A single mother trying to build greater economic security rarely faces one barrier at a time.

Returning to work after years of caregiving may need updated digital skills, and help navigating a job market that has changed while she was away. But training alone may not be enough if she cannot access childcare. These challenges are interconnected in people’s lives. Philanthropy, however, often funds them separately.

Employment may sit in one portfolio, parenting support in another, and mental wellbeing, financial literacy, and digital inclusion in several more. Each may be supported by a different donor, delivered by a different organization and measured against a different set of outcomes.That fragmentation matters because solving one part of a problem does not necessarily change the conditions surrounding it.

In Türkiye, single-parent households with children now account for 11.3 percent of all households, and in 8.5 percent of households, a mother lives with her children. ¹ Behind those numbers are women managing multiple responsibilities and barriers often at the same time. 

That reality led us at Turkish Philanthropy Funds to ask a different question:

What if philanthropy were designed around the complexity of the problem people experience, rather than around the separate categories through which we traditionally fund it?

TPF’s EmpowerHER–Single Mothers Fund is an effort to test that idea.

The program brings together five local nonprofit organizations with complementary expertise around a cohort of 35 single mothers. Rather than funding five unrelated programs, it coordinates support across peer networks, parenting, emotional wellbeing, financial literacy, employment readiness, and digital skills toward a shared objective: helping women build greater economic independence and long-term resilience.

The program itself matters. But the model behind it may have broader implications for philanthropy.

Starting with the Problem, not the Grant

Turkish Philanthropy Funds’ EmpowerHER-Single Mothers Fund began with the vision and support of a TPF donor, Seray Incoglu, who wanted to improve conditions for single mothers in Turkiye.

But translating that intention into impact required asking a bigger question than which organization to fund: What barriers were single mothers experiencing, and how did those barriers interact?

TPF then worked with five local nonprofit organizations with complementary expertise to develop a coordinated program around a cohort of 35 single mothers: Bekar Anneler Derneği (Single Mothers Association), Women’s Entrepreneurs Association of Turkiye (KAGİDER), MaviKalem Derneği (MaviKalem Association), AÇEV–Eşitliğe Değer (Mother Child Education Foundation-Equality Matters), and YenidenBiz Derneği (YenidenBiz Association). Each partner brings a different area of expertise, from peer solidarity and parenting support to emotional wellbeing, financial literacy, employment readiness, and digital skills.

The important part is not simply that several services are being offered. It is that they are being intentionally brought together around the same women and a shared objective.

We designed the program this way because employability is shaped by much more than a resume or a training course. A single mother may complete employment training and still be unable to accept a job because she lacks childcare, while another may have the skills to return to work but need updated digital or financial knowledge. These are often treated as separate problems because our institutions and funding streams are organized separately.

Yet they may belong to the same person.

From Grantmaker to Orchestrator

This model is also forcing us to think differently about the role a philanthropic intermediary can play. Traditionally, philanthropy often works through a relatively linear relationship: a nonprofit develops a program, a donor or foundation funds it, and the nonprofit delivers and reports on the work.

There is enormous value in that model, and individual organizations should continue to be supported for the expertise they bring. But complex social issues may require an additional role. Philanthropic organizations can become orchestrators.

Rather than attempting to provide every service themselves, they can identify a challenge, bring together organizations with complementary expertise, create shared infrastructure, establish common outcomes, coordinate learning, and give donors a way to support the broader solution.

That is the role TPF is playing in the Single Mothers Fund. And, there is another reason this matters.

Local nonprofits are expected to deliver services while also fundraising, managing grants, reporting to donors, collecting impact data, and maintaining community relationships. For smaller organizations in particular, that infrastructure can consume significant staff capacity.

The TPF EmpowerHER-Single Mothers Fund was designed with this reality in mind. The program was co-created with implementing partners who bring deep knowledge of the communities they serve and the barriers single mothers face. TPF provides much of the surrounding philanthropic infrastructure, from fundraising, due diligence, donor communications, coordination, and shared monitoring and evaluation, while partners lead from their own areas of expertise.

This does not mean the funder designs the solution and asks local organizations to implement it. It means building a structure in which local expertise shapes the program while philanthropy helps create the conditions for organizations to work together.

That distinction is critical.

Funding an Ecosystem Rather Than Five Separate Programs

The model also changes what a donor is funding, and reflects a broader opportunity for philanthropy. 

A donor interested in economic opportunity for single mothers could theoretically make five separate grants to five different organizations. But doing so would not automatically create one coordinated intervention.The organizations might serve different women, measure different outcomes, operate on different timelines, and have little opportunity to understand how their interventions interact.

A coordinated fund can do something different. It allows the philanthropic investment to be structured around an outcome rather than an institution.

For individual donors, this offers a way to support several dimensions of an issue through one fund. For foundations and institutional donors, it creates an opportunity to invest in a portfolio of local organizations while building common measurement and learning across them. For participating nonprofits, it can help reduce the administrative burden of sustaining separate funding streams and allow more attention to remain with the communities they already know well.

Perhaps most importantly, it allows us to ask a different kind of impact question.

Philanthropy is relatively good at measuring individual activities: how many women completed training, attended workshops, or gained new skills. Those figures matter.

But they do not necessarily tell us whether a woman’s life became meaningfully more stable. Because participants move through one coordinated program, we can look at how different forms of support interact rather than evaluating each intervention in isolation. We can ask whether stronger digital skills lead to better employment opportunities, or whether economic stability and peer support reinforce one another over time. The opportunity, therefore, is not merely to provide more services. It is to understand how those services work together.

Scale Should Follow Learning

Our first cohort began on September 22 with 35 single mothers. 

Thirty-five women will not tell us everything about single motherhood in Türkiye, and one program will not resolve the structural barriers that shape women’s economic lives. Nor should it claim to.

There is often pressure in philanthropy to talk about scale early. How many people can we reach? How quickly can we expand? How can the model become national? Those are important questions but they should come after another one: What are we learning?

This first cohort gives us an opportunity to observe, evaluate, and refine. The goal is to understand what works, where the model needs to change, and what can be strengthened before expanding it.

If the approach proves effective, scale should not necessarily mean TPF delivering an ever-larger program itself. It could mean developing a model that other donors, philanthropic intermediaries and local organizations can adapt to other populations, geographies or challenges.

That may ultimately be the more valuable form of scale.

Building Philanthropic Products Around Complex Problems

There is a broader lesson here. Increasingly, donors come to organizations like ours not simply asking, “Which nonprofit should I give to?”

They come with a problem they care deeply about: How can I help women participate more fully in the economy? How can I improve opportunities for young people? How can communities become more resilient after disasters? How can we address educational inequality?

These are not single-organization questions. They are systems questions. And philanthropic organizations should become better at helping donors respond to them. That means developing what we might call philanthropic products: carefully designed vehicles that begin with an issue, draw upon multiple forms of local expertise, coordinate complementary interventions, establish common outcomes, create shared learning and allow capital from different types of donors to support the whole.

The role of the philanthropic organization is not to replace local nonprofits or decide from afar what communities need, but to create the infrastructure through which local knowledge, donor resources, and different forms of expertise can work together.

Single mothers make the limitations of fragmented funding particularly visible because employment, caregiving, economic security, wellbeing, and social support often converge in the same life. But the lesson extends beyond this program. Youth unemployment is rarely only an employment problem, and disaster recovery is rarely only a housing problem. Complex social challenges rarely fit neatly within one grant category or one organization.

If the hardest social problems are systems of interconnected barriers, philanthropy needs ways to build more interconnected responses.

That requires moving beyond the question of which organization should we fund, toward questions such as: What outcome are we trying to achieve? What stands in the way? Who already has the expertise to address those barriers? And how can philanthropy help those pieces work together?

The EmpowerHER–Single Mothers Fund is one attempt to answer those questions.

Thirty-five women are where we are beginning.

What we hope to learn from them may help us think much more broadly about how philanthropy itself can work differently.

 ¹TurkStat, Family Statistics, 2025 (İstatistiklerle Aile, 2025).

Yet despite a career that placed his paintings in museums and earned him respect in academic circles, Koçan never lost sight of the place he came from. “The place where you were born and raised is your center,” he has said. For him, art was not only about galleries and exhibitions but about bringing beauty, possibility, and opportunity back home. That vision became the Baksı Museum.

Perched on a hill above the Çoruh Valley, Baksı opened its doors in 2010 as more than just a museum. Its architecture invites the landscape inside; its mission bridges contemporary and traditional art. What began as a dream took shape through the Baksı Culture and Arts Foundation, and within a few years, it had grown into an award-winning institution recognized by the European Museum Forum in 2014. Today, it houses exhibitions, workshops, a library, and residencies, but perhaps most importantly, it is a living hub for its community.

Baksı has created new livelihoods in a region long defined by migration and scarcity. Women gather in workshops to practice embroidery and weaving, reviving traditional crafts while earning income. Children come for art programs that connect them to new ideas while anchoring them in their heritage. In Koçan’s view, the museum is not just a cultural space but a way to give life back to a village that once seemed forgotten.

After the devastating earthquakes of February 6, 2023, the partnership between Turkish Philanthropy Funds and Baksı took on new urgency. Together, they created opportunities for women affected by the disaster, turning the museum’s ateliers into spaces of resilience and renewal.

That is how Nergis, a mother of two, found her way there. Widowed and struggling to make ends meet in her village, she grew vegetables, kept her expenses low, but had few ways to earn steady income. One day in Bayburt, she spotted a brochure for an embroidery workshop. Stepping into the atelier, she discovered rows of yarn in every color and women weaving side by side, laughing and working together. For her, it was more than a workshop; it was a way to rebuild her life.

Each stitch she now sews carries more than thread. It carries dignity, companionship, and hope. And in this, you can sense the enduring presence of women like Hüsamettin Koçan’s mother, whose quiet determination first shaped his path. Her spirit echoes in the stories of Nergis, Suna, Ayşe, and countless others who, at Baksı, are not just weaving textiles but creating brighter futures for themselves and their families.

At TPF, we are committed to supporting initiatives that expand healthcare access and improve the well-being of women and girls across Türkiye. When women can access the care they need, it strengthens their ability to work, study, and plan for the future.

Join us on Wednesday, November 19th for our next Voices of Partners webinar, featuring Konuşmamız Gerek, KAMER,  and Türkiye Aile Sağlığı ve Planlaması Vakfı (TAPV). These dedicated organizations are advancing women’s health by promoting reproductive rights, providing essential health and preventive services, and supporting mental well-being and gender equality.

Together, we will explore how improving access to women’s health care creates ripple effects, strengthening families, supporting communities, and fostering a more equitable future for all.

Featured Speakers:

İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu, Konuşmamız Gerek
Siibel Sakarya, TAPV
Nihal Çelik Ay, KAMER

We’ll be hosting a live Q&A session to answer your questions and provide deeper insights. We look forward to seeing you!

With resilience and an entrepreneurial spirit, they turned hardship into opportunity. Through the Let Women Start Their Business project, supported by Mavi Kalem and TPF, they received the tools to rebuild. Now, meet some of these inspiring women.

Why support the Let Women Start Their Business project? Because, there is nothing women cannot achieve if they have the will and passion. We are proud to stand with every woman in this transformative journey. And it’s thanks to you that this impact is possible.

The challenges are immense. Turkey ranks 124th out of 136 in the world for gender inequality. Female employment remains under 36%, and still 15% of girls are married before they turn 18. While more girls are attending school, only 40% of girls go to college.

TPF is committed to changing these statistics through education, and economic empowerment. In 2024 alone, TPF empowered, trained, educated thousands of girls and women – all thanks to the generosity of our donors.

Your gift to TPF’s Gender Equality Fund and our partners’ projects focused on women empowerment has the power to change these statistics through education, and economic empowerment. By donating, you are reshaping the norms and expectations around gender for everyone.

Make 2024 a year of kindness, champion for Gender Equality to lift up women and girls across Turkiye.

Click here

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’d like to spotlight the remarkable journey of Sumeyye, a testament to the transformative power of education and community support. Programs like ‘Sparks’ by the Change Leaders Association (DLD) help young women unlock their potential and shatter barriers to gender equality.

Sumeyye’s story not only illuminates the path to individual achievement but also embodies the broader appeal for investing in women and girls—a call to action that resonates deeply in today’s world, facing numerous crises from poverty to climate change. Thanks to your generosity, 112 resilient young women from earthquake-affected regions have had the opportunity to join the Sparks Program.

These empowered women are rebuilding their lives with newfound confidence and determination to pursue education despite the challenges they’ve faced. Through generosity and collective action, we have the power to create a world where gender equality is not just an aspiration but a reality, where every woman and girl has the opportunity to thrive, just like Sumeyye.

Here’s to changing statistics and narratives for the better! 💪🌟

For outsiders, Sibel’s story might already look like the fulfillment of a dream. But for her, the shop has always been the first act of a larger ambition. She envisions a beauty academy, the first in Bolu, where young women could gain both the training and the confidence to step into the industry—whether as skilled employees or eventual owners themselves. Recently, she took tangible steps in that direction, converting her own two-story building into a learning center and painstakingly securing permits for structural upgrades. Her savings carried her as far as they could; after that, she needed something more.

That something arrived in the form of the Zehra Taşman Women’s Empowerment Program, a program of Bolu Bagiscilar Vakfi (BBV). When Sibel applied, her determination stood out. She was admitted.

In the same cohort was Muhterem, a farmer whose life’s work is the soil. She grows fruit, vegetables, and legumes with an emphasis on organic methods, but her aspirations reach further: sustainable seed production, a stronger marketing chain, and—most of all—raising awareness among fellow farmers about the fragile ecosystems they depend on. For her, too, ambition required more than grit; it required mentors, resources, and a network. The program welcomed her as well.

The Zehra Taşman Women’s Empowerment Program is less an intervention than a kind of inheritance. It honors its namesake, Zehra Taşman, who, as a gifted student, had to abandon her education for lack of money but never lost her devotion to learning. Her son, Haldun Taşman—Chairman Emeritus of TPF—created the program to extend the opportunity his mother had been denied. In a way, every woman who enters the program carries forward what Zehra could not pursue herself.

Today, Sibel and Muhterem, along with their peers, find themselves not only with financial support but with something deeper: the training, guidance, and solidarity that help a business grow from fragile idea to sustainable enterprise. Sibel’s academy and Muhterem’s farm are not simply individual projects, but the growth of a larger vision, seeded by one woman’s unfinished story and nurtured into many futures.

As TPF, we are proud to be part of this project and to carry forward Zehra Taşman’s legacy through many more entrepreneurial women to come!

On this International Women’s Day, we are pleased to announce that we are committing $1M in funding to women’s organizations in the wake of the recent earthquakes that devastated our community.

As we work to rebuild and recover from this tragedy, we recognize that women and girls are often disproportionately affected and are facing more challenges. We are committed to addressing these issues by supporting organizations that provide relief to women in need. Our funding will go to organizations that are dedicated to providing assistance in the areas of empowerment, health, education, and economic empowerment.

The $1M in funding will be distributed among Cagdas Yasami Destekleme Dernegi, Anne Cocuk Egitim Vakfi, KAMER Vakfi, Koruncuk Vakfi, Suna’nin Kizlari, and Turkiye Kadın Dernekleri Federasyonu. These organizations are doing vital work to support the unique needs of women and girls impacted by the earthquake, and we are proud to stand with them in this effort. 

At Turkish Philanthropy Funds, we believe that women are powerful agents of change. Investing in their empowerment is critical to creating a more just and equitable world for all. We are honored to support the incredible work of these organizations in our community.

Please join us in our commitment to women’s empowerment and disaster relief. Together, we can create a world that is more just, more equitable, and more resilient.

Thank you for your continued support of TPF and TPF partners.

TPF’s $1 million funding will support the following programs:

• $500,000 to Cagdas Yasami Destekleme Dernegi (CYDD) in support of female college students who the earthquakes have impacted. 
  • A minimum of 200 female college students will be supported with scholarships, laptops, Internet, and accommodations over the next 4-years.

• $161,000 to Suna’nin Kizlari to build and operate a Children’s Community Center in one of the cities that are the hardest hit, i.e., Adiyaman, Hatay, and Kahramanmaras, for girls ages 11-18. 
  • The Community Center will operate seven days a week between 9:00 – 18:00 hours. It will also provide additional services for three days in the evenings (19:00 – 21:00).
  • The center will provide programs for all children cooperating with Suna’nin Kizlari NGO participants. Including individual psychological support through licensed adolescent and child therapists, meetings and sessions with immediate caregivers (mothers or female relatives), and semi-structured events for socializing such as movie screenings, reading hours, publishing and creative writing, social media, arts and culture activities, and sports workshops. 

• $100,540 to Anne Cocuk Egitim Vakfi to provide early childhood development play boxes to children and their families. 
  • The grant will support producing and distributing of 1,600 of ACEV’s early childhood development play boxes. ACEV will respond to young children who have lost all their toys and educational materials. These boxes include toys and stimulating activities to help them settle into their new homes and begin early learning activities. These boxes aim to help caregivers with the needs of young children and guide them to re-focus children on their development.

• $100,000 to Kadin Merkez Vakfi (KAMER) to establish laundromats and shower cabins in Adiyaman. 
  • This container will also be outfitted with basic amenities of 2,000 hygiene kits and 2,000 food packages, as well as provide counseling and legal services giving a secure and welcoming environment for women in need.

• $81,000 to Koruncuk Vakfi to create safe spaces for 100 girls in  KoruncukKoy . 
  • Koruncuk is opening its doors of its student dormitory without waiting for the new academic year to accommodate 100 girls in  KoruncukKoy facilities in Istanbul and Izmir. 
  • The grant will cover the expenses of children’s immediate basic needs and the reintegration process for one year. 
  • The grant will cover the cost of school fees, academic support courses, sports, and art activities, health-related expenses, books, and stationery, and clothing. 

• $60,000 to Turkiye Kadin Dernekleri Federasyonu to establish safe spaces for women and children in the region. 
  • The grant will support establishing one Purple Women and Children Safe Space, creating safe spaces for women and girls in container and tent cities. The color purple was selected so women and girls could easily find these spaces. 
  • The space will have three separate areas: One child-friendly space, one nursing space, and one primary healthcare service space to create a holistic support mechanism for survivors and offer a sense of community and connection, helping women and girls feel less isolated and vulnerable. 

New York, NY (June 23, 2022) – Turkish Philanthropy Funds is proud to announce the recipients of the 2022 Educ8 Program: Duygu Göksoy, Sena Altun, Büşra Gül Murat, and İpek Hanife Yılmaz. These young women have great potential, and we’re honored that with your help, we will be helping them unlock it.

In 2014, with the leadership of TPF donor Günay Aksoy, TPF embarked on a journey to support young women to realize their potential despite their background, economic status, and gender. In partnership with Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği (ÇYDD), the initiative provides scholarships to 4-5 students to attend a month-long program in London or New York every year. During the program, the students learn English, engage with mentors in their field of studies, and meet role models in companies such as Google, Facebook, and Chobani. The program will take place in London this year.

This year we are excited to see five more talented young women embark on this journey. The impact of the program is beyond English language education. Program’s leader at ÇYDD, Güldal Ebeoğlu, remarks, “We have chosen Duygu, Sena, Büşra, and İpek among 459 applicants to participate in the EDUC8 2022 program in London this summer. The program will improve their English speaking skills. Yet, the program’s impact is beyond English education. During their one month in London, these women will spend time with mentors, practice English with native speakers, and leverage the cultural atmosphere of London from visiting museums to going to concerts and shows.” This approach transforms the lives of bright and incredible young women immensely.

“Educ8 fundamentally addresses women’s empowerment. It may look like an opportunity to study English with native speakers, but it really is a program to empower these young women to realize their full potential. When we help train, prepare and support young women to thrive in different ways, they foster a value that can simultaneously promote economic success and social progress. We are grateful to Günay for her leadership and to our partner, ÇYDD, for contributing to a different narrative about how we can address women empowerment,” says Senay Ataselim Yılmaz, TPF’s Executive Director.

About The Educ8 Program:
In 2014, we embarked on a journey to help young women realize their potential despite their background, economic status, and gender. After seeing several young women from Turkey with financial difficulties complete the Educ8 Program for a month in NY or London, we realized the program’s impact was beyond English language education. Together, we were able to transform the lives of bright and unique young women and touched the lives of many others involved in this program. During the month-long program, these women studied English, spent time with mentors in their fields of study, practiced English with native speakers, and participated in field trips organized by our volunteers from different cultures and backgrounds. Everyone involved in this program made a huge difference in these young women’s lives and helped expand their horizons and realize their potential.

About Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF):
Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) is the leading U.S. community foundation for high-impact social investments dedicated to Turkish and Turkish-American communities. Since 2007, TPF has mobilized over $50M and invested over $26M in grants with partners focused on addressing economic, education, gender equality, and social and environmental needs in Turkey and worldwide. TPF donors and partners have reached thousands of families and directly funded over 300 projects by providing support to realize the philanthropic vision of individuals, families, and corporations.

Learn More about the Educ8 Program

View Educ8 2021 Impact Report

Thanks to your contributions we are able to make great impacts in the lives of many across Turkey. Please join Turkish Philanthropy Funds once again to support the wonderful work our partners are doing on the ground.

Thank You for Your Continued Support to TPF & TPF Partners!

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