(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs (NJSFWC) of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), one of the leading volunteer organizations in the state, is accepting applications for its annual Margaret Yardley Fellowship Fund. Established in 1930 in memory of the first NJSFWC President Margaret Yardley, the fund provides between six and eight $1,000 grants to deserving women who are New Jersey residents pursuing post-graduate advanced studies at the school of their choice.

Considerations used when judging applicants’ qualifications include Scholastic achievement, Career service potential, and Charitable endeavors.

The grant is applied solely to tuition expenses. Students who apply while still undergraduate seniors must already be accepted into a graduate studies program at the time application is submitted. Students already enrolled in post graduate studies and are scheduled to obtain their degrees in May 2024 or the summer of 2024 are not eligible to apply.

Applications are due via hard copy mail to NJSFWC headquarters by March 1. Learn more and download the application here.

The New Jersey State Federations of Women’s Clubs (NJSFWC), a volunteer community service organization, was founded in 1894 and is headquartered on the Douglass College campus in New Brunswick, NJ. The NJSFWC founded the New Jersey College for Women, now known as Douglass College (Rutgers), in 1918. In 2020, the organization, with a membership of over 5800, reported almost 16,963 community service projects involving over 320,119 volunteer hours and $2.3 million in cash and in- kind donations. The NJSFWC is a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC), which is headquartered in Washington, DC, and is the largest and oldest women’s volunteer community service organization in the world.

Margaret Tufts Yardley was elected the first President of NJSFWC, 1894-1896. She was from the Woman’s Club of Orange, the oldest club in NJ. Margaret served as director and President of the Orange Orphans Society, helped start the first Homeopathic hospital of the Oranges, pioneered the improvements of NJ’s child labor laws, and remained active in political work in East Orange well into her eighties. She also founded the Essex County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Mrs. Yardley was 50 yrs. old when she became President and died at the age of 84. In 1929 at the State Convention in Atlantic City, her son established, with $5,000, the Margaret Yardley Fellowship Fund, which is still awarded today.