The Washington Area Women’s Foundation announced plans earlier this month to quintuple its investments in programs that help women and girls out of poverty in the DC region from $1M to $5M over the next five years. The organization also challenged the community to collectively invest $100M in the same mission. President/CEO Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat (above) says 476,000 women and girls in the region are in economic hardship, a number that’s remained stagnant.

The foundation was launched in 1998 and provides grants to nonprofits focused on job training, financial education, and early child care and education for women and girls. Jennifer says the foundation will raise additional funding by diversifying and multiplying its investment vehicles, including developing a new donor advised funding model. The bulk of the foundation’s funding has come from its annual leadership luncheon, which to date has raised $725k. Jennifer says the foundation will hire additional staff and recruit more board members to help meet its fundraising goals.