Black Women
Impact Grants

Black Women Impact Grants is a $10 million grant program with an open call application process for Black women-led charitable nonprofits. 50 organizations. Seven impact areas. One ambitious goal.       

The Need

Those who are closest to the needs are closest to the solutions.

We heard you. Through over 50 listening sessions and feedback from nearly 20,000 Black women across the country, we heard that Black women-led and Black women-serving nonprofits need:

  • Access to trust-based, general operating funding
  • Multi-year commitments to meaningfully plan, build, and implement their work
  • Access to visible sponsorship and validation from institutions across sectors 


The Opportunity

Funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation, Black Women Impact (BWI) Grants will support community-driven charitable nonprofit organizations created by and for Black women and girls. As part of the One Million Black Women initiative, our goal is to positively impact the lives of at least one million Black women by 2030.

50 Black women-led organizations will receive general operating funding ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 over two years.

 


Applications to Black Women Impact Grants are now closed.

What You Need to Know

Who Can Apply

To be eligible, applicants must have:

  • Tax exempt status as a U.S. public charity under Section 501(c)(3)
  • Average annual operating budget between $250,000 - $1 million
  • Black women in positions of organizational and/or programmatic leadership
  • Clear focus on serving Black women and girls
  • Alignment to at least one of the One Million Black Women seven impact areas:

 

 

How It Works

1. Open Call: All eligible applicants must submit their initial application by March 11, 2022 at 11:59pm EST

2. Callback: Select applicants will be invited to complete the full application in April 2022 

3. Final Selection: Award decisions will be made by the Goldman Sachs Foundation in June 2022 and awardees will be notified ahead of a public announcement.  

For more information, please refer to the FAQs.

 

What One Million Black Women Is Looking For

To select which organizations will be invited to Round 2 of the application process, submissions will be reviewed and scored on the following criteria:

  • Impact Area Alignment: How closely the organization’s mission, goals, activities, initiatives, and/or programs align with one or more of the One Million Black Women impact areas
  • Black Women Leadership: How deeply the organization demonstrates and centers the leadership of Black women across the board of directors level, the executive level, the program level, and beyond
  • Integration of the Perspectives of Black Women and Girls: How much the organization seeks to understand and integrate the perspectives of Black women and girls into its work
  • Focus on Black Women and Girls: How intentionally the organization focuses its resources towards supporting Black women and girls 

FAQs

Why Black women?
Black women are foundational to their families, communities, and the US economy. And yet they are under resourced, underpaid, and underfunded. With a 20-year history of investing in Black communities, we’ve seen firsthand how access to capital and tools for Black women and their communities can help level the playing field. Goldman Sachs research has shown that one of the fastest ways to accelerate change and effectively begin to address the racial wealth gap is to listen to and invest in Black women.

Launched in partnership with Black women-led organizations, One Million Black Women is a $10 billion commitment to narrow opportunity gaps for Black women in the United States at key moments in their lives – from birth to school, career to retirement, home ownership and everything in between.

Are fiscally sponsored organizations/projects eligible to apply?
Yes, fiscally sponsored projects of 501(c)(3) pubic charities are eligible to apply. If your organization/project is fiscally sponsored, please make sure that your application includes the average annual revenue and expenditures of your project, not your fiscal sponsorship organization.

Can organizations located outside of the United States apply?
Only 501(c)(3) public charity organizations (and not, for example, private foundations) that are incorporated or organized in the United States or its territories are eligible at this time.

Why is there an eligibility requirement related to operating budget?
Eligible organizations must have an average annual operating budget size (i.e., total annual expenditures), from the last five years or since inception (whichever is shorter), between $250,000 to $1 million. This is because we are focused on making meaningful two-year grants to help accelerate the growth of smaller scale, high-potential organizations. The determination of the size of the final grant awards will be informed by the size of the organization’s budget.  

We are asking for a multi-year average to ensure we’re including applicants who may have experienced one-time or short-term influxes of funding.

Am I eligible to apply if my organization’s budget is outside of the operating budget range, but a program within my organization is within the operating budget criterion?
The annual operating budget range between $250,000 and $1 million is a firm requirement to be eligible for a grant through this program. BWI Grants are intended to provide general operating funding for a 501(c)(3) organization as a whole with an annual operating budget between $250,000 and $1 million, rather than individual programs and we will be evaluating organizational budgets and not programmatic budgets. 

Do you prefer a specific non-profit service type when considering applicants?
We welcome submissions from any 501(c)(3) public charity organizations that meet the general criteria. Funding is intended to be unrestricted general support to be utilized in the grantee’s overall work and cannot be used for any non-charitable or lobbying purposes or political campaign interventions.

Can organizations submit more than one application?
No, organizations may only submit one initial application during the Open Call. If invited, organizations may only submit one full application during the Callback stage as well.

When will grants be awarded?
All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their initial and full application in accordance with the timeline above. Awardees will be notified of grant decisions in June 2022, and the Goldman Sachs Foundation will publicly announce awardees shortly thereafter. 

What if I can’t submit my application by the stated deadlines?
Unfortunately, extensions to deadlines will not be considered.

Can I seek feedback on my application before I submit it?
We are committed to an unbiased grant-selection process. Therefore, we are unable to provide feedback on specific materials or ideas prior to submission. However, for general questions regarding the eligibility, guidelines, and process of BWI Grants, please email ombw@gs.com.

How will grant-making decisions be made?
A team of trained grant readers and program experts will review the applications submitted in the Open Call stage.  Applications from the Callback stage will be reviewed by a committee of program experts, third-party community leaders, as well as One Million Black Women Advisory Council members. Final grantee selections will be presented to the Goldman Sachs Foundation for final approval. 

Still have questions?
No problem. Any questions about BWI Grants can be directed to ombw@gs.com and we will respond as soon as possible.

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