Our Approach

If you represent an organization that would like to be considered for funding,
please visit our For Grantseekers page.

Types of Grants

We recognize that organizations at different stages of maturity are all important to a healthy and growing field of gender equity. As such, we are now making four different types of grants — Visionary Partner, Core, Spark, and Discretionary — each tailored to best serve the needs of different types of organizations. Learn more about our different grant categories here.

Core Grants continue the Foundation’s strong grantmaking practices of supporting leading organizations and programs that promote gender equity in Israel or the U.S. Grants are for $80,000 awarded over a three-year grant cycle. Meet our 2023 Core grantees.

Spark Grants are awarded to organizations that are in the start-up or early stages of development, display innovation and are addressing a gap in the field of gender equity. Spark Grants allow for increased risk-taking and greater flexibility in the Foundation’s ability to support newer organizations that are meeting pressing and emergent issues. Grants are for $20,000 awarded over an 18-month cycle.  Meet our 2023 Spark grantees.

Visionary Partners Grants exemplify the Foundation’s values of building partnerships and embodying trust-based philanthropy. These are longer term grants of $130,000 awarded over five years. Organizations do not have to submit an application to be considered. Instead, we review the organizations that have received the greatest amount of support from the Foundation over past years, and make decisions based on the organizations’ track record and their mission alignment with the Foundation. The inaugural 2022 Visionary Partners are Jewish Women International (JWI) in the U.S. and WePower in Israel.  Meet Moving Traditions, our 2023 Visionary Partner.

Discretionary Grants are small grants under $5,000 that are distributed throughout the year in response to time-sensitive activities and urgent needs. There is not an open application process for these grants. See our 2023 Discretionary grant recipients on our Grantee Organizations page.

Utilizing a Gender Lens

The Hadassah Foundation uses a gender lens in its grantmaking decisions. We look for organizations and programs that build on the unique strengths, perspectives, and experiences of people who identify as women and girls. We recognize that gender influences people’s needs, causes differing outcomes, and associates with various assumptions and norms. Deliberate attention to gender is an important component of a gender sensitive program, and may occur in both a gender-specific (girls/women only) and/or multigendered environment.

Creating Social Change

Social change philanthropy focuses on the root causes of problems, working to improve the conditions that lead to inequality. The Hadassah Foundation seeks to promote lasting change by addressing the underlying obstacles that impede the full participation of women and girls in society. This approach is unlike traditional charity, which often seeks to ameliorate the symptoms of societal problems—for example, by providing medicine and treatment for the sick, funds for the poor, or shelters for the homeless and battered.

We are interested in how a program influences and brings about change in: how an issue is defined, individuals’ behaviors, increasing community engagement, policies and systems, and/or maintaining past gains in these areas. As part of this mission, we strongly encourage the active participation of women and girls in the governance of the organizations we support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, grants were awarded for direct service programming to help address the immediate, pressing needs of women and girls.  Specifically, grants were awarded to help address the sharp increase in domestic violence in Israel. When women are not safe in their own homes, they are not able to advance in positions of power. For more information on The Hadassah Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Grants, see the Grantee Organizations page.