Women's Fund of Hawai'i provides funding to organizations with programs that benefit women and girls specifically because in all of federal funding, they get less than 2%. We are working toward a day when all women and girls in Hawai‘i are safe, financially secure, and empowered to participate fully in their communities. 

While many women are doing well in Hawai‘i, far too many women and girls in our state are not. Inequity in Hawai'i is pervasive. Programs to help women and girls exist, but many such programs do not have sufficient funding. They, like the women and girls they serve, receive inequitable resources. This lack of funding for women's and girls' programs in not limited to Hawai‘i; throughout the country as a whole, it has been documented that programs serving women and girls receive less than 2 percent of all charitable giving in the US though they comprise 50 percent of the population.

Women's Fund of Hawai'i awards grants to organizations or programs that help the most vulnerable women and girls realize their potential; promote women’s financial security and girls’ strengths and leadership; address the factors that stand in the way of women’s success, including violence, adolescent pregnancy, low self-esteem, physical and mental health problems, substance abuse, prostitution, incarceration, immigrant status, homophobia, inadequate childcare, sports inequities, reproductive rights, poverty, disabilities and racism; build on the gifts, strengths and assets of women and girls; and promote their well-being.

When women thrive, families and communities prosper!

Grants Process

Women's Fund of Hawai‘i issues a Request for Proposal twice annually, in the Spring and Fall. Applications are accepted online via our web site for one month, after which they are thoroughly vetted by our Grants Committee. This Committee consists of women community members from a variety of backgrounds, including our Executive Director and Grants Chair (a WFH Board member); certain WFH Board members; women who work or have worked with non-profits and/or grantmaking and writing in Hawai‘i, nationally, and internationally; women who hold advanced degrees in public health and social work and law, just to name a few. Members rotate off the committee after four cycles. 

Community Support

Thanks to our many wonderful donors Women's Fund of Hawai‘i was thrilled and honored to provide more than $260,000 last year in grant funding to all of our islands.