The Female Futures Fund is a dynamic initiative collaboratively crafted by Iapi and sponsored by Diageo Ireland – it addresses gender disparity by providing tools and strategies for female talent to excel in senior positions, fostering inclusivity and diversity within the industry.
This one-of-a-kind initiative not only empowers and equips women to excel, it provides them with a support network of peers, with team building, mentorship coaching and talks by inspirational female CEOs sharing their personal journey and experiences.
The programme is designed to accelerate women into senior roles ensuring that we retain and promote our best female talent.
Now in its seventh year, it has become one of the most well-established and respected professional development programmes in the industry and won a Gold award at the EACA Best Practice Awards in 2024.
Recipients are selected for intensive 3 day workshops with certified coach, Danica Murphy, founder of PRISM Leadership and Change consulting.
Danica has been working with the Female Futures Fund since 2020 and has helped Iapi to design a comprehensive professional development programme tailored to address specific challenges faced by women in leadership.
From navigating the intricacies of personal branding to addressing challenges in self-promotion and strategically building leadership brands, participants immerse themselves in thought-provoking sessions across three full day workshops over 3 months.
For 2026, Iapi will be refining the Female Futures Fund programme for its participants. This will include:
- Reducing recipient numbers from 25 to 15, creating space for deeper and more engaged learning.
- Introducing a minimum of 8 years experience required to apply for the programme.
- Creating a more focused and targeted development opportunity aimed at senior-level-ready female professionals.
- Refined and bespoke leadership-level content, with more personalised development.
This refined programme will support recipients to:
- Build confidence in their leadership voice and presence.
- Strengthen their ability to influence and lead in complex environments.
- Expand and deepen their professional network across the industry.
- Reflect on their leadership journey and future aspirations.
- Apply new insights directly to their leadership context.
The impact of this initiative has been both incredibly inspirational, and ever-growing. And this is evident in the achievements and progression of its participants.
To capture some of the feedback from our past participants, we've given them the opportunity to tell you about the programme in their own words.
The strength of the programme has been in the multiplier effect – those that take part go on to advocate for it within their agencies and to encourage others within the industry to take part in future years.
As future recipients embark on their journey of growth and development Iapi look forward to witnessing the transformative impact they will have on the industry.
- Applicants must be employed within an Iapi member agency.
- Women who have 8+ years in the industry.
- Each Iapi member agency can nominate up to 3 candidates for the Female Futures Fund. (This means that groups with more than one agency can nominate 3 per agency.)
- Each application form must be completed by both the Candidate and the Nominator in the agency and be accompanied by a 90 second video.
Applications for the 2026 Female Futures Fund are now open, and will close at 12pm on Friday, 10th April. If you have any questions, please email sophie@iapi.com.
