The Miriam Fund (TMF) is a philanthropic community committed to creating an equitable world that expands opportunities for women and girls. Through strategic grant-making, TMF aims to inspire and strengthen women and girls within and beyond our Jewish community and, in the process, encourage its members to be advocates, leaders and agents of change.

The Miriam Fund is requesting letters of intent for new and ongoing results-oriented projects that deliver measurable and sustainable outcomes for the advancement of women and/or girls in Massachusetts’ secular or Jewish communities as well as in Israel (with a focus on the greater Haifa community). TMF prioritizes grants that work toward creating social change in one or more of the following areas:

  • Economic empowerment
  • Education
  • Health
  • Legal rights
  • Personal safety

Social change philanthropy focuses on the root causes of problems, working to improve the conditions that lead to inequality. The foundation of social change is change in the knowledge, attitudes and/or behaviors of people and may include changes in the cultural, structural or ecological characteristics of a social system and its institutions.

Funding will be for the fiscal year July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. TMF makes one-year grants up to a maximum of $25,000. Following a first-year grant award, an organization may be considered for renewal for up to two additional consecutive years. TMF does not support capital projects or scholarships or make grants to individuals. Additional information on TMF is available at cjp.org/miriamfund.

The Miriam Fund’s priority is to support specific projects that address the underlying key challenges that impact women and girls. Alternatively, requests for general operating and/or capacity-building support will be considered only from organizations that serve women and/or girls exclusively and have an annual budget of $1.5 million or less.

Grants are made only to public charities with an IRS Letter of Determination, organizations with a fiscal agent and synagogues or other religious organizations that are a currently operating house of worship in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Grants are also made to Israeli organizations with comparable proof of nonprofit status.

How to apply

To submit a letter of intent for project funding, please click here. If qualified (see eligibility above), please click here to submit a letter of intent for general operating support.

Submissions are due no later than Aug. 30, 2021, at 5 pm EST. For more information or support, please contact Alex Gaston at AlexG@cjp.org.

How the process works

Letter of intent submissions are due no later than Aug. 30, 2021, at 5 p.m. EST. If selected to submit a full proposal, you will be notified by Nov. 23, 2021. Complete instructions on the full proposal process will be provided at that time. The deadline for submitting full proposals is Jan. 10, 2022.

Site visits and/or follow-up conversations by TMF members may be a component of the final application process. TMF will notify all applicants of its final decisions in May 2022.

If you have additional questions, please contact Alex Gaston at AlexG@cjp.org.

From all of us at The Miriam Fund, thank you for your commitment to empowering women and girls.