Grants for Girls Programs 2026: Leadership, STEM, Sports

Girls' program source review, Grantsights, October 29, 2026: Grantsights checked the U.S. Department of Education (ED) 21st Century Community Learning Centers page (opens in a new tab), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) mentoring page (opens in a new tab) and 990-PF filings naming girls' programs. Where official sources stop: none of them helps a girls' program decide when a girls-only design is worth giving up some public money.

3 Kinds of Girls' Programs, 3 Sets of Funders

Girls' programs usually fall into 3 lanes. Funders think in these lanes too, so spend the first 2 weeks of planning on which lane is yours before you build a funder list.

Programs built mainly around adult mentors have a separate guide: grants for mentoring programs. Competitive robotics teams, including all-girl teams, should read grants for robotics teams, which covers the competition-specific funders.

Which Foundations Fund Girls' Programs: What 990-PF Filings Show

Private foundations report every grant on IRS Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab). Grantsights searched the largest named youth, arts and community grants in every state for girls, Girl Scouts, YWCAs and women's sports. These tax year 2025 gifts clearly went to girls or to programs that center girls and women.

What the filings show

Small, steady gifts are the norm. Most of the Girl Scout gifts run $2,000 to $30,000. One organization in South Dakota, Girl Scouts Dakota Horizons, drew 2 grants from 2 family foundations for the same leadership program. That stacking pattern is how most girls' programs build a budget.

Culture-based programs have their own funders. The 100 Horses Women's Society in Dupree, South Dakota, describes its work as passing ancestral and cultural knowledge to girls and young women. Its $10,000 gift sat in the arts file, not youth. Programs rooted in a culture or tribe should search arts and community funders as well as youth funders.

Sports gifts can be large. The International Women's Baseball Center's $350,000 gift was the second-largest in the table. Girls' sports programs should look at funders that already back youth sports, since many don't separate boys' and girls' giving.

Youth grants by state

Finding youth funders near you

The Grantsights youth funder list gives a free preview of youth funders in your state, with those that accept requests first and the youth groups each one recently funded. It's a good fit for girls' programs because nearly every girls' program also counts as youth work. It won't flag girls specifically, so read each funder's recent grantees for Girl Scouts, YWCAs, Girls Inc. affiliates and girls' sports. A state list is $29, or $99 for every cause list for a year, with a 30-day refund.

21st Century Community Learning Centers: After-School Money Through Your State

According to ED's program page, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (listing 84.287) is a formula grant to state educational agencies. States then run their own competitions for local programs that operate outside the school day.

For a girls' program, that means 2 things:

1. You may not be the lead applicant. The lead is often a school district or a larger youth agency, with community groups as partners, so check your state's list of past awards. A girls' STEM club can join as the partner that runs 1 or 2 days a week.
2. Design rules come from the state. Check whether the state's request for proposals limits single-sex programs. Federal civil rights rules apply to federally funded programs, so ask the state agency before you build a girls-only design into a federal subgrant.

Find your state's 21st Century coordinator through the state education agency's website. Rounds don't open every year in every state, so ask early.

OJJDP Mentoring Grants: Mostly National Organizations

According to the OJJDP mentoring program page, the office awarded more than $89.2 million in fiscal year (FY) 2024 to increase and improve youth mentoring. Its page lists national mentoring programs at $42 million and a multistate mentoring initiative at about $25.5 million among the FY2024 awards.

Most of that money goes to national and multistate organizations, which then fund local affiliates. A local girls' program usually reaches it by joining a national network, not by applying alone. If mentoring is your main model, read the mentoring guide linked above first.

Measuring What Changes for Girls

Funders for girls' programs ask the same question in different words: what's different for a girl after a year with you? According to the OJJDP mentoring program page, mentoring has been linked to better self-esteem, academic achievement and peer relationships. That's the kind of outcome girls' programs can track for themselves, with tools simple enough for volunteers.

These 4 measures work for most leadership, STEM and sports programs:

1. Retention. How many girls who start in the fall are still coming in the spring? Retention is the clearest sign a program works, and it costs nothing to track.
2. Confidence check-ins. A 5-question survey at the start and end of the year, asking girls how sure they feel speaking up, trying something hard or leading a group.
3. Skill milestones. For STEM: a finished project or a competition entry. For sports: girls who move to the next level or join a school team.
4. What comes next. Girls who sign up for an advanced class, a camp or a school team the following year.

Keep the surveys short and age-appropriate, and get parent permission before you share any girl's words or photo with a funder.

An illustrative girls' program budget

This table is illustrative, not data. It shows how a small girls' program might split a $60,000 year so each funder can see what it pays for.

A program that shows this split can ask a bank foundation for equipment, a family foundation for scholarships and a community foundation for transportation, all in the same year, without any funder paying for the same thing twice.

What Federal Pages Don't Tell You About Girls' Programs

These 4 points come from comparing the federal pages with the 990-PF filings.

1. "Girls" rarely shows up in the data. Contrary to popular belief, girls' programs aren't short on funders; they're short on labels. Many funders that back girls file the gift as youth, education or sports.
2. Corporate STEM money is real but crowded. Company foundations fund STEM for kids, often coed. A girls' STEM program needs to explain what a girls-only space does that a coed club doesn't, with data from your own participants.
3. National brands help and hurt. A Girl Scout council or Girls Inc. affiliate has name recognition, but local funders may assume the national office pays the bills. Say plainly what stays local.
4. Fees exclude the girls you most want to reach. Funders will often pay for scholarships, transportation and equipment so cost isn't a barrier. Make that the center of your ask.

Grantsights' honest take: a girls' program under $200,000 should spend its first grant year on 8 to 12 local youth and family foundations, plus 2 or 3 company foundations with local employees. Treat 21st Century partnerships as a second-year goal.

5 Girls' Program Projects Funders Fund

1. A summer leadership camp. A 1-week camp with a clear cost per girl and a service project at the end.
2. A girls' STEM club. Weekly sessions with women in science and engineering as guest mentors, plus a final project. Outdoor science clubs for girls overlap with grants for environmental education programs.
3. Girls' sports scholarships and equipment. Fees, uniforms and transportation for girls who'd otherwise miss the season. Girls' mountain bike and riding clubs can also use grants for bike programs.
4. Middle school transition programs. Programs for girls moving from elementary to middle school fit youth and education funders.
5. Culture and identity programs. Like the 100 Horses Women's Society, programs that pass on cultural knowledge fit arts and community funders too.

Common Mistakes in Girls' Program Grant Requests

• Saying "empowerment" without outcomes. Funders want counts: girls enrolled, sessions attended, girls who return next year.
• Ignoring the coed question. A red flag for STEM funders is a request that doesn't explain why the program is girls-only.
• Underestimating volunteer screening costs. Background checks and training for adult volunteers cost money. Budget for them.
• Missing local company foundations. Banks, utilities and manufacturers with local plants show up in youth filings again and again.
• Asking above the median. If your state's median youth grant is $3,550, a $25,000 first ask usually fails. Learn how to read a 990-PF to check each funder.

A Girls' Program Funding Year

Girls' programs follow the school year, so most asks should land 3 months before the season they pay for.

The Grantsights grant database tracks open federal and state youth notices, including 21st Century rounds where states post them.

Related Guides for Girls' Programs

These 3 pages help when your work overlaps another youth field. Girls' sports leagues should read grants for youth sports leagues. After-school girls' clubs can find more in grants for after-school programs. Girl Scout service units and troops can use grants for scout troops.

FAQ: Common Questions

Is there a federal grant just for girls' programs? No; 21st Century Community Learning Centers is the closest common route.

Do private foundations fund girls' sports programs? Yes, including a $350,000 gift to a women's baseball center in Illinois.

Do Girl Scout councils get foundation grants? Yes, mostly from local family foundations.

Can a girls-only program take federal money? Ask the state agency first; civil rights rules apply to federal funds.

What's a typical foundation grant for youth programs? Medians of $2,000 to $10,000 in the states shown.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Education: 21st Century Community Learning Centers (opens in a new tab)
• OJJDP: Mentoring (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)