support, including those:
- experiencing poverty,
- facing barriers to economic opportunity and security,
- experiencing historic and systemic marginalization on the basis of their gender and additional intersection of identity, including race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, sexuality, gender identity, gender expression, religion, or ability; or
- who are survivors of domestic violence or intimate partner abuse.
Our 19 grantee partners:
- Provide direct or flexible cash assistance to women experiencing poverty or facing barriers to economic security, to supplement their incomes and complement the services received through partners’ programs.
- Improve access to flexible and holistic resources, partners may offer support securing resources such as:
- Jobs with pay and benefits that satisfy basic needs, close the gender and racial income gap, and support economic security;
- Education and training, and ongoing opportunities to upskill and reskill;
- Money and resources to start and grow businesses;
- Childcare and other caregiver support;
- Support for basic human needs, such as food, housing, health care, and transportation.
- Support public policy and systems changes to improve access to and increase public investment in flexible resources and holistic supports that foster economic opportunity, security, and equity.
- Demonstrate that individuals can advance economically when they are trusted to make their own decisions about what they and their families need.
Meet Our Grantees
WINcome Direct-Service Grantees
- Action is Safer/Western Colorado Alliance, serving Mesa and 22 surrounding counties
- Alianza NORCO, serving Larimer and Weld counties
- Center for Community Wealth Building, serving Adams, Arapahoe, and Denver counties
- Centro de la Familia, serving El Paso and Teller counties
- Center for Work Education and Employment (CWEE), serving Arapahoe and Denver counties
- Collaborative Healing Initiative Within Communities (CHIC), serving Denver and Arapahoe counties
- Denver Indian Family Resource Center (DIFRC), serving Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Jefferson, and Weld counties
- Domestic Violence Initiative for Women with Disabilities (The Initiative), serving Denver County
- Full Circle of Lake County, serving Lake County
- OneMorgan County, serving Morgan County
- Posada, serving Pueblo County
- The Gathering Place, serving Denver County
- The Senior Hub, serving Adams and Arapahoe counties
WINcome Public Policy Grantees
"This grant has given us the opportunity to financially incentivize and financially support clients who are actively working towards improving the wellbeing of themselves and their families by establishing a family goal plan and participating in monthly check-ins with staff. It is beneficial to us and the clients to have funds that can be used towards addressing the barriers that families face in achieving their goals and that can be directed by families themselves the way their family goals are."
- Full Circle of Lake County, WINcome Grantee Partners
WINcome Frequently Asked Questions
Read Our FAQs