Leadership

New Year, New Promise!

Posted on by Julie Jensen
All at Washingtonian

Yesterday the Willard Ballroom was packed with Washingtonians of The Year honorees past and present – including our own Anne Mosle – breaking bread as they celebrated their collective contributions to the city. 

This was the 30th luncheon honoring 30 years of Washingtonians, and as Anne pointed out, the luncheon stretched, "Back to when DC first received home rule and a new mayor, when Richard Nixon was president and there was no e-mail." 

The awards were created by the publishers of the Washingtonian to provide a meaningful way to honor the leaders that make Washington such a vibrant place. It was a luncheon unlike others in the city, with the past and the present coming together over their shared concern and commitment to a better future. 

I was inspired by the people around me, just as I am inspired by Anne’s vision and The Women’s Foundation’s commitment to serving women and girls in our region.

Yesterday, the Willard held history while looking to the future–the tradition of possibility ignited by leadership.  In looking around that room, I saw some of the leaders who will guide the community’s growth and transformation.

And in looking out across the many partners that enliven The Women’s Foundation’s mission, I find many more leaders who will create and sustain the community we create together.

Thanks, Anne, for making D.C. a better place for us all!

Posted on by Donna Callejon

 A Message from Donna Callejon, Board Chair , The Women’s Foundation 

As Board Chair of The Women’s Foundation, I am honored to share with the The Women’s Foundation community, that our very own Anne Mosle has been selected as a 2006 Washingtonian of The Year.  Read the story here! 
Anne is being recognized for her singular vision, inspiring leadership and profound commitment to meeting the needs of women and girls in the D.C. metropolitan area. This honor is a terrific affirmation of what we all have known for so long: that Anne’s leadership has been a key component in the success of The Women’s Foundation and our partners, making the D.C. region better for all of us… one woman, one girl and one family at a time.
 
As Anne is always the first to say, The Women’s Foundation’s success is due to the many grantee partners, donors, staff, board members and friends who share in our mission:  to both build a powerful wave of philanthropy and better serve the needs of low-income women and girls. Under Anne’s leadership each of us has had the opportunity to connect with the work of the foundation while sharing in a vision of the kind of community we can create when we invest – and give – together. 
 
Please join me in congratulating Anne by sharing your own stories of Anne’s inspiring leadership by commenting on this blog! 
 
The Women’s Foundation also extends its sincere congratulations to this year’s other Washingtonians of the Year: Vivian G. Bass, Jacquelyn Davis, Ricardo Drumond, Jatrice Martel Gaiter, Natwar M. Gandhi, Jean Guiffré, Terrence D. Jones, James Larranaga, Joseph Mornini, Charlene R. Nunley, Earl A. Powell III, Andrea Roane, Zainab Salbi, W. Christopher Smith Jr. and Keely Thompson Jr.

Philanthropic leaders salute Stepping Stones!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Philanthropic leaders gathered today at the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers Annual Meeting had many different opinions and thoughts on issues of local and national poverty, but they all seemed to agree that The Women’s Foundation’s Stepping Stones program is to be lauded as an effective, innovative leader in transforming lives.

In a discussion on sustainable, meaningful efforts to address poverty, Ralph Smith, Senior Vice President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, called Stepping Stones an "amazing effort" and stated, "Those supporting that effort should be congratulated, because you’re pointing the way."

Patricia McGuire, President of Trinity (Washington) University and one of The Washingtonian’s "100 Most Powerful Women of Washington," thanked The Women’s Foundation for its work on building the financial skills of area women, a primary component of Stepping Stones. She noted that the Stepping Stones approach is an important and effective one because it addresses poverty by moving from charity to investments that empower people to sustain change in their own lives.

To learn more about why Stepping Stones is viewed as a leading model in addressing poverty and empowering women and their families, check out the program’s latest report, Stepping Stones 2006: Paving Women’s Pathways to Economic Security. It explains how 5,500 women saved nearly $3 million while shedding more than $72,000 in personal debt, and more!

Welcome and Thanks!

Posted on by Donna Callejon

Let me add my voice of welcome to Anne’s. I’m Donna Callejon and Chair the Board of Directors of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation. Whew, it’s been quite a couple of months for the team at the Foundation – Thanks to all of you who joined us at the annual Leadership Luncheon. Our team has been getting ready for this signature event, refining our metrics around Stepping Stones, bringing together donors, grantees and partners for a variety of convenings, and relaunching this website.

In my “day job” I work in the web philanthropy world, and so I am thrilled to be one of many faces and voices of The Women’s Foundation posting on this blog. To have the kind of vibrant community committed to investing in women and girls we need to be active – offline every day, and online every day. This is not your grandmother’s women’s foundation! Let me tell you about some of the women who make up The Women’s Foundation.

Lisa Ross, Senior Vice President at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, was a founding member of The Women’s Foundation board. While her hair is less “big” than it was in the past (that’s a picture of her from a few years back on the right), her commitment hasn’t wavered. She’s a rock star in the strategy and communications world and she rocks. Nancy Navarro was one of our first Grantee Partners. She co-founded Centro Familia. Nancy is now a member of the Montgomery County Board of Education, serving the 180,000 kids in that district.

Marjorie Sims, currently Vice President of Programs and Operations at the Foundation, was a founding Board member….and then she left us for LA for a few years. And when she said she’d come back as a senior member of the team, we could NOT have been more over the moon. She is a star – a thinker, a doer, a leader.

Cathy Isaacson is a relative newcomer to The Women’s Foundation, but she has made her mark quickly. A lawyer who returned to Washington just a few years ago, Cathy jumped in, became part of our Development Committee, and joined the Board two years ago. Cathy is always asking the best questions, making the best connections, and living and breathing The Women’s Foundation – whether in Washington, or on the road.

Let’s talk about Linda Butler. She is the Leadership Luncheon video. Now this is what we are all about. Linda is a single mom who broke free of the bounds of a dysfunctional family, and from frustration and poverty, working with Grantee Partner Northern Virginia Family Service’s Training Futures program. Linda now is a shining example of what is possible. And that’s what we are all about.

Finally, let me highlight Charlotte Perret. Charlotte, the quiet philanthropist. She’s the one who provided an angel gift of $50,000 – and all donations made by people who attended the lunch (or their friends) in the next month, will generate 2 times their contribution…thanks to Charlotte. Matching Angel. That’s sweet.

Come back and visit, tell us your story, give us your feedback. We are open for business on this website and we are all about this – the POWER of Giving Together.

Shake up and Wake up

Posted on by Mosely

We are in need of a complete shake-up and wake-up in terms of what we expect from our leaders and what we will accept. The recent news of Representative Foley is sickening and the response on Capitol Hill is beyond maddening. This is the guy that was in charge of setting the policy agenda for protecting all of our children.

Shining a red-hot light on such predatory behavior wherever it happens is the first step to accountability. And holding powerful people’s feet to the fire is key.

Highlighting leaders and organizations that are actually working to protect the rights and safety of our girls and boys is part of the solution. To buoy your belief in human nature, here are just a few examples of what I would call real leadership:

Elizabeth Jones – who broke the cycle of poverty, graduated from the police academy and is now a police officer in Washington, DC. She has just celebrated the graduation of her daughter from college.

Veronica Nolan – who works 24/7 at the Urban Alliance Foundation to provide critical support and mentoring to young mothers raising their kids and staying in school to complete their nursing degree.

Gustavo Torres – and his entire team at CASA of MD that are not afraid to speak out and provide job and worker rights trainings for hundreds of Latinas and Latinos.

Barbara Fox Mason – who built the Child and Family Network Centers from scratch to ensure that our most vulnerable children have access to early education opportunities – even when there is no funding support.

These are the leaders who are the backbone of our community, and quite frankly our country. Wouldn’t it be great to turn the table upside down and see leaders like Elizabeth, Veronica, Gustavo and Barbara set the agenda.