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APPLICATION PROCESS & FUNDING GUIDELINES

Commitment to Women’s Sexual Health

Since 2006, the Patty Brisben Foundation for Women’s Sexual Health (“PBF”) has served and continues to serve to enhance women’s sexual health and well-being through funding research, providing educational programs, partnering with community organizations and connecting individuals to resources.

In the past five years, the Foundation has made nearly $1 million in grants, with an average grant amount of $48,000. In 2022, the Foundation awarded $201,447 in grants.

By focusing on the following six key areas that have a dramatic impact on women’s sexual health, PBF is able to provide support and fund research where it is needed most, to help improve the lives of the highest number of women:

Vulvovaginal Pain Disorders
Impact of Perimenopause and Menopause on Sexual Health
Intimacy-Related Sexual Dysfunction After Cancer Treatment
Libido and Sexual Desire
Physical and Sexual Abuse
Female Genital Mutilation
LGBTQIA Health
Endometriosis
Pelvic Pain

In 2023, the Foundation will also give special considerations to projects related to intimate partner violence and access to reproductive health care.

Application Process

The PBF grant application can be accessed online at pattybrisbenfoundation.org. All applications will be completed and submitted online.

All grant applicants must first take the Grant Eligibility Quiz to determine if your request aligns with PBF’s mission and funding guidelines. If your request passes the Grant Eligibility Quiz, then you will be directed to the Letter of Intent (LOI) form immediately.

Click here to access the LOI. (Accessible December 21, 2022)

The deadline to submit an LOI is February 3, 2023. The Foundation Trustees will review the LOIs and invite select organizations to complete a full application. Full applications will be due on March 24, 2023 and grant announcements will be made in late June or early July.

Download the guidelines and important dates.

Once received through the online system, each grant application is reviewed, researched and assessed by PBF’s Board of Directors within the annual funding cycle.

Applicant and Project Criteria

To qualify for grant funding consideration, your organization must meet the following criteria:

Has current tax-exempt status as a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or be a governmental entity.
Does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, creed, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation or national origin.

Additionally, PBF is currently funding grants for research projects that align with one or more of PBF’s six key areas of focus. In 2023, the Foundation will also give special considerations to projects related to intimate partner violence and access to reproductive health care (especially from a J.E.D.I. lens). If your research project does not fit squarely within one of PBF’s key areas of focus, but has a significant impact on women’s sexual health, PBF will consider such research projects.

Restrictions

PBF grant funding is not available for:

Churches or evangelical organizations
Organizations with a substantial purpose of influencing any political, legislative or regulatory cause
Fraternal, veteran or labor membership organizations serving only the members of that organization
Organizations offering or providing PBF or its directors, officers or employees any benefit from the grant.

Generally, PBF does not fund grants for research projects associated with, but not limited to, the following:

Individuals
Individual schools or organizations that operate within an individual school
Sports teams or events
Animal shelters
Religious programs, projects or activities
Fundraising events
General operating expenses

Questions?

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact PBF at [email protected].

THE 2023 PATTY BRISBEN FOUNDATION GRANT CYCLE IS NOW OPEN

Completed Letter of Intent (LOI) applications are due February 3, 2023.

Contact the Foundation at [email protected] for additional information.

FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST.

The Patty Brisben Foundation serves to enhance women’s sexual health and well-being through research and education. By focusing on six key areas that have a dramatic impact on women’s sexual health, we’re able to provide support and fund research where it is needed most, to help improve the lives of the highest number of women.

Vulvovaginal Pain Disorders
Chronic vaginal pain with no identifiable cause impacts an estimated six million women. Known as vulvodynia, this condition often goes undiagnosed despite the level of pain that not only makes intimacy difficult, but makes daily life a struggle of pain management.

The average women suffering from vulvovaginal pain disorders will see seven doctors before receiving a diagnosis. This delays the start of treatment and care, while putting undue stress on women dealing with an already difficult issue.
The Impact of Perimenopause and Menopause on Sexual Health
As Americans in the Baby Boomer generation grow older, the number of women entering menopause will reach nearly two million each year … more than at any other time in history.

Menopause and the transitional time leading up to it (perimenopause) affects every woman. While it can cause different symptoms in every woman, the time where estrogen levels drop can cause everything from mood swings, to short-term memory loss, lowered libido, and difficulty thinking clearly.

Despite being a normal part of life, more research is needed on how to lessen the effects of menopause and in educating health professionals on how to help women continue to lead fulfilling, sexual lives after menopause.
Female Genital Mutilation
UNICEF estimates that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation. It is essential to understand that FGM is an issue domestically, as well. According to a 2016 CDC report, an estimated 513,000 girls and women in the United States were either victims of FGM or at risk of FGM, with ⅓ under the age of 18.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. FGM can cause life-long physical and psychological trauma, including severe bleeding, problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as childbirth complications and risk of newborn deaths.

Intimacy-Related Sexual Dysfunction After Cancer Treatments
Cancer treatments, while helping to cure women of various forms of life-threatening cancer, can leave women with devastating side-effects impacting sexual health.

The Patty Brisben Foundation funded the largest study to date on young survivors of breast cancer. Of those surveyed, 95% indicated that their cancer and its treatment had adversely affected their sexuality.
Libido and Desire
Attraction and sexual desire is one of the spices of life; a joy that we all deserve to experience. Yet the science behind libido in women is lacking, and more research needs to be done to understand issues that lower libido in women.

Currently, the Patty Brisben Foundation is funding an ongoing study at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine to determine if birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives negatively impact a woman’s sexual desire and whether any effects increase with higher level dosages.
Physical and Sexual Abuse
UN Women reports that 1 in 3 women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, and half of the women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family. Violence perpetrated against women is as common a cause of death and incapacity for those of reproductive age, as deaths related to cancer.

Sexual abuse, in particular, can have a long-lasting impact on a woman’s feelings about sex, including a general aversion to intercourse that can last many years. Sexual abuse can also result in physical effects, such as chronic pelvic pain or vaginismus, the often painful involuntary contraction of vaginal muscles.

FROM HELPING WOMEN IMPACTED BY CANCER RECLAIM THEIR SEXUALITY, TO ADDRESSING WOMEN’S SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS, WE’RE COMMITTED TO USING A SCIENCE-BASED APPROACH TO FURTHER THE CAUSE.

APPLY FOR FUNDING

FOCUSING ON WHAT MATTERS MOST.

Vulvovaginal Pain Disorders

The Impact of Perimenopause and Menopause on Sexual Health

Female Genital Mutilation

Intimacy-Related Sexual Dysfunction After Cancer Treatments

Libido and Desire

Physical and Sexual Abuse

FROM HELPING WOMEN IMPACTED BY CANCER RECLAIM THEIR SEXUALITY, TO ADDRESSING WOMEN’S SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS, WE’RE COMMITTED TO USING A SCIENCE-BASED APPROACH TO FURTHER THE CAUSE.

SEE OUR WORK BELOW AND HOW WE’RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR WOMEN EVERYWHERE

FOUNDATION INFO

WHAT WE DO

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