Charitable Donations Fund
AAWE, Giving Back to the Wider Community
As part of AAWE’s commitment to our wider community, the AAWE philanthropy program aims to help bring about a brighter future, primarily for women and children, by providing aid to registered nonprofit organizations and projects which address their education, health and social needs.
In 2025, we are focusing our giving to nonprofit organizations working in Paris and throughout France. We especially encourage applications from organizations that provide assistance to women and families in crisis. Apply here.
To apply, we ask that interested organizations please fill out a brief application (in English or French) by March 21, 2025. The application can be completed and submitted online by clicking on the top button above.
Alternatively, a PDF is available for download here, and can then be submitted via postal mail to AAWE, Philanthropy Committee, 59 boulevard Exelmans, 75016 Paris or email at the address given on the form. You can also access this link by clicking on the bottom button above.
If you have any questions, please contact Amy Dutailly, Vice President Administration.
2025
In 2025, the AAWE philanthropy committee received 14 applications for grant donations to various organizations. The committee’s main targets were projects that focused on education, women’s health, children, and had a local impact. The committee granted donations to 10 associations/projects.
In 2025, the AAWE philanthropy committee received 14 applications for grant donations to various organizations. The committee’s main targets were projects that focused on education, women’s health, children, and had a local impact. The committee granted donations to 10 associations/projects.
Palais de la femme – Fondation de l’Armée du Salut – 500€
Palais de la femme’s mission focuses on social and economic reintegration through shelter, adapted housing, and food support for women in precarious situations, often single mothers.
Palais de la femme’s mission focuses on social and economic reintegration through shelter, adapted housing, and food support for women in precarious situations, often single mothers.
Joy Womack Ballet Association (JWBA) – 300€
The Joy Womack Ballet Association (JWBA) is committed to promoting classical, neoclassical, and contemporary dance by creating artistic opportunities for dancers and supporting young talent. We use dance as a tool for inclusion and solidarity, funding scholarships, training for dance teachers, and humanitarian aid initiatives for artists in precarious situations. Through our project ‘The Joy of Dance’, we offer a space where art unites generations and cultures while supporting women and families in need.
Femaid – 750€
Femaid provides aid for women and children in war zones. This specific request was for secret schools for teenage girls in Afghanistan which FEMAID started in October 2021 shortly after the return to power of the Taliban who have forbidden any form of education for girls after primary school. Today they have 3000 pupils all over Afghanistan.
USA Girl Scouts Overseas (Paris) – 750€
This is the local community of USA Girl Scouts Overseas, which is part of the Girl Scouts of the USA program. The project comes from AAWE member Aliss Terrel, who is working on a documentary about forest protection and climate justice. The grant would be used to take a group of Girl Scouts 11-18 and accompanying adult leaders to the Strasbourg area to plant trees with an association called Colibri Forest. A team of young volunteers, who met at school and in scouting, planting micro forests on privately owned land, some purchased by the association, always ensuring a 99-year conservation easement is in place to preserve the trees. Focused in Alsace, the association welcomes helpers of all ages, particularly families and school groups.
The American Church in Paris/100 Nights of Welcome (100NOW) – 1,000 €
The American Church in Paris’ (ACP) 100NOW program is dedicated to providing a safe, welcoming, and dignified shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness in Paris. Our mission is to offer temporary refuge, essential resources, and a sense of community to those in need, particularly during the harsh winter months. By partnering with local organizations and volunteers, we create an environment where guests can rest safely, access basic necessities, and receive support in navigating pathways toward stability. AAWE also encourages members to drop individual donations to the church directly (toiletries/food).
English Pour Tout Le Monde – 300 €
English Pour Tout Le Monde offers free English language learning opportunities to people in difficult situations with the aim of promoting social and professional integration and educational continuity. In addition, through our activities, we aim to create social links, develop self-confidence and build a community between people who would not normally meet. The grant will help with two projects: a Kids Book Club and a weekly after school program for 11-16-year-olds.
Cancer Support France – Paris Île de France – 600 €
Cancer Support France – Paris Île de France’s mission is to empower English-speaking people, regardless of nationality, touched by cancer, providing practical, emotional and linguistic support, while helping them navigate the French healthcare system. Being there for them from diagnosis through every phase of their personal journey, ensuring that no one is left alone. This grant will help support Active Listener training.
Cité des Dames – Fondation Armée du Salut – 500 €
The Salvation Army Foundation is committed to fighting all forms of exclusion and promoting the integration of everyone into society. The Cité des Dames is a shelter exclusively reserved for adult women in extreme hardship. The service combines a day shelter and night stopover, with a capacity of 50 places. In addition to basic services (such as taking a shower, resting, doing laundry, foot care, and having a coffee), the women can also meet with a social worker, a midwife, or a psychologist. The grant will allow them to run weekly workshops for homeless women.
Espace Canopy – 800€
Espace Canopy’s mission is to combat all forms of discrimination through art. They organize cultural activities and exchanges that foster dialogue and connection around societal issues. Their main focus areas are: empowering women, supporting isolated seniors, and mental health. With their grant their project this year is to establish a support program for senior women going through a period of grief or serious illness. The goal is to help these women regain their footing in social life, to provide them with companionship and stimulation to combat loneliness and psychological suffering, and to offer them a space where they can receive listening and support.
SOS Help – 1,000€
The mission of SOS Help is to help prevent suicide and alleviate anxiety. SOS Help is a confidential, volunteer-run hotline offering emotional support to English speakers in distress across France. Our telephone service is confidential and anonymous. Their trained listeners provide a non-judgmental and compassionate space for individuals facing loneliness, stress, grief, or crisis. As an accessible, free support service, we fill a critical gap for those struggling to find help in English. This grant will enable them to train more volunteers, extend outreach, and ensure operational sustainability, allowing them to support more people in need.
Hila Initiative – 130 €
The Hila Indicative’s mission is the empowerment of young women in Afghanistan through accessible online education. The virtual communities they create support women in defining a path forward towards autonomy & self-reliance. The Hila Initiative was also a recipient of a FAWCO grant.
FALL 2022
In Fall of 2022, AAWE formed a Philanthropy Committee that distributed 2,610€ to four local associations. Please read more below to learn about each of these organizations and what they are doing in our community.
In Fall of 2022, AAWE formed a Philanthropy Committee that distributed 2,610€ to four local associations. Please read more below to learn about each of these organizations and what they are doing in our community.
Espace Canopy 750€
Espace Canopy uses art as a vector of social change to build exchanges and social ties with people without discrimination and with a strong focus on those in vulnerable situations, elderly, minorities, women , migrants, youth. AAWE has contributed to support the Escap’Art Senior classes which are free cultural outings and events for seniors. Learn more at www.espacecanopy.fr
Espace Canopy uses art as a vector of social change to build exchanges and social ties with people without discrimination and with a strong focus on those in vulnerable situations, elderly, minorities, women , migrants, youth. AAWE has contributed to support the Escap’Art Senior classes which are free cultural outings and events for seniors. Learn more at www.espacecanopy.fr
SOS Help 500€
SOS Help answers 5000 calls a year for confidential prevention of suicide and alleviation of anxiety and since the pandemic are totally sustained by donations from Community associations and individuals for running costs. AAWE has contributed for extra projects in training and technical support. Learn more at www.soshelpline.org
Serve the City Paris 500€
Serve the City Paris offers programs for new asylum seekers who come to Paris, and for international volunteers who are either in Paris for short stays or long term stays as expatriates in Paris. AAWE is providing funding for new offices in the 19th arrondissement where there is a highest concentration of immigrants living within the Paris Périphérique. Learn more at www.servethecity.paris
The Mothers of Paris for Ukraine 860€
Les Mamans de Paris Pour l’Ukraine (MDPPU)/Paris Mothers for Ukraine is a local grassroots movement that began by organizing, collecting and transporting medicine from the Paris region to Ukraine and is now a Facebook group which assists thousands of families with round-the-clock efforts in donated food, clothes, hygiene products, toys, baby strollers, and kits for mothers-to-be. AAWE is providing funding for specialized baby formula for refugee mothers and their children. Learn more at www.facebook.com/groups/1624459011257406
If you have any questions about AAWE’s philanthropy, please contact the Vice President Administration.
SPRING 2022
In spring 2022, AAWE formed a Philanthropy Committee that distributed 2,500€ to four local associations. Please read more below to learn about each of these organizations and what they are doing in our community.
In spring 2022, AAWE formed a Philanthropy Committee that distributed 2,500€ to four local associations. Please read more below to learn about each of these organizations and what they are doing in our community.
Association World Radio Paris 300€
World Radio Paris provides English-language radio programming to audiences in Paris. AAWE has contributed to support the hiring of a woman intern.
Learn more at worldradio.fr .
English Pour Tout Le Monde 1,200€
English Pour Tout Le Monde provides free English learning opportunities to promote autonomy and access to employment and further education for young people, women, and people in precarious situations; foster social, intergenerational, and intercultural ties; and promote inclusion and equality by offering educational and cultural activities open to all. AAWE has contributed to support classes for women and children in Paris.
Learn more at www.eptlm.com.
Le Fil et La Main 600€
Le Fil et La Main seeks to ease physical and psychological pain of diverse populations by promoting exchanges during knitting activities. AAWE has contributed to support knitting workshops for hospital patients.
Learn more at www.lefiletlamain.org.
Gynécologie sans Frontières 400€
Gynécologie sans Frontières aims to help women in precarious situations where their development, dignity, and health are neglected, threatened, or denied. AAWE has contributed to support an interactive education board game project.
Learn more at gynsf.org .
If you have any questions about AAWE’s philanthropy, please contact the Vice President Administration
2020
While unable to call a Philanthropy Committee in 2020, AAWE is proud of its ongoing commitment to advancing education with its sponsorship of the FAWCO Foundation’s Humanities Award, in memory of Gertrude de Gallaix. The academic award, intended for children of FAWCO or FAUSA members, supports undergraduate or graduate study in humanities fields including, but not limited to, education, law, social studies, history, and languages. A list of past recipients of the award can be found on FAWCO’s website.
2019
In 2019 AAWE formed a Philanthropy Committee to donate 5,000€ to eight local associations.
Please click each toggle to learn more about what these amazing organizations are doing for the community.
American Aid Society of Paris 350€
American Aid Society of Paris 350€
AAWE has been supporting the American Aid Society for many years. Pam Combastet, former AAWE President, is now the President of the group. The Society helps Americans in need and are looking to revamp their inactive website. An established charity to help Americans in difficulties when they are in France. the American Aid Society is a small, Paris-based charity that has been dedicated to helping Americans in need in France since 1922.
Learn more at www.facebook.com/americanaidparis/
Association Pour le Développement de la Santé des Femmes (ADSF) 800€
Agir pour la Santé des Femmes (ADSF) 800€
ADSF is working with La Cité des Dames, a safe place where women sans domicile fixe (SDF), along with their pets, can be sure to have a secure, clean place to stay. The women are evaluated as to their social, medical and psychological situations and are guided toward the appropriate structures that meet their needs for the longer term. Created in December 2001, via the initiative of Dr Bernard Guillon and twelve founding members, ADSF wanted to respond to a lack of interest in gender health and a lack of advocates in the specific field of women’s health in humanitarian action.
Learn more at www.adsfasso.org
Cancer Support France - 500€
Cancer Support France – 500€
Deborah Lillian, former AAWE President, created this chapter of Cancer Support France as a group where English speaking people living in France, touched by cancer can receive free confidential support and help. Their goal was to set up a group coffee morning for their clients who wish to have a time to benefit from meeting other clients and sharing information.
Cancer Support France is a network of independent affiliated associations that have developed in recognition of the needs of English-speaking people affected by cancer. Each association organizes itself according to the needs of its own area. They are supported by an ‘umbrella’ association, which started as the original association, ‘Cancer Support France’ in the Poitou Charentes.
Learn more at www.cancersupportfrance.org
Friday Mission Lunch at the American Cathedral in Paris - 1000€
Friday Mission Lunch at the American Cathedral in Paris – 1000€
Since 2006 AAWE has been supporting this joint effort by American churches and synagogues in Paris to provide a weekly lunch for at least 64 needy Parisians. AAWE member Leslie Charbonnel has been a volunteer chef for the lunch along with a team of volunteers.
The Mission Lunch began in the early 90s with a hot lunch cooked and served by three volunteers to about twenty people in need. The Mission Lunch was conceived as an expression of hospitality, where everyone would be treated with dignity and respect in an environment where social spirit and fellowship are given special importance. There is a very mature collective and ecumenical collaboration with the four other participating churches/synagogue and AAWE. Now, nearly 20 years later, the Mission Lunch at the American Cathedral in Paris has grown to 60-64 guests, with numerous volunteers, many who participate week after week.
Learn more at www.acparis.org/friday-mission-lunch
MOBIL’ douche - 850€
MOBIL’ Douche – 850€
Perhaps you have seen one of the RV’s that MOBIL’Douche has transformed into a traveling shower available to people who are homeless throughout Paris and nearby suburbs. The Association was founded by former Sans Domicile Fixe (SDF) who found that one of the main obstacles to getting back into the mainstream of society was the difficulty in maintaining a decent standard of personal hygiene.
By offering homeless and poorly housed people the means to take a shower, MOBIL’Douche aims to enable any person in difficulty to achieve the best state of health, constituting one of the fundamental rights of every human being.
Learn more at MobilDouche.com
Princess Margot - 800€
Princess Margot – 800€
The Princess Margot association provides support to both children with cancer and their families. They organize group activities for children and are hoping to be able organize an annual trip for the children and their families to enjoy a summer vacation time in the mountains.
Learn more at www.princessemargot.org.
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) - 350€
Association World Radio – 350€
Provides Parisians with news and information in English for the expat community. AAWE’s donation is being used to help purchase the materials necessary for training young journalists who are attending journalism school in Paris.
YES Akademia (YAKA) - 350€
YES Akademia (YAKA) – 350€
AAWE member Sandy Gogel’s daughter Sarah, founded this association and is currently the Directrice Generale. The mission of YAKA is to ensure equality of opportunity for young people from marginalized backgrounds in France and internationally, to prioritize their success and allow them to share a dynamic of global citizenship, openness and fulfillment.
YAKA is a citizen project aimed at young people, which implements an innovative course (ie based on sharing and intercultural immersion) to allow them to gain confidence and achieve their dreams. YAKA’s vision is to create a virtuous spiral through which young people help each other to support the development of their communities. YAKA accelerates the skills of young people from all walks of life so that they develop their entrepreneurial spirit and change their perspectives locally and globally.
Learn more at yesakademia.ong
In addition to the charitable donations fund, AAWE members participate together in local outreach activities.
For example, since its opening in 2018, members volunteer and regularly organize toiletries and clothing drives to benefit the Cité des Dames, a women’s shelter in the 13th arrondissement of Paris (see photos below).
In 2016, AAWE donated almost 4,000 euros from its fundraising proceeds to Rafiki Ya Maisha, Gynécologues Sans Frontières, Room to Read, Friday Mission Lunch, Every Child is a Gem refugee program, Led by HER, Stand Up for School Girls in Malawi, SOS Help, Apatchworks and a special project with U.S. Girl Scouts Overseas.
2008–2016
AAWE received a Gold Donor medal from FAWCO from 2008-2012, following our fundraising for the Wells for Clean Water program in Cambodia. Other recipients of donations from AAWE included Association Halte Aide aux Femmes Battues, American Aid Society, American Church in Paris Youth Program, Sport dans la Ville, and AFEA Snehasadan.
From 2013 to 2016, AAWE was proud to receive a Platinum Donor medal from FAWCO following our fundraising for the Free the Girls program.