Giving Circles

The Women's Foundation and Catalogue for Philanthropy leverage collective wisdom.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the 2008 Catalogue for Philanthropy awards ceremony, where we got a chance to hear from a number of past awardees about what recognition in the Catalogue has meant for them.

The wisdom of the Catalogue is based on the same wisdom that governs grantmaking at The Women’s Foundation.  The Catalogue brings together a diverse committee of volunteers–all experts in philanthropy at some level–to vet and evaluate potential candidates for the Catalogue, so that once in hand, philanthropists know that every nonprofit featured is doing excellent work and having an impact.

Similarly, The Women’s Foundation uses the power of collective wisdom in its grantmaking, placing the responsibility for decisions about funding in the hands of community members–whether through the Leadership Awards, grantmaking committee or a giving circle–and asking them to pool not only their resources, but their experience, perspective and wisdom to choose the most effective organizations in which to invest.

So it was no surprise to me today when I saw so many of our former Leadership Awardees and other Grantee Partners featured in this year’s Catalogue, or being honored as those who had best leveraged their appearance in the past. 

Among them, Fair Fund and A Wider Circle–2007 Leadership Awardees of The Women’s Foundation–are featured in this year’s Catalogue.

The Washington Middle School for Girls, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation and former Catalogue charity, was featured via film.

In addition, Ascensions Community Services and Friends of Guest House were honored for having taken full advantage of being featured in the 2007 Catalogue by leveraging various marketing, media and outreach strategies to increase their fundraising and build important partnerships throughout the community.

Looking through the Catalogue of the 2008 honorees and those of the past, there is a great deal more overlap between The Women’s Foundation’s Grantee Partner list and the Catalogue‘s selected nonprofits than I can list here.

All, I think, testimony to the value and power of investing in mechanisms that vet and evaluate the organizations working in our community through the common wisdom and involvement of our community.

In tough economic times like we’re facing now, when the needs are greater than ever before and resources are decreasing, there has never been a more important time not only to give to our community, but to invest wisely in it.

As Sidney Harman said during his remarks today, now is the time to give even more, not less, than we ever have before.   

Lisa Kays is Director of Communications at The Women’s Foundation and was a reviewer for the 2008 Catalogue for Philanthropy.

Washington Middle School for Girls gets a little help from friends.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The Washington Post reports today that the Washington Middle School for Girls received a little sprucing up from about 40 volunteers from Chesapeake Surgical who came in to paint classrooms.

The Washington Middle School for Girls is unique to Washington, D.C. in that there are no other all-girls independent schools in any underprivileged part of the city.  The school was founded to provide a high quality education for young girls who show academic potential, but who are at risk of terminating their education prematurely, and also provides important support to the girl’s parents.  For example, during the course of its first mother/daughter book club, seven of the mothers pursued and completed high school equivalency programs.

Washington Middle School for Girls is also a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation through support by the Rainmakers Giving Circle.  In 2004, the Rainmakers granted funding for the addition of a fourth grade to the school.  In 2005, the Rainmakers provided funding to supply the 4th and 5th grades with supplies, books, teaching materials, and a reading specialist and teaching aid.

The Women’s Foundation is thrilled to see Washington Middle School for Girls receiving the sort of community support exhibited through the volunteer efforts by Chesapeake Surgical, and hopes that this inspires further support among the community for the organizations and strategies that are improving the lives of women and girls.

Feeling financially strapped? Try giving your money away.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

No, really.  That’s what Kimberly Palmer advises in her column at U.S. News.

"While it may sound like a crazy time to talk about giving money away, with the economic pinch many of us are feeling, it actually might be the perfect time," she writes.  "As Brent Kessel, author of It’s Not About the Money, recently told me in an interview, acts of generosity can help us feel content with what we have. ‘The irony is…you can’t be giving money away and feel like you don’t have enough,’ he says. ‘The act itself changes the message you tell yourself.’

Kimberly cites some smart ways to make your philanthropic dollar go further, including giving circles and the Women Moving Millions campaign.

Not surprisingly, Kimberly’s column starts with an observation from a friend of hers, Lisa Philp, head of philanthropic services at JPMorgan Private Bank, that there was a gender shift happening in her clientele.  Instead of working primarily with men like she used to, her clientele is now two-thirds women.

There are now more women in business.  More women heading family foundations.  More women getting involved in women’s philanthropy at all levels–from giving to their local women’s foundation, to volunteering for organizations serving women and girls, to pooling their resources through giving circles.

"The women’s funding movement has grown by leaps and bounds," Philp says in Kimberly’s column.

Due in no doubt to the satisfaction that is gained from giving with greater impact by giving together–models and structures created largely through the advent of women’s philanthropy.

A rich tradition that doesn’t require a rich bank account to make a big difference.

Grantmaking through a giving circle: inspiring, intense, and lively!

Posted on by Debbi Lindenberg

Last Monday, I met with 12 other women for three hours and discussed our shared goal: improving the lives of young women in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

This might sound like wishful thinking, but it was much more than that.  We are members of The Women’s Foundation’s Rainmakers Giving Circle and have pooled our charitable contributions in order to make a bigger impact than we would by writing individual checks.

Our task on Monday was to review and sort through 34 proposals from nonprofit organizations seeking funding from our circle and narrow the field to those we want to consider further and visit.  It was daunting, but we were up for the challenge.

I left the meeting feeling overwhelmed by the vast needs of so many at-risk populations in this area but, at the same time, exhilarated by the circle’s collective energy and humbled and inspired by the good work of the 34 organizations we reviewed.

This is my fourth year as a Rainmaker, and the proposal review meeting is my favorite part of the grantmaking process.  I love the free flowing sharing of ideas, as well as the dynamic and organic nature of the discussion. The conversations take unexpected twists and turns, are always lively and sometimes intense, but never contentious.

Many questions are raised, discussed, partially resolved, discussed again and sometimes even left unanswered.

Do we want to find the “diamond in the rough” where our money will help a program get off the ground?  Or should we support an established organization with a strong track record and add our name to a reputable list of funders?  Should we decline a prior grantee organization that seems to be having managerial problems?  Or stick with it so as not to abandon the organization at a fragile time?  Does a particular issue push our buttons, tug at our heartstrings and compel us to say, "Yes!…Let’s keep that organization on our list"?  Or, should we ignore our emotions and just look at the statistics?

These questions and many others make the review process exciting, frustrating and, ultimately, rewarding.

The Rainmakers have a few requirements for the proposals, such as the age of the target population and a specific geographic focus, but we have a lot of discretion in reaching our decisions—and that discretion generates rich debate.  I have learned that grantmaking is an art,  not a science, and the life experiences of each member as well as the “pulse” of the circle as a whole make a tremendous impact on the decisions that we reach.

By the close of our meeting, we had narrowed our 34 organizations to eight that will remain on the docket and receive site visits in the next phase of our grantmaking process.

We didn’t raise our hands to vote or record our preferences on pieces of paper that were tallied.  Instead, we reached our decisions by consensus, ultimately selecting a slate of organizations that likely does not match any one individual member’s dream list of organizations, but represents the collective thinking of our giving circle.

Since we have joined together to leverage our charitable giving, I can’t think of a more fitting or satisfying result.

Debbi Lindenberg is co-chair of the Rainmakers Giving Circle.  In her professional life, she is an attorney working as a grantmaking consultant to foundations.

Rainmakers giving circle inspired me to do more on behalf of LGBT youth.

Posted on by Heather Kaye

I recently hosted a reception at my home to introduce my friends to the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), an organization I learned about through my participation in The Women’s Foundation’s Rainmakers giving circle.

I loved doing the event.  SMYAL is such a worthy organization, and I had never heard of it before I was assigned to do a site visit last year for Rainmakers. I was totally taken with the fact that I knew so little about how at risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT ) youth are in this community. 

I really wanted to do the "friend" raiser to educate people about this.  It was very successful, with 25 or so attendees that are now better educated about LGBT issues, have new friends and had great conversations about how to get some political types involved in Arlington.  Many said they would volunteer and stay involved!

At the reception, four staff members spoke for SMYAL, discussing the intricacies of how SMYAL helps gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth in our area become healthy, happy and productive members of our community.  SMYAL has been serving LGBT youth for over 24 years, providing a variety of services and opportunities including counseling, mentoring, social activities, HIV education and prevention support and serving as a vocal advocate for LGBT youth throughout our region.

These services are more important than ever as kids are coming out and dealing with their sexual orientation at a much earlier age. Yet, they are still subject to rejection by family and friends and face violence and emotional abuse, resulting in far too much homelessness and suicide.

These issues struck me deeply and I wanted to provide a way for my friends to learn about this as well, and to provide an opportunity for them to get more involved if they’d like.

If you’re interested in getting involved, please let me know!

Heather Kaye is a member of the Rainmakers giving circle.  The Rainmakers made a grant of $10,000 to SMYAL in 2007.  In her professional life, Heather is the owner of Invision, LLC.

Philanthropy resting more and more on women's shoulders.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

What makes women’s philanthropy different from general philanthropy?  This is something we often discuss here at The Women’s Foundation, informally, in giving circle meetings, at Philanthropy 101 sessions.

So what fun to see an article today really try to break it down.  Michael A. MacDowell wrote a guest column yesterday for the Press & Sun Bulletin in New York called "Women to take on more responsibility through philanthropy."

In  his column, MacDowell explains how it has come to be that philanthropy is largely, and increasingly, dominated by women.   He writes, "Today, the odds are good that the majority of the people in the United States with altruistic intentions are women…Simply stated, there are 6 million more women than men in the country. Plus, more women hold an undergraduate degree or a higher diploma than their counterparts, and 57 percent of today’s enrollment in institutions of higher education are female…In 2005…46.3 percent of the nation’s wealthiest people were women…With combined assets of $6.3 trillion, their wealth has increased 50 percent in seven years."

Not to mention that over the next 50 years, women will control most of the $41 trillion expected to pass from generation to generation.

That sounds like some pretty serious money to me.

So that tells us where the influence of women in philanthropy is coming from.  But do women really give differently?  According to MacDowell, yes.

First of all, he says, women tend to listen to other women philanthropists more for advice about their giving.  Whether on a large scale–i.e. being influenced by Oprah or Maya Angelou, or on a small scale, such as what we see here at The Women’s Foundation with women meeting, networking and talking about their giving through giving circles, Washington 100, the 1K Club, Philanthropy 101s or the other avenues that encourage women not only to give–but to give smart.

And, according to the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University, women do think differently about their giving:

  •  Women tend to be more cautious in their contributions, researching organizations more carefully than do men;
  • Women emphasize giving to individuals, rather than brick-and-mortar projects, as a result of a deeply held belief that individuals make a difference;
  • Women’s political and economic views are as diverse as men’s, but they tend to make decisions based more on anecdotal information and intuitive knowledge; and,
  • Women tend to be more "tactile" in their giving patterns. They like to see, and in some ways, participate, in the philanthropic activities which they support.

As with any generalizations made about any group of people, one could analyze, dissect and discuss whether these trends are an accurate reflection of  the diversity of women’s giving.

But perhaps the more important question around women’s giving is whether women will not only continue to establish themselves as a philanthropic force, but whether they will focus their giving on investments in other women. 

The success of the Women Moving Millions campaign, as well as of local women’s foundations and the organizations they support, will be very telling in this regard.

We can only hope that as women continue to carry an increasing portion of the burden in philanthropy on their shoulders that women and girls in local communities and around the world will find themselves being lifted up.

Change up your lunch routine, and learn how to change up our community.

Posted on by Lynn Parseghian

The 2006 Leadership Luncheon convinced me that I needed to get involved with The Women’s Foundation.

I have never seen so many dynamic women — so powerfully and passionately committed to helping other women — all in one place at the same time!

Since then, I have joined The Women’s Foundation’s Rainmakers Giving Circle. Members of the Rainmakers learn about the needs of young women in our community and engage directly with organizations that support them.

The Women’s Foundation provides so many different paths for engagement in the community, and if you’re looking for ways to do so, the Leadership Luncheon is a great place to start.