AAUW has been giving financial support to women seeking advanced degrees in all fields since 1888. The formal philanthropic arm  was originally established as the Education Foundation (EF) in 1955 and subsequently renamed the AAUW Fund.  It is the single largest source of fellowships and grants for women in graduate work both here in the US and abroad. Each year over $4 million is awarded to women working toward MD, PhD and other professional degrees. This year for the first time ever, women earned more PhDs than men. This is a solid achievement.

The AAUW Fund also supports women returning to school for retraining with Career Development Grants. AAUW has focused primarily on assisting women pursuing graduate degrees; however, the recently established AAUW Undergraduate Scholarship Clearinghouse provides a one-stop information source for women seeking financial help for undergraduate studies.

The AAUW Fund also supports research projects that focus on issues in the education of girls and the opportunities for women in the marketplace and academia. The findings of these research projects are one reason Tech Trek was started. Tech Trek camps specifically emphasize women in science and math professions and work to overcome the tendency for teachers and others to discourage girls away from these subjects/fields either consciously or unconsciously.  So our contributions to the AAUW Fund have tremendous impact on educating women and preparing them to take advantage of future opportunities.