About Us

Who We Are and What We Do

The Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) is Canada’s only national public foundation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls.

CWF funds, researches and shares the best approaches to:

Funding dynamic community initiatives: CWF has granted over $10 million to innovative, grassroots programs in every province and territory, with a focus on helping women and girls who have the least access to resources and opportunities. CWF-funded initiatives go through a rigorous grant selection process which is informed by a national strategy on each issue. Applications are screened by a national panel of experts and community leaders, and only those initiatives that promise the greatest long-term impacts are selected.

Leading change and sharing knowledge: CWF researches and shares the most effective approaches to helping women and girls reach their full potential, and has developed national strategies on ending violence against women, moving low-income women out of poverty, and building strong, resilient girls. Each provides a framework to inform our granting strategy and guide organizations that help women and girls across the country.

Establishing best practices: We bring together organizations that work with women and girls for skills training and knowledge exchange, and work with them to develop evaluation tools that reveal the most promising practices for helping women and girls.

Building a community of women helping women: CWF is advancing the potential for women to become powerful agents of social change. Through initiatives like Women Play BIG and CWF donor education sessions, we are connecting women with their values and helping them to strategically pool their resources in initiatives that are changing the lives of women and girls, and improving the long-term social and economic outlook for Canada.