Since our establishment, the Women's Fund has donated over $2.1 million to local nonprofits as part of our ongoing commitment to the annual grants cycle.
The Women's Fund of Blue Ridge is dedicated to supporting non-profit and community-based organizations that implement projects benefiting women and girls in Ashe, Avery, and Watauga Counties. Through our annual grants cycle, we distribute proceeds from our special events and operating funds to these qualifying organizations.
Programs
The WFBR believes that all women and girls have the right to equality, safety, opportunity, and self-determination in every aspect of their lives. We recognize our role as a leader in the community by working to achieve these principles through grantmaking.
Typically, grant awards range from $1,500 – $15,000.
Proposals must meet a local need related to one or more of the WFBR Focus Areas below:
Education
Human Services
Health and Wellness
Empowerment
How to Apply
Women's Fund of the Blue Ridge Grants
Who is Eligible?
Any 501(c)3 organization or government entity which provides program or services that benefit women and girls who live in Ashe, Avery or Watauga Counties.
Special Consideration is given to proposals which demonstrate collaboration with other non-profits and long-term sustainability.
The Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge will not consider requests from any organization or government entity that discriminates on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation or gender in any of its activities or operations.
The Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge (WFBR) makes grants in accordance with the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the Fund, that do not jeopardize the Foundation’s status as a tax exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3).
Therefore, the WFBR does not make grants to:
- Political organizations, partisan organization or those supporting specific candidates or legislation.
- Religious organizations (churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship), or other organizations primarily promoting religious purposes.
Other faith-based, community service organizations may be considered eligible if their programs:
- Are open to all individuals in the community regardless of religious belief;
- Serve a secular purpose, such as a food pantry, homeless shelter, or an education program;
- Do not require participation in prayer, worship, or other religious activities as a condition of receiving service(s) offered; and
- Do not use the individual donation or resulting match for religious purposes.
Background and Purpose:
Each year the WFBR distributes proceeds from our special events and operating funds to non- profit, community-based organizations, that develop and implement projects benefiting women and girls living in Ashe, Avery and Watauga Counties. Typically, grant awards range from $1,500 – $15,000.
Multi-year grants are not available. Grant funds are intended to be used in the year awarded and cannot be applied to more than 25% of the operating expenses for the program being funded.
From year to year, we do not know how much we will have for grants and there are times when we are not able to fund all applications. There is also no guarantee that receipt of funding one year, will result in future funding.
Grant Timeline
Grant Timeline and Application Guidelines
- Final reports for the 2023 grant cycle are due by 5:00 p.m. Friday, October 6, 2023.
- The 2024 grant application availability window is Monday, September 18, 2023, through Friday, October 13, 2023. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
- One copy of the application form must be submitted in the required format via email to [email protected]. One additional copy of the application, including all required attachments, should be mailed or hand-delivered to the WFBR by the deadline.
- The Committee will review applications from October 19, 2023, through November 8, 2023. The WFBR may have to offer funding in a different amount than requested.
- Applicants will be notified in late November 2023. The decisions of the Committee are final.
- Grant funding will be awarded before the end of the year. There will be an awards reception (date TBA).
- Grants will also be published in an email newsletter, on the WFBR website, and communicated by email to the membership.
2023 Grantees
ASHE FOOD PANTRY $15,000 for Operation Backpack. Weekend backpacks filled with healthy food for female students at Ashe County Middle School, Mountain View Elementary, Westwood Elementary and the Ashe County Early Learning Center.
BACK2SCHOOL $10,000 for B2S Festival. Providing female students in Watauga County with supplies they need for the school year. In addition, funds will be used to provide appropriate and properly fitting shoes for children who need them.
BLOWING ROCK C.A.R.E.S. $5,000 for Fresh Produce Project. Working in collaboration with High Country Food Hub, funds will provide high quality fresh produce to women and girls in need for 5 more months.
BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE $10,000 for Double Up Food Bucks program at 4 local farmers’ markets. These provide a 1:1 match for those using federal nutrition benefits, W.I.C. Farmers’ Market Vouchers, and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers.
CASTING BREAD $8,400 for the Wellness Wednesdays program to teach women and their children about nutrition, food usage, etc., and for healthy food acquisition, as the organization transitions away from Second Harvest/Feeding America.
CASTING FOR HOPE (new) $12,500 for Here for You Program. Focusing on women with gynecological cancer and their caregivers. Funds will be used to provide gas cards to patients struggling to afford transportation to and from treatment and work, to reduce food and housing insecurity by providing both grocery store gift cards and by assuming full or partial rent or mortgage payments, and to reduce medical debt/providing for continued medical care.
CHILDREN’S COUNCIL $13,500 for Family Support and Education Programs (Moms for Moms, Mothers Connect, and Teen Parenting Group). Services include home visiting programs, adolescent parenting program, parent education classes, free diaper bank, support group for mothers, etc.
COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC $10,000 for Making Smiles Program. In partnership with Stephen Airey, DDS, provides reduced cost dental care for women who are referred from the Clinic. They have served 512 patients from Watauga, Ashe and Avery Counties, 84 of whom are diagnosed with diabetes.
COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC $5,000 for Vision Program. In partnership with Western Carolina Eye Associates, provides reduced cost vision care and one gratis appointment each month for women who are referred from the Clinic.
GIRLS ON THE RUN $2,750 for scholarships. Reduced or free participation fees for this program, intended to empower young girls in the community to recognize and activate their limitless potential.
HIGH COUNTRY CAREGIVERS $12,500 for kinship care. Program serves young women under the age of eighteen who are being raised by their grandparents as a result of their parents’ substance abuse. The youth served are taken into the custody of the Department of Social Services before being placed in kinship care (usually single grandmothers) to avoid placement in the foster system.
HOSPITALITY HOUSE $7,500 for Emergency Shelter. Female households experiencing poverty, trauma, and economic distress often find themselves either living with an abuser, on the streets, in cars, or doubling up with friends or family in overcrowded households. Hospitality House is dedicated to providing critical services for women and girls experiencing homelessness or poverty-related crises.
HOSPITALITY HOUSE $7,500 for WeCan Program. Financial assistance provided during winter months helps keep women and girls warm as well as housed, greatly limiting the number of individuals that need Emergency Shelter services. Hospitality House continues to see a need for heating oil and electricity payments during the coldest months of the year. The stability provided by this program allows women to keep their jobs and families intact without going through the traumatic experience of homelessness.
HUNGER & HEALTH $15,000 for Food is Medicine Program. H&H is the largest purchaser of local produce in the entire High Country, helping to feed the hungry in the community. This produce serves clients at their main site, as well as the Mobile Delivery clients and the children utilizing the Backpack Program. Working in conjunction with their no-cost medications services further supports clients in investing in their health and preventing or managing diet-linked diseases.
MOUNTAIN ALLIANCE $7,000 for LIFT Program. Support to enable female teens to participate in the Leadership Development Program and the School’s Out program, as well as the Leadership Initiative for Female Teens (LIFT) program. These three programs take place throughout the year in both Watauga and Avery counties. LIFT is an empowerment program that enables young women to push their boundaries in a welcoming, girl-supportive, fear-sensitive, ridicule-free environment.
NEW OPPORTUNITY SCHOOL FOR WOMEN $10,000 for Summer Program. Support for a 3-week residential program for women seeking to advance their education, improve their job readiness and enhance their feelings of self-worth. Located on the campus of Lees-McRae College NOSW addresses the needs of women as they seek to escape poverty and possible abuse which has been a barrier to success.
OASIS $15,000 for Emergency Shelter. The purpose of the free and confidential shelter is to provide an immediate safe place for women as they work towards a better life after abuse. OASIS does this by providing free emergency shelter up to 90 days, the opportunity for transitional or permanent housing, crisis intervention counseling, and case management support services. While in shelter, women and their children have access to a fully stocked kitchen that provides three free meals a day, over the counter medications, personal care items, and clothing.
PARTNERSHIP OF ASHE $6,000 for A Safe Home for Everyone (ASHE). Helps assist women as they transition from emergency housing into a home where they will have the necessary items to live comfortably and no longer be homeless.
PISGAH LEGAL $15,000 for Legal Services. Assists Avery County residents who have experienced a problem in the past year for which civil legal aid can provide a solution. In 2020, Pisgah Legal Services began offering its full range of legal services to help low-income people in Avery County address their issues and meet their basic needs. Seventy-five percent of Pisgah Legal Services’ clients are women, and the majority of the clients we serve are escaping domestic violence or solving other family-related crises.
RAM $7,500 for Emergency Special Needs. To expand the existing Emergency Special Needs Fund to specifically assist women facing a critical situation to re-establish their lives. This emergency fund will support women and their children in need who may be fleeing from domestic violence, are recently divorced or widowed, single moms, have suddenly lost employment, or face other circumstances causing them to be displaced or otherwise in crisis.
SAFE HARBOR (new) $15,000 for High Country Day Center with transportation from Hospitality House. Serving women who face challenges due to substance use, contact with the justice system, and housing instability. They seek funding for the establishment of a new recovery center in Boone. There, they can provide their full range of community-based groups, classes, and one-on-one service at no cost to clients.
THE MOTHER BOARD (new) $1,500 for the Giving Closet. This organization has secured a small building in which to house new and donated items for mothers and children. Funding is needed to purchase bins, racks, shelving and signage. This grass-roots group has grown from its start on social media to a non-profit which assists women at vulnerable times with meals, clothes, diapers, etc. at no cost to them.
WAMY $15,000 for Housing Repairs. Funding to provide housing repairs is a priority for women in need, many of whom are elderly and living alone. Repair needs include insulation and air sealing, roof repairs, plumbing or water issues, wells or septic tanks, windows, porch repairs, and ramps/adaptive modifications.
WATAUGA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY $7,500 for building materials for the Winebarger Family Home. They currently rent a three-bedroom, one bathroom house. The house is not only too small, it’s also unsafe and in need of extensive repairs. This will be the 33rd home built for individuals and families in the High Country.
WESTERN YOUTH NETWORK $15,000 for Programs for children experiencing trauma. Funding is sought to increase the numbers of youth from low-income families enrolled in the mentoring, after school and summer programs. This means that more children will have access to the safe environments, supportive adults, and resilience-building skills they need to overcome their backgrounds of adversity and achieve their full potential.
The Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge also granted $11,000 to 3 area food banks in the winter of 2022. The High Country community added $5,000 to the food drive campaign by giving during our challenge grant opportunities.
2023 Grantees
ASHE FOOD PANTRY $15,000 for Operation Backpack. Weekend backpacks filled with healthy food for female students at Ashe County Middle School, Mountain View Elementary, Westwood Elementary and the Ashe County Early Learning Center.
BACK2SCHOOL $10,000 for B2S Festival. Providing female students in Watauga County with supplies they need for the school year. In addition, funds will be used to provide appropriate and properly fitting shoes for children who need them.
BLOWING ROCK C.A.R.E.S. $5,000 for Fresh Produce Project. Working in collaboration with High Country Food Hub, funds will provide high quality fresh produce to women and girls in need for 5 more months.
BLUE RIDGE WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE $10,000 for Double Up Food Bucks program at 4 local farmers’ markets. These provide a 1:1 match for those using federal nutrition benefits, W.I.C. Farmers’ Market Vouchers, and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program vouchers.
CASTING BREAD $8,400 for the Wellness Wednesdays program to teach women and their children about nutrition, food usage, etc., and for healthy food acquisition, as the organization transitions away from Second Harvest/Feeding America.
CASTING FOR HOPE (new) $12,500 for Here for You Program. Focusing on women with gynecological cancer and their caregivers. Funds will be used to provide gas cards to patients struggling to afford transportation to and from treatment and work, to reduce food and housing insecurity by providing both grocery store gift cards and by assuming full or partial rent or mortgage payments, and to reduce medical debt/providing for continued medical care.
CHILDREN’S COUNCIL $13,500 for Family Support and Education Programs (Moms for Moms, Mothers Connect, and Teen Parenting Group). Services include home visiting programs, adolescent parenting program, parent education classes, free diaper bank, support group for mothers, etc.
COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC $10,000 for Making Smiles Program. In partnership with Stephen Airey, DDS, provides reduced cost dental care for women who are referred from the Clinic. They have served 512 patients from Watauga, Ashe and Avery Counties, 84 of whom are diagnosed with diabetes.
COMMUNITY CARE CLINIC $5,000 for Vision Program. In partnership with Western Carolina Eye Associates, provides reduced cost vision care and one gratis appointment each month for women who are referred from the Clinic.
GIRLS ON THE RUN $2,750 for scholarships. Reduced or free participation fees for this program, intended to empower young girls in the community to recognize and activate their limitless potential.
HIGH COUNTRY CAREGIVERS $12,500 for kinship care. Program serves young women under the age of eighteen who are being raised by their grandparents as a result of their parents’ substance abuse. The youth served are taken into the custody of the Department of Social Services before being placed in kinship care (usually single grandmothers) to avoid placement in the foster system.
HOSPITALITY HOUSE $7,500 for Emergency Shelter. Female households experiencing poverty, trauma, and economic distress often find themselves either living with an abuser, on the streets, in cars, or doubling up with friends or family in overcrowded households. Hospitality House is dedicated to providing critical services for women and girls experiencing homelessness or poverty-related crises.
HOSPITALITY HOUSE $7,500 for WeCan Program. Financial assistance provided during winter months helps keep women and girls warm as well as housed, greatly limiting the number of individuals that need Emergency Shelter services. Hospitality House continues to see a need for heating oil and electricity payments during the coldest months of the year. The stability provided by this program allows women to keep their jobs and families intact without going through the traumatic experience of homelessness.
HUNGER & HEALTH $15,000 for Food is Medicine Program. H&H is the largest purchaser of local produce in the entire High Country, helping to feed the hungry in the community. This produce serves clients at their main site, as well as the Mobile Delivery clients and the children utilizing the Backpack Program. Working in conjunction with their no-cost medications services further supports clients in investing in their health and preventing or managing diet-linked diseases.
MOUNTAIN ALLIANCE $7,000 for LIFT Program. Support to enable female teens to participate in the Leadership Development Program and the School’s Out program, as well as the Leadership Initiative for Female Teens (LIFT) program. These three programs take place throughout the year in both Watauga and Avery counties. LIFT is an empowerment program that enables young women to push their boundaries in a welcoming, girl-supportive, fear-sensitive, ridicule-free environment.
NEW OPPORTUNITY SCHOOL FOR WOMEN $10,000 for Summer Program. Support for a 3-week residential program for women seeking to advance their education, improve their job readiness and enhance their feelings of self-worth. Located on the campus of Lees-McRae College NOSW addresses the needs of women as they seek to escape poverty and possible abuse which has been a barrier to success.
OASIS $15,000 for Emergency Shelter. The purpose of the free and confidential shelter is to provide an immediate safe place for women as they work towards a better life after abuse. OASIS does this by providing free emergency shelter up to 90 days, the opportunity for transitional or permanent housing, crisis intervention counseling, and case management support services. While in shelter, women and their children have access to a fully stocked kitchen that provides three free meals a day, over the counter medications, personal care items, and clothing.
PARTNERSHIP OF ASHE $6,000 for A Safe Home for Everyone (ASHE). Helps assist women as they transition from emergency housing into a home where they will have the necessary items to live comfortably and no longer be homeless.
PISGAH LEGAL $15,000 for Legal Services. Assists Avery County residents who have experienced a problem in the past year for which civil legal aid can provide a solution. In 2020, Pisgah Legal Services began offering its full range of legal services to help low-income people in Avery County address their issues and meet their basic needs. Seventy-five percent of Pisgah Legal Services’ clients are women, and the majority of the clients we serve are escaping domestic violence or solving other family-related crises.
RAM $7,500 for Emergency Special Needs. To expand the existing Emergency Special Needs Fund to specifically assist women facing a critical situation to re-establish their lives. This emergency fund will support women and their children in need who may be fleeing from domestic violence, are recently divorced or widowed, single moms, have suddenly lost employment, or face other circumstances causing them to be displaced or otherwise in crisis.
SAFE HARBOR (new) $15,000 for High Country Day Center with transportation from Hospitality House. Serving women who face challenges due to substance use, contact with the justice system, and housing instability. They seek funding for the establishment of a new recovery center in Boone. There, they can provide their full range of community-based groups, classes, and one-on-one service at no cost to clients.
THE MOTHER BOARD (new) $1,500 for the Giving Closet. This organization has secured a small building in which to house new and donated items for mothers and children. Funding is needed to purchase bins, racks, shelving and signage. This grass-roots group has grown from its start on social media to a non-profit which assists women at vulnerable times with meals, clothes, diapers, etc. at no cost to them.
WAMY $15,000 for Housing Repairs. Funding to provide housing repairs is a priority for women in need, many of whom are elderly and living alone. Repair needs include insulation and air sealing, roof repairs, plumbing or water issues, wells or septic tanks, windows, porch repairs, and ramps/adaptive modifications.
WATAUGA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY $7,500 for building materials for the Winebarger Family Home. They currently rent a three-bedroom, one bathroom house. The house is not only too small, it’s also unsafe and in need of extensive repairs. This will be the 33rd home built for individuals and families in the High Country.
WESTERN YOUTH NETWORK $15,000 for Programs for children experiencing trauma. Funding is sought to increase the numbers of youth from low-income families enrolled in the mentoring, after school and summer programs. This means that more children will have access to the safe environments, supportive adults, and resilience-building skills they need to overcome their backgrounds of adversity and achieve their full potential.