What do women bring to the community media table? Since 2008, J-Lab's New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative has funded 22 women-led media startup projects, several of them focused on community needs. On Sept. 12, the Women Media Entrepreneurs Summit in Washington D.C. will gather the lessons from this program. J-Lab director Jan Schaffer recently reflected on this experience.

"On the whole, women with media project ideas have a strong interest in community issues writ large, as well as building community capacity on the local level." said Schaffer. "Women's appetite for media projects runs more towards social justice, sustainability, empowering women, presenting diverse voices, and the environment. Although this year for the first time we did receive seven proposals for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) projects. It's astonishing, the range of ideas and communities represented in the thousands of proposals we've received."

With funding from the McCormick Foundation, NMWE boasts a 100% launch rate for funded projects -- and several of these (such as Latina Voices, NolaVie and FullCourt.com) are still going strong years after their initial grant. Some NMWE grants have funded the growth of existing women-led media projects, such as CTLatinoNews.com -- which this summer is expanding to cover the Latino community Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in addition to Connecticut.

"Women deliver on projects without excuses. They find a way to get it done," said Schaffer. "More foundations should pay attention to that."

In all there have been over 2000 NMWE applicants. Schaffer notes that several went on to launch their projects anyway, even though they didn't get selected for one of the 3-4 annual grants. "What the women tell us again and again is that our grant application isn't difficult, but it's very useful. We really make them condense their pitch, think about budget, consider revenue and marketing. Often they've said that just the act of filling out the application helped them rethink what they wanted to do. It's a valuable exercise whether they win or not."

What works in terms of engaging women for community news and engagement projects? Schaffer offered some observations.

"First of all, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit. Women have lots of media ideas -- but sometimes they're not fully formed ideas, or they may lack a revenue component. It pays to guide them through a process that helps them hone their vision and plan.

"You've got to evaluate the person as well as the project idea. What are her ambassadorial skills? Does she have a network in the community to find advertisers or partners?

"Women tend to be highly collaborative. They don't let ego get in the way of a good opportunity. If it'll strengthen a women-led project, a founder might consider merging with former competitor, because together you're stronger."

For example, Schaffer points to Colorado's I-News Network, founded by investigative journalist Laura Frank. In the past year this nonprofit venture merged with Rock Mountain PBS. "Some people derided this deal as an 'acquisition,' but it didn't bother Frank to be taken over by RMPBS," said Schaffer. "They immediately got additional resources and funding, and kept their staff intact. Why get hung up on terminology? It's working."

"Women are not so worried about ownership. They feel like they can still do what they want to do under different kinds of structures. That's very interesting to me," said Schaffer. "It's more about getting the job done than worrying about who gets credit for this or whose name is attached to a particular project."

NMWE grants have been relatively modest: in 2012 the program awarded four grants of $14,000 each. Schaffer recommends smaller grants as a viable strategy for boosting women-led community news and engagement projects. "It supports the development of a minimum viable product and proof of concept, while generating publicity, which women founders are often quite adept at leveraging up."

Edited video from the Sept. 12 Women Media Entrepreneurs Summit will be posted to J-Lab a week or so after the event.