In the dead of winter of 2019, the furnace at one of Why Not Prosper’s homes in Philadelphia broke down. Why Not Prosper provides transitional housing to women who have been incarcerated: they had no spare cash or reserve to fix the furnace.
Why Not Prosper is lucky to be located in Philadelphia, where Women’s Way operates an Immediate Response Action Fund (IRAF). To apply, Why Not Prosper completed an application form with six questions.
Women’s Way receives, reviews and approves or denies the applications for IRAF in 10 days. IRAF differs from other granting processes in significant ways. For example, agencies can apply to IRAF at any time: they don’t need to wait for a proposal call. At six questions, the application is comparatively short. The 10 day review/decision process is also unusual: grant reviews normally take weeks or months.
The idea for IRAF emerged from an emergency. In 2016: a travel ban was imposed for refugees. Women’s Way decided to fund a one-day training to help local lawyers get up to speed on the ban. That one-off experience evolved into the IRAF program, which helped Why Not Prosper fix its heating system in 2019.
The IRAF model isn’t intended for global emergencies like a COVID. However, it will be of interest to foundations and funders that wish to provide emergency support for community services with a range of different objectives.
Read more about Women’s Way and the IRAF at Next City: Need Last-Minute Funding? This Philadelphia Nonprofit Will Get You the Money in Ten Days
