Women in Leadership of Central Illinois

Women in Leadership of Central Illinois Scholarship Fund

Established by the Women in Leadership of Central Illinois to provide scholarship support for women in the Tri-County area who are pursuing higher education in business and management, the scholarship is available to women who meet the following criteria:

• Motivation to accomplish career and leadership goals.
• Graduate of a high school or recipient of GED.
• Resident of the Tri-County area (Peoria, Tazewell or Woodford) area.
• Financial need considered only when other factors are equal among applicants.
• Non-traditional student…in the workforce a minimum of three (3) years.
• Applications can be submitted beginning in January

Women who meet the criteria to be a recipient of the WILCI Scholarship are encouraged to submit an application to the Community Foundation of Central Illinois by the First Wednesday in March of each year.  The recipient is chosen from the pool of submitted applications by the end of May.

The Women in Leadership of Central Illinois Scholarship Fund was established in 2006 as a non-endowed fund targeted at assisting women in the Tri-County area who are pursuing college/university, post graduate, or accreditation/certification for business management/professional or entrepreneurial education.  The award is intended to defer tuition, fees, books, and other academic expenses.

The WILCI Scholarship Fund was established and funded by the generosity of WILCI members through a variety of ways: monies collected at the monthly luncheons as part of the Birthday Auction and Toot Your Horn segments and proceeds from the annual Pathways to Success Conference.

Due to the ongoing dedication of the WIL Board of Directors and members, the WILCI Scholarship Fund became an endowed fund in 2015. As an endowed fund, the WILCI Scholarship Fund will be able to continue to help women in the community indefinitely.  In addition, with continuous focus on “feeding the fund” over time with proceeds from the WIL Annual Conference and other fundraising efforts, WIL plans to increase the fund’s impact by eventually being able to award annual $1,000 or higher scholarships to two, three, or more women each year.

For more information and/or to complete the on-line application process, please go to the Community Foundation of Central Illinois website.