Basic Needs Giving Partnership Grant to Fund St. Norbert Strategic Research Institute Survey for Evidence-Based Findings of Pandemic’s Effect on Women and Families

Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund and three other Women’s Funds in Northeastern Wisconsin have come together to collaborate on a sweeping regional study that will lend local data to the assertion made nationwide that women have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 over the past year.

Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund, Women’s Fund of Greater Green Bay, Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region and Women’s Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation have joined together in developing a survey to be administered by St. Norbert College’s Strategic Research Institute over the next several weeks. The survey aims to derive data to show how COVID-19 has impacted women and their families economically and socially one year since the pandemic struck the Northeastern Wisconsin region.

Once the surveying concludes April 23, data will be compiled into a report to be shared with the public by June 2021 through community presentations, hard copy and an Internet dashboard. The study is made possible through a grant from the Basic Needs Giving Partnership of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, a funding collaborative which includes funds from the U.S. Venture Open Fund for Basic Needs, the J. J. Keller Foundation and other community donors.

“Exactly one year since COVID-19 struck our community, it’s time to find out just how substantially women and their families have been affected on all levels – economically, socially, health-wise,” said Maria Turner, executive director of the Fond du Lac Area Women’s Fund. “We keep hearing stories from a national perspective about just how much more of the burden women have had to carry during this pandemic. It’s our job as Women’s Funds to find out what the real story is for our region, analyze the data and determine if there is true disproportionality.”

Each Women’s Fund will rely on community partners to assist with distribution of the survey, both through an online link as well as hard copies, to ensure a diverse group of women have access to completing it. The survey will be available in English and Spanish. The goal is to have a minimum sampling of 500 women across the region, which is defined by the service areas of the four collaborating Women’s Funds.

“Our hunch is that the findings will show massive impacts on women in Fond du Lac County,” Turner said. “If that’s the case, it’s our responsibility to do something about that, whether that involves advocacy for systemic changes, targeted local programming through grantmaking or our own agency efforts, or simply unveiling the truth surrounding how traditional gender roles affected expectations and demands on women as caretakers during a crisis.”

The four Women’s Funds in the region are supported collectively by nearly $10 million in community endowments. Together, they invest $525,000 annually back into local partner agencies through grantmaking that aligns directly with mission-focused work centered on gender equity and enhanced opportunities for women and girls.

For more information and to access the survey, please go to www.fdlwomensfund.com or direct link access at https://stnorbert.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_26rs5VqNv4fsEiW