Why OWCA Exists
Oregon's nonprofit sector faces persistent challenges that disproportionately affect women-led and community-based organizations: underfunding, leadership burnout, and limited access to development infrastructure. Women-led nonprofits often fill critical community gaps yet lack equitable access to capital, training, and collaborative opportunities.
OWCA exists to close that gap, connecting women-led organizations across Oregon through mentorship, shared learning, and strategic partnership development, so no single organization has to build that infrastructure alone.
What We're Building (2025-2026 Feasibility Program)
OWCA is currently in a relaunch and feasibility study phase, developed in partnership with Lauren Watson Grants LLC, focused on three areas:
Capacity: Grant readiness and documentation support, so every participating organization has the core compliance and narrative foundation, mission and vision, an organizational budget, program briefs, and outcomes tracking, that funders expect to see.
Collaboration: A statewide Feasibility Study and Partnership Mapping initiative, assessing where women-led nonprofits can share program design, funding opportunities, and resources instead of duplicating effort.
Communication: A Board Empowerment and Communication Strategy, giving every participating Board clear governance expectations, decision-making protocols, and real engagement tools.
What Success Looks Like
A landscape where women-led nonprofits spend 80% less time on administration and 100% more on mission delivery, backed by a fortified statewide endowment.
Our Vision
A connected network of women-led organizations working collaboratively across Oregon, equipped, confident, and resourced to drive equitable social impact in their communities.
OWCA envisions a sector where women's leadership is valued, supported, and sustained, and where collective strength leads to long-term systems change. By 2035, OWCA aims to be Oregon's primary statewide hub for women-led nonprofit collaboration, recognized for its leadership development programs, equitable partnership structures, and measurable community impact.
Current Initiatives
What Success Looks Like
One statewide Feasibility Study Report completed. 50+ women-led nonprofits engaged in readiness or collaboration initiatives. 100+ participants trained through workshops and Board development sessions. A standardized Board Communication Toolkit in use across participating organizations. Launch of the Nonprofit Underground Assistance Program, OWCA Chapter.
The Partnership with LWG and The Nonprofit Underground
This work is made possible through a cooperative partnership between OWCA, Lauren Watson Grants LLC, and The Nonprofit Underground, which serves as the digital and outreach hub for the OWCA Assistance Program.
Lauren Watson Grants LLC contributes workshop-based curriculum on nonprofit startup, compliance, board development, and grants readiness, professional services in-kind to OWCA's program participants, and tools, templates, and capacity-building materials shared through The Nonprofit Underground.
The Nonprofit Underground serves as the platform for outreach, participant communication, and workshop publishing, so OWCA's leadership can focus on the organizations it serves rather than infrastructure.