Nonprofits have long been active in providing support for children ravaged by poverty, hunger, and disease in third world countries across the world. But working mothers and parents on the poverty line in America have flown under the radar and toiled in the shadows relying on Federal assistance that is woefully inadequate. Marginalized parents in the United States need to work two jobs to afford the paid childcare required to raise their children. But childcare is more expensive than ever, and the federal government can’t do enough to support families, especially working mothers. Now more than ever, families bear the brunt of the economic burden. This domestic crisis is every bit as urgent in our country as in third world countries. The children are our future; to nurture them and our potential as a country, we need to address the nationwide crisis underlying childcare.

The True Cost of Childcare in America

Families spend an average of over $8,000 per year per child for full-time childcare, a cost that has increased by 26 percent in the last decade and more than 200 percent over the past 30 years. Needless to say, wages have not kept pace.

• In a 2022 survey, 63 percent of parents reported that childcare had gotten more expensive over the past year.
• Soon, with federal aid for childcare drying up, millions of children will have nowhere to go, and parents will be forced out of work.
• When the pandemic upended routines, including in-person education going remote, a shocking 4.2 million women across the country left the workforce, largely to care for their children.
• Lack of access to affordable childcare often keeps low-wage women workers from returning to their jobs, as they cannot find adequate care to support demanding schedules.
• As the cost of childcare vastly exceeds minimum wage pay, women working in low-wage jobs simply can’t afford to go to work.
• For the lucky families that can afford quality childcare, it is often challenging to find. During the pandemic, 16,000 childcare centers closed nationwide, leaving half of all children in the United States in childcare deserts. In 2019, 76 percent of families with young children reported difficulty finding adequate childcare.

Women’s Funds

Women’s funds are community foundations created to invest in the leadership of women and girls, especially Black, Latina, Native American, and other women and girls of color. They have been at the forefront of directing funding to organizations working against the underemployment of women and have long tracked the economic impact on American women who can’t find or afford quality childcare.

• For example, the Iowa Women’s Foundation’s Childcare Solutions Fund helped train more providers, leading to 350 additional childcare slots in the state.
• Similarly, the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, Raising ChildCare Fund supports community organizing across 17 states to make more affordable, high-quality childcare slots available for families and raise the wages of early educators, who often make poverty-level wages.
• One of the fund’s grantees, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice in Louisiana, was instrumental in getting a small local property tax increase passed that will fund 1,000 new infant and toddler childcare spaces for low-income families.
• Most women’s foundations and funds (76 percent) fund nonprofits in their local communities.
• While women’s foundations and funds primarily exist for the purpose of grant-making, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of these organizations also engage in other activities to support their mission, such as hosting events, conducting research, and participating in advocacy on behalf of women and girls.

An Overview

• Women’s foundations and funds are found in 44 states.
• 92% are publicly funded.
• 63% are members or affiliates of larger foundations or other charitable organizations.
• Most women’s foundations and funds are relatively new. 71% were established between 1990 and 2010.
• 76% fund nonprofits in their local communities.

Women Helping Women

Women’s foundations and funds connect the well-being and success of women to the well-being and success of their communities.