About Women’s Foundation
The Women’s Foundation California is a statewide, publicly supported foundation dedicated to achieving racial, economic, and gender justice by centering the experience and expertise of communities most impacted by systemic injustice. Our vision is to build a feminist future for California.
Our Mission
We work to invest in, train, and connect community leaders to advance gender, racial, and economic justice. We do this by providing grants to community-led organizations, training community leaders through the Solís Policy Institute, and fostering a community of advocates, donors, policymakers, grantmakers, academics and many others through convenings to share knowledge and strengthen the social justice movement in California.
What Makes Us Different?
Unlike private foundations, which are endowed with funds from a family’s wealth or corporate earnings, community foundations like Women’s Foundation California gather their financial contributions from the public — from individuals, families, and businesses who want to support social change.
Learn more about our work by browsing through this website, sign up for our email alerts, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, and if possible, make a donation. By making a tax-deductible charitable donation to The Women’s Foundation of California, you join many others who are dedicated to our mission of shaping a just and equitable California.
OUR HISTORY
Since our founding in 1979, our work at Women’s Foundation California has evolved and expanded. In 2019 we celebrated our 40th Anniversary and reflected back on where we’ve been as we push towards what’s next.
Eighties
Where it all began
Nineties
An era of experimentation and expansion
Oughts
Coming together to build something greater
Teens
Standing strong and moving forward
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that Women’s Foundation California exists on the occupied territory of over 100 tribes. This land has been stewarded by Indigenous people since time immemorial.
Women’s Foundation California does our work on the unceded land of the Lisjan Ohlone people and the land of hundreds of other Indigenous tribes up and down the state of California, like The Nisenan in Northern California, and The Chumash along the California coast. Rooted in this history and the present, we recognize the atrocities committed against Indigenous tribes and the pillaging of land of which we are now the inadvertent and troubled beneficiaries. As such, we are committed to acknowledgement and action that supports reciprocity and the restoration of the right relationship between land, people, and power.
As a public foundation, we have a long history of investing in Indigenous-led organizations like Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, IllumiNative, Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition, and Friendship House Association of American Indians, to name a few. As an organization working on stolen land, it is our responsibility to acknowledge our privilege and our ability to be accountable. Starting in 2022, we are committing to pay a yearly Shuumi Land Tax to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust as a part of our continued work to support efforts of rematriation and returning Indigenous land to Indigenous hands.
A Few Words
While we know ourselves as Women’s Foundation California, our experience and understanding of gender extends beyond a reductive binary.
Our community is made up of cisgender and transgender women, genderqueer, gender-variant and non-binary individuals, and trans men. Our Women’s Foundation California grant partners, staff, board, and Solís Policy Insitute alum and fellows reflect a broad range of gender expressions.
We know that words are powerful and imperfect, especially when it comes to gender identity. Words that feel like home to one person, feel triggering or dismissive to someone else. We want the words we use to be as inclusive as possible, if you have feedback on the language we use we want to hear it.