Feminist Club is a community-driven organization advancing women's leadership, founder pathways, and policy advocacy. This page is for foundation program officers, family-office advisors, and grant-making partners exploring our work.
We're at founding-cohort stage: actively building toward formal 501(c)(3) status via fiscal sponsorship, launching our first programs and convenings, and identifying foundation partners aligned with our theory of change.
Theory of change
We believe the existing infrastructure for women's professional advancement is fragmented, underfunded, and uneven in quality. Most women in the workforce never access the mentorship, peer networks, capital introductions, and policy advocacy that determine whether their careers compound. We're building durable, community-led infrastructure to close that gap.
Step 01
A network of women across founder, executive, advocacy, and senior operator roles, intentionally curated for cross-sector depth. Quality over scale: each member is invited or applies, every member knows the others.
Step 02
Live events designed for substance: founders dinners, leadership panels, policy convenings, mentorship circles. The structure makes the right connections happen — not by accident, but by design.
Step 03
From the community: board introductions, investor connections, hiring referrals, policy coalitions, mentorship matches. Outcomes that compound for individuals and shift the system over time.
Step 04
Outcomes documented openly: career progressions, capital raised by member founders, policy contributions, board seats secured. Public reporting builds the case for further investment and replication.
Programmatic priorities
Each program operates as both a community offering and a fundable initiative. Foundations partnering on any single pillar receive dedicated impact reporting, named acknowledgment in annual report, and program advisory input.
1:1 matched mentorship pairings between rising and senior women across industries. Sustained 6-month engagements. Outcome-tracked.
Community + capital-access program for women founders. Pitch events, investor introductions, peer founder circles.
Pipeline program for women under 25: workshops, scholarships, internship pathways, early-career mentorship. Designed for replicability.
Policy convening series: connects practitioners, lawmakers, legal advocates, and researchers on women's-rights legislation and coalition-building.
Foundation alignment matrix
Foundations that have publicly funded women's professional advancement, gender justice, or community-based advocacy at organizations of our stage.
| Foundation | Focus area | Avg grant | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pivotal VenturesMelinda French Gates | Women's power, workplace barriers, women in tech & AI | $1M+ | High |
| MacKenzie Scott / Yield Giving | Unrestricted grants to mission-aligned orgs | $1-25M | Long-term |
| Ford Foundation | Gender, racial & ethnic justice — international + US | $100K-5M | Medium |
| Tory Burch Foundation | Women entrepreneurs, fellowship + capital access | Fellowship cohort | High |
| Echoing Green | Social entrepreneur fellowship ($90K + community) | $90K stipend | High — apply |
| Goldman Sachs Foundation 10,000 Women + One Million Black Women | Women entrepreneurs, capital access globally | Program funded | Medium |
| W.K. Kellogg Foundation | Family equity, community-driven solutions | $100K-2M | Medium |
| Skoll Foundation | Scale social entrepreneurs (Skoll Award) | $1M (award) | Long-term |
| Tides Foundation | Progressive social movements + fiscal sponsorship | Variable | High — fiscal sponsor |
| Ms. Foundation for Women | Women's rights movement, grassroots organizing | $25-200K | Medium |
| The 116th Group | Women-led + women-focused fiscal sponsorship | Sponsored projects | High — fiscal sponsor |
| Players Philanthropy Fund | Fast-track fiscal sponsorship | Sponsored projects | High — start here |
Impact framework
Every program operates with a defined logic model. We measure inputs (resources deployed), outputs (programmatic activity), and outcomes (changes in members' lives). Each foundation partner receives quarterly progress reporting against agreed metrics.
Inputs
Foundation grants, sponsor partnerships, member fees, staff time, programmatic resources. All publicly reported annually with line-item transparency.
Outputs
Mentorship pairings completed, events hosted, founders trained, policy convenings facilitated, members onboarded. Tracked quarterly.
Outcomes
Career progressions documented, capital raised by member founders, board seats secured, policy contributions, peer-recognition outcomes.
Quarterly programmatic reports to all foundation partners. Annual public impact report. Independent program evaluation at year 3. Open financial transparency: Form 990 once 501(c)(3) status achieved; itemized financial statements during fiscal-sponsorship phase.
Foundation partners receive named program acknowledgment, advisory input on programmatic direction, and direct access to member case studies (with member consent).
We won't claim impact we haven't measured. We won't inflate participant counts. We won't include unverified testimonials. Where we're early-stage, we'll say so. Where outcomes haven't yet materialized, we'll report the lead indicators rather than fabricated lagging ones.
Foundations partnering with us at founding-stage participate in shaping the impact framework. The first program evaluations will be co-designed with partner program officers.
Why now
Corporate DEI departments are contracting. Internal women's-employee resource groups are being cut. The infrastructure that women relied on inside companies for community, mentorship, and advocacy is shrinking. External, independent infrastructure becomes essential — and field-aligned funders understand this shift.
Women's professional advancement now operates in a politically constrained environment. Career, policy, and personal navigation are deeply intertwined. Organizations that bridge professional development with rights advocacy meet a moment that single-function orgs cannot.
High-profile women's communities have failed in the last five years (Girlboss, The Wing, Refinery29's pivot). Funders are looking for the next institution that can sustain — built with operational rigor and honest stakeholder accountability.
A foundation grant at year-one is worth 10x what the same grant would be at year-five — because it enables the foundational hires, programmatic launches, and credibility-building that determine whether the organization survives to year-five at all. Founding-stage funding is high-leverage by design.
Organizational structure
Current legal structure: fiscal sponsorship in progress. Operating under a fiscal sponsor (501(c)(3) parent) until our own determination letter is issued. Eligible for tax-deductible donations through fiscal-sponsor channeling.
Governance
Founder-led during foundation phase. Advisory council of 5-7 senior women across founders, executives, and policy advocates being assembled. Formal board of directors constituted at 501(c)(3) graduation.
Financials
All foundation partners receive full financial transparency: balance sheet, P&L, programmatic-spend allocation. Public Form 990 once 501(c)(3) status achieved (target: month 9-12).
Operations
Founder-led operations during year 1. First hires (Head of Programs, Director of Partnerships) phased in based on revenue milestones, not pre-funded expansion.
For Foundation Partners
If you're a foundation program officer, family-office advisor, or grant-maker exploring women's-community infrastructure investments, we'd welcome a 30-minute conversation.
Email Grants Team Schedule a Call