Community Action Grants – General Operating Support

• Applicants must be incorporated as a nonprofit with a federally designated-tax exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code. AAUW branches and state organizations with 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status are also eligible and encouraged to apply.
• Applicants must be dedicated to education and equity for women and girls in grades K-12. More than 51% of the organization’s previous year’s expenses and programming/services must be devoted to this purpose.
• Organizations with a focus on promoting gender equity in STEM fields (preferred).
• Applicants serving geographically and/or demographically underserved communities (preferred).

The following are not eligible for consideration:

• Members of the AAUW Board of Directors.
• Employees of AAUW, including paid or unpaid, part-time or temporary employees, consultants, interns and contract employees.
• Review Panelists.
• Immediate families (i.e., spouses and dependent children) of individuals described in the points above.
• Previous AAUW Community Action Grant recipients must wait 3 years before reapplying.

• Alignment of applicant’s mission with advancing equity for women and girls.
• Coherent presentation of how grant funding would build organizational capacity for advancing its mission.
• Clarity of anticipated results (outputs and/or outcomes), supported by a strong rationale for how funding will enable the applicant to directly and/or indirectly address their needs and support the achievement of these results.
• Demonstrated organizational capacity and capability to achieve its objectives.
• Potential for and/or commitment of additional funds and involvement from community organizations, businesses and funders (preferred).

International Scholarship & Tuition Services (ISTS) serves as the application portal for AAUW Community Action Grants. Please follow the steps below to start the application process:

1. Review the eligibility criteria to ensure you are eligible.
2. Click the Apply Now button below to access the application and create an ISTS account.
3. Follow the instructions provided in the Applicant Guide.

If you experience technical difficulties, please contact AAUW@applyists.com.

Apply Now

• A narrative application.
• IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter (for applicants applying as nonprofit organizations).
• IRS 501 (c)(3) or (c)(4) determination letter (for applicants applying as AAUW branches or state organizations).
• Most recent 990.
• A copy of the applicant’s prior fiscal year’s organizational budget, demonstrating that more than 51% of the organization’s previous year’s expenses and programming/services was devoted to education and equity for women and girls in grades K-12.
• A copy of the applicant’s current fiscal year budget.
• Current fiscal year statement of financial position (i.e., balance sheet).
• Current fiscal year statement of activities (i.e., profit-and-loss statement).

Narrative Project Proposal

The required narrative project proposal includes the following components:

• Organizational Information
• Abstract
• Rationale
• Description of the Community
• Objective of the Grant
• Community Partners

Project Budget

Applicants must provide a detailed line-item budget and accompanying narrative budget justification.

Prohibited Costs

Please note grant funds cannot be used to:

• Influence legislation
• Influence the outcome of elections
• Carry out voter registration drives
• Make grants to individuals or other organizations
• Pay for previous expenditures, deficits or loan

Review panels meet once a year to review applications for funding. Awards are based on the criteria outlined here. The panel’s recommendations are subject to final approval by AAUW. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis according to funds available in a given fiscal year.

To ensure a fair review process, AAUW does not comment on the deliberations of the awards panels. AAUW does not provide written or oral evaluations of applicants. No provisions exist for reconsideration of grant proposals. Applications and supporting documents become the sole property of AAUW and will not be returned or held for another year.