Child Care Grant

The Child Care Grant, a Power of She Fund grant, is designed to support female athletes with children, who are striving for peak performance on the court, track, pitch, field, pool or mat while also balancing the challenges of motherhood.

The expense of child care is one of the main obstacles facing mom-athletes who want to stay in the game while raising a family. Our shared belief is that athletes should not have to choose between competition and motherhood. 

“As a mom and an athlete, I know firsthand the obstacles that women face.  I wanted to work with Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation to take an important step in supporting female athletes as whole people—both on and off the field—by offering financial child care support to mom-athletes headed to Tokyo.” – Allyson Felix, 11-time Olympic medalist

Inspired by Allyson’s advocacy, Child Care Grant funding will help relieve some of the financial burden faced by mom-athletes, therefore allowing these women to focus on excelling in their careers – training and competing professionally in sport. 

The Power of She Fund was established by Athleta, in partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Relevant Dates

The Child Care Grant application is closed. Please check back periodically for updates and subscribe to our newsletter.

Eligibility and Criteria

• Female athletes who have one or more children under the age of 18 or female athletes who are expecting to welcome a child to their family
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens or legal residents and must be eligible to compete for a U.S. national team
• An individual may be awarded only one Child Care Grant per calendar year

Applicants should be able to demonstrate an apparent and immediate financial need that, once fulfilled, will have a significant impact on their ability to continue training and competing while raising their children.

Grant Allocation

Funding can be used to offset child care related expenses such as caregiver costs, travel and added costs of bringing children along to competitions, meals and supplies, equipment and medical expenses.

Grant Requirements

• Use of the grant for its intended purpose
• Participation in the Women’s Sports Foundation program evaluation (e.g. pre- and post- program surveys), webinars and other events
• Completion of a final report detailing how the funding was used
• Agreement to promote the receipt of the grant in one or more of the following ways:
  • Acknowledgement of the Women’s Sports Foundation and Athleta on social media in a manner that is aligned with their brand guidelines
  • Agree to be mentioned as the grant recipient in The Power of She Fund – Child Care Grant program launch press release
  • Provide licensed photography, licensed video content and testimonials about the importance of child care funding and the challenges of combining competitive sports and motherhood
  • Participate in media opportunities as requested

Grant Award

Together, the Women’s Sports Foundation and Athleta awarded more than $200,000 in Child Care Grants in 2021. Each grant is $10,000. 

Grant Criteria

A Selection Committee will evaluate each application based on the following criteria:

• Financial need
• Lack of financial support from traditional sources (i.e. endorsements, National Governing Body stipends)
• Role of award in continued participation and advancement in sport
• Potential impact of grant in advancing women in sports and advocacy around the importance of funding child care
• Athlete’s ability to promote the fund and contribution to shed greater visibility of female athletes who are balancing the challenges of motherhood
• Grant allocation

How to Apply

Individual applicants must visit Foundant GLM, the Women’s Sports Foundation’s grant-management system during the grant application period, and follow the directions to register a new user profile or update an existing profile.

Please read carefully through the full eligibility requirements and program criteria before starting a Foundant account and applying.

Special note: Under the organization information, please enter the contact information for your National Governing Body (NGB). A Tax ID number is not required to register (so you may leave that space blank).

Athletes applying for the grant are responsible for checking the financial aid regulations of the NCAA or sports organization governing their current or future high school, college or university to avoid jeopardizing their eligibility for sports participation. 

Applicants will be judged on what information is available or provided at the time of application submission.

Apply Here

Notification of Application Acceptance

You will receive an e-mail at the address provided in your profile when your application has been received.

Any application that is late or incomplete will not be accepted.

Other conditions under which an application will not be accepted:

• Applications that are e-mailed or faxed
• Applications requesting retroactive funding

2022 Grant Recipients

Contact

If after reading these guidelines carefully, you have any questions, please contact Anne Peltier at apeltier@womenssportsfoundation.org or Elizabeth Flores-Amaya at eflores-amaya@womenssportsfoundation.org.