Madison Community Foundation has announced a $75,000 grant called Amplify Madison, a collaborative project to build skills, voice, and visibility for women working in the Madison region’s thriving nonprofit community. The grant, coordinated by YWCA Madison, will encourage and support training and professional development, peer learning and networking, and leadership and engagement for 24 women to build the capacity of women in the nonprofit sector.

The components of the project are as follows:

· Area nonprofits or collaborations of nonprofits can nominate a trio of women comprised of staff, leaders, board members, or volunteers to participate.
· Selected groups will receive a stipend to attend a conference or workshop that increases their knowledge in the field, exposes them to best practices, and fosters relationships and partnerships with other nonprofits.
· YWCA Madison will host biannual Learning Community meetings, where cohorts can share best practices, lessons learned, and foster relationships and collaboration.
· YWCA Madison will maintain a speakers’ bureau webpage, where organizations or conferences looking for experts will be able to connect with participants in the Amplify Madison Learning Community.
· YWCA Madison will host a session at its 2019 Moxie Conference for members of the Learning Community to give presentations.

“We’re thrilled to support a unique learning experience that develops a strong network of experts who can work together to help their nonprofits, and our communities, thrive,” said Madison Community Foundation President Bob Sorge in a statement. “We hope the Amplify Madison initiative contributes to local efforts to move the needle forward on key issues facing their respective organizations.”

YWCA Madison’s mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, support families, and strengthen communities. We are part of the national YWCA movement, one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the nation, serving over 2 million women, girls, and their families.

“We are very excited to host such a great opportunity to empower women in the Madison area,” said YWCA Madison CEO Vanessa McDowell. “Our entire community will be enriched when we make it possible to build stronger relationships and have more diverse voices sharing knowledge.”

In the last 25 years, together with donors, Madison Community Foundation has given more than $200 million to strengthen our community. Established as a community trust in 1942, MCF has grown to over 1,075 permanent charitable funds with approximately $220 million in assets. For more information about the impact donors are making through MCF, visit www.madisongives.org.