FIERCE FOUNDATION
Resourcefulness in motion.
Confidence in action.
Community creating access.
The FIERCE Foundation equips women and youth to move from adversity toward resourceful action through mentorship, entrepreneurship, education, and community-rooted support.
We create practical pathways that help women and youth strengthen confidence, resilience, self-efficacy, and resourcefulness; develop practical skills; access opportunity; and take meaningful steps toward lasting and generational change.
ABOUT THE FIERCE FOUNDATION
When One Woman Rises, She Brings Her Whole Community With Her
The FIERCE Foundation equips women and youth with resourceful resilience and creates practical pathways toward lasting and generational change through mentorship, entrepreneurship, education, skill-building, and community.
Our work helps people recognize what is already within them, strengthen the skills and support around them, and take intentional steps toward what comes next.
We believe people do not need to have everything figured out before they begin. They need access, encouragement, practical tools, meaningful relationships, opportunities to practice—and sometimes someone who believes in what is possible before they fully believe it themselves.
Courage
We believe one brave step can change the direction of a life.
Resilience
We support women and youth as they rise, rebuild, adapt, and keep moving forward.
Resourcefulness
We help people recognize what is already in their hands and build from there.
Community
We believe people rise farther when they do not rise alone.
Impact
We create practical pathways that turn confidence and resourcefulness into meaningful action, expanded opportunity, and lasting change.
Your Next Step Can Help Create Someone Else’s Opportunity
HOW FIERCE CREATES LASTING CHANGE
Lasting change is rarely one program, one class, or one moment. We help women and youth strengthen what is within them while connecting them with practical tools, experiences, relationships, resources, and opportunities to take the next step.
BUILD CAPACITY
Strengthen confidence, resilience, self-efficacy, and the belief that change is possible.
PRACTICE RESOURCEFULNESS
Learn to recognize what is already available, solve problems, adapt, create value, and take meaningful action.
DEVELOP REAL-WORLD SKILLS
Practice entrepreneurship, leadership, communication, financial skills, decision-making, and other tools that expand possibility.
ACCESS OPPORTUNITY
Connect women and youth with mentors, community partners, education, scholarships, capital, and meaningful next-step opportunities.
PASS IT FORWARD
Create change that strengthens individuals, families, communities, and future generations.
Capacity → Resourcefulness → Skills + Action → Access + Opportunity → Generational Change
“Sometimes you have to borrow the light another sees in you until your FIERCE light ignites.”
— Dr. Carolyn Colleen
OUR PROGRAMS
Programs That Move Potential Into Action
FIERCE Foundation programs help women and youth strengthen what is within them while building the skills, relationships, experiences, and access around them.
Each program brings resourceful resilience to life differently—from personal growth and mentorship to entrepreneurship, practical earning skills, access to capital, and opportunities for the next generation.
A 20-week personal and economic empowerment experience that helps women strengthen confidence, resilience, self-efficacy, resourcefulness, and clarity while building practical pathways toward what comes next.
Participants receive education, mentorship, accountability, community, and practical tools that help them move from surviving, uncertainty, or feeling stuck toward intentional action.
For some women, that next step may include entrepreneurship or additional income. For others, it may mean career growth, education, leadership, greater stability, or another meaningful goal.
A year-round youth entrepreneurship pathway culminating in a real marketplace where young people create, build, market, and sell their own products and services.
Through Family Circles, mentorship, community partnerships, the annual fair, and connections to continued learning opportunities, young entrepreneurs build confidence, resourcefulness, financial skills, communication, problem-solving, and the belief that they can create something of value.
A hands-on learning experience where women practice resourcefulness and learn foundational online business and marketplace skills using what is already available.
Participants learn to recognize value, research and price items, photograph products, create listings, communicate with customers, manage transactions, fulfill orders, and understand basic revenue and reinvestment.
FIERCE Finds builds confidence through real-world practice while showing women that creating opportunity can begin with what is already in their hands.
A hands-on learning experience where women practice resourcefulness and learn foundational online business and marketplace skills using what is already available.
Participants learn to recognize value, research and price items, photograph products, create listings, communicate with customers, manage transactions, fulfill orders, and understand basic revenue and reinvestment.
FIERCE Finds builds confidence through real-world practice while showing women that creating opportunity can begin with what is already in their hands.
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO RISE
1. WOMEN'S PATHWAY
Together We Rise
Build confidence, self-efficacy, resilience, clarity, and resourcefulness.
⬇
Choose
the
↙ Next Step ↘
⬇
Career
Education
Leadership
Stability
Entrepreneurship
Income Creation
2. YOUTH + FAMILY PATHWAY
Kidz Biz Family Circles
↓
Develop the Idea + Build Skills
↓
Kidz Biz Fair
↓
FIERCE Breakthrough / Scholarships / Seed Capital
↓
Junior Achievement + Community Learning Opportunities
↓
Keep Growing
IMPACT
From resilience to real momentum.
Every scholarship funded, every youth booth sponsored, and every act of generosity helps create real movement. The impact grows when women gain support, youth practice entrepreneurship, and whole communities choose to invest in what is possible.
65+ women launched businesses or side hustles.
40 youth-run businesses in 2026, up from 10 in 2021.
Community support continues to expand access, scholarships, and opportunity.
GET INVOLVED
There is more than one way to rise with this work.
Whether you want to apply, donate, sponsor, volunteer, partner, or attend, your involvement helps women and youth move toward confidence, opportunity, and long-term self-sufficiency. Every role matters.
DONATE
Turn generosity into grounded support.
$50 → Helps provide business supplies, educational materials, or startup resources for a woman or young entrepreneur taking their first courageous step.
$100 → Supports entrepreneurship education, mentorship, and practical business resources that help transform ideas into action
$250 → Helps provide scholarships, coaching, and hands-on learning experiences that build confidence, leadership, and long-term success.
$500 → Expands access to Together We Rise, Kidz Biz Fair, and other Foundation programs.
$1000 → Invests in long-term community impact through entrepreneurship, leadership development, and scholarships.
Monthly giving helps keep support steady all year long.
Connect with the FIERCE Foundation
FIERCE Foundation Incorporated is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
EIN: 87-2596615
Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 391
La Crosse, WI 54602