Join the INWF
The INWF has two membership levels: Partners and Associates. Each Level has a set of Responsibilities. Find out more about the Membership Fees and Application Guidelines.
Criteria for Full Partners:
Full Partners
- Members should be independent women’s funds whose primary function is to give away funds to women’s organizations. Women’s rights groups, non-governmental organizations, or grassroots advocacy groups are not eligible for membership.
- By independence we mean the fund does not have to follow the politics of any given religious entity, political party or national, local, or state government.
- It does not rely on any one source of funding for its existence, whether national government, one donor, political party, etc. It has the ability to say no to certain sources of money, yet it has enough money to carry out its vision and work.
- By women’s fund we mean – an entity that distributes money through grants and/or loans to recipients that may include non-governmental organizations, women’s groups, and individuals, to support the advancement of women’s human rights and the improvement in the status and well being of women and girls.
- Membership is open to funds that are led by women. Funds must be governed by an independent Board of Trustees or Directors, of which a majority is women.
- Members are required to have been in existence for at least two years, to be legally registered as a women’s fund, and have given away grants for at least one full year before they are eligible for full membership.
- Members may be based in either the industrialized world (the global North), or in developing countries (the global South), or in countries in transition (former socialist countries).
- Member funds based in the industrialized world are required to allocate a significant amount of their annual funding to women’s organizations in the South or in the countries of transition to be eligible for membership in the network. Funds based in the global South or in the countries in transition are eligible for membership by demonstrating a commitment to funding in their own regions, but are not required to fund across countries, or to fund in the global North.
- Members should demonstrate autonomy in terms of their own program direction and vision. Members should also promote the autonomy and independence of the women’s groups that they fund.
- Members are organizations that raise funds to support their own operations and their grantmaking activities.
Young Partners:
- Emerging women’s funds in either the Global North or South may apply to be Young Partner members of the network by demonstrating an intent to create or establish an independent women’s fund that aspire to meet the criteria described above.
- Associate Members may be peer organizations with an interest in women’s philanthropy, donors, or individuals with a strong interest in the mission of the network to promote women’s philanthropy.
- Associate Members will be able to participate in annual meetings of the network and may request to be included in the membership listserve that serves as a forum and discussion group for members.
- Associate members may not vote on decisions regarding governance issues for the network and will not be represented on the Executive Committee of the Network.
- Associate Members may apply to visit with or intern at full member funds as part of their learning experience. It is up to the discretion of the member fund to accept and arrange such applications.
Members’ Services:
INWF members — use our chat room to network with other members:
- Open your Internet connection and go to this website: http://www.chat9.oli.us/inwf/
- You will see the welcoming message and our logo.
- Type your username and password given to you by the coordinator, and then click the “Login” button.
- You will be taken to another page where you will be greeted and asked for the following information:
- * Name: Your name is already there.
- * Email: We suggest that you DON’T type in your address in order to avoid spam email.
- * Choose a color.
- * Choose the Web browser you are currently using (Explorer, Netscape, etc).
- To start ‘chatting’, write a message in last box that says: Message: ________
When finished typing, click the send button or hit “enter” or “return” in your keyboard.
NOTE: You will only be able to see the last words you are typing. When you hit send, the whole message will appear on the screen.
The other buttons that you have available are:
- * Log: A new window will appear containing all the messages saved by the chat room. How long messages are saved is determined by the chat room owner when they order the room.
- * Occupants: A new window will appear containing all the current chat room occupants, listing the names of people who are also logged into the chat room.
- * Log off: Be sure to click this when you are finished chatting. It tells everyone in the room you’re leaving and removes you from the Occupants window.
If at some point you want to send a message to only someone of the group, write her name on the box that says Private message to:________________ and type the message.
Only she will see the message.
Make sure you go back to ALL when want to send a message to all of us.
