Established in 1981, the Liz Claiborne Foundation supports nonprofit organizations working with women to achieve economic independence by supporting multi-dimensional programs that offer essential job readiness training and increase access to tools that help women, including those affected by domestic violence, transition from poverty into successful independent living.

Liz Claiborne Inc.'s founders set up and endowed the Liz Claiborne Foundation to serve as the company's center for charitable activities for many years to come. The Liz Claiborne Foundation, a separate nonprofit legal entity, is the source of support for nonprofit organizations in the U.S. communities where Liz Claiborne Inc.'s primary offices are located. These include the five boroughs of New York City; Hudson County, New Jersey; and Los Angeles County, California. In addition, a small portion of our grants may be directed to national organizations addressing a critical issue for women -- economic independence.

Liz Claiborne Foundation grants to organizations advancing women’s economic independence include: 

Child Care Inc.  In support of the New York City-based Family Child Care Entrepreneurship Program. Intensive, small class settings coupled with individualized technical assistance, CCI trains family child care providers on new business and financial management techniques.

Neighborhood Economic Development and Advocacy Project In support of NEDAP’s Women’s Financial Justice Project, designed specifically to address growing consumer credit concerns for lower-income women and women of color in the five boroughs of New York City, and to provide women with financial information and self-help tools to resolve personal credit and financial services-related issues that may impede future economic independence.

Homegirl Café  In support of Homegirl Café, one of Homeboy Industries' four microenterprises, training formerly gang-involved Los Angeles women in the vocational and soft skills needed to secure honest employment, ultimately breaking the generational pattern of gang membership. 

Download PDF of LCF guidelines here.