The Women’s Fund of Central Indiana has spent 30 years investing in the well-being of women and girls in an eight-county region, and recently announced its statewide expansion as it becomes the Women’s Foundation of Indiana.
The decision to grow the organization’s work and mission reflects both an urgent need and direct feedback from women themselves, Tamara Winfrey-Harris, president of the Women’s Foundation of Indiana, said. Hoosier women face significant disparities in health care access, economic mobility, safety and family stability. And yet issues affecting women and girls only accounted for just over 2 percent of all philanthropic funding in the United States in 2022 and 2023, according to the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy.
“Through research and community listening, women told us clearly: they need more investment, stronger support systems, and policy solutions that improve outcomes for women and families,” Winfrey-Harris said. “We are responding to what women told us they need. As we expand statewide, we will not act on behalf of women without listening to them first.”
The foundation will lead a series of 11 listening sessions across Indiana — in South Bend, Crown Point, Anderson, Lafayette, Franklin, Terre Haute, Bedford, Evansville, Jeffersonville, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne — to ensure local priorities guide future investment decisions and the foundation’s work. The feedback from those listening sessions will be paired with county-specific data to create a State of Women in Indiana Report that’s expected to be published in March 2027.
“We’re hoping to leave each space with partners in our mission,” Winfrey-Harris said. “Local nonprofits and not-for-profits will know what’s best for the women in their communities, so we’re coming in as a non-extractive potential partner, ready to build trusting relationships so our new allies feel safe to request and respond.”
To celebrate its debut, the Women’s Foundation of Indiana is directing $336,000 in unrestricted funding to Central Indiana nonprofit partners working to improve outcomes for women and girls in priority areas: health, economic mobility, girls’ empowerment and personal safety/intimate partner violence.
Organizations receiving grants include: All-Options; Alternatives; Coburn Place Safe Haven; Columbus Regional Shelter; Center for Victim and Human Rights; GenderNexus; Girls Incorporated of Greater Indianapolis, Johnson County, and Shelbyville Shelby County; Girl Scouts of Central Indiana; Health Care Education & Training; Indiana Diaper Bank; New Beginnings of Indianapolis; Prevail; Televerde Foundation; and Women4Change.
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Ashley Ford is a Free Press Indiana reporter focused on issues affecting women and girls across Indiana. You can reach her at ashley.ford@freepressindiana.org.
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