Washington

What difference do nonprofits make in our community?

Posted on by Chuck Bean

This is the question that we tried to answer in our recently released report, Beyond Charity: Recognizing Return on Investment, on how the nonprofit community impacts Greater Washington.  Beyond Charity reveals some of the many ways in which local nonprofits raise the quality of life for all of us, and are the lifelines to our most vulnerable neighbors.

What I would like to write about, however, is not our findings, but rather the reasons why we even launched the inquiry.

We already knew that when people give, they give with their hearts. But, does doing the right thing also make economic sense? Is an investment in a local nonprofit an investment in your community?

When the Nonprofit Roundtable first raised these questions over a year ago, we could not find any reports that attempted to document and add up evidence of nonprofit return on investment. The data that was available was either on the impact of a single organization or of a group of organizations on a single issue.

So, in partnership with the World Bank Group, we embarked on an effort to create a fuller picture by recording the return on investment of a wide range of nonprofits. We reached out to our 175 members – to more than a dozen area foundations and to dozens of other nonprofit organizations and experts. We imagined the power of a report that would sincerely begin to answer how nonprofits make a difference.

Washington Area Women’s Foundation was a big help and many of the examples in the report are of their Grantee Partners.

Of course, no one sets out to issue a report that sits on a bookshelf. Our hope is that Beyond Charity has multiple uses:

  • To create a baseline picture of the difference nonprofits make across the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.
  • To deepen the nonprofit community’s own understanding of our value and the importance of tracking return on investment. 
  • To create a common understanding among government, business, nonprofit and community leaders about the impact of nonprofits in order that we may work together more effectively on our region’s problems and aspirations.

We hope that as you read Beyond Charity, you are inspired to act.

Do you see a new opportunity to work collaboratively?  Are there community leaders who you believe really need to understand the impact of nonprofits and the expertise of nonprofit leaders? And, do you have your own example of nonprofit return on investment? If so, let us know!

Here’s our punch-line: when government, business, and concerned citizens partner with nonprofits – everyone profits!

Chuck Bean is executive director of The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington.

Phyllis will lead with purpose and passion!

Posted on by Deb Gandy

I’m so thrilled to welcome Phyllis as the next leader of The Women’s Foundation!

Phyllis and I share a number of common grounds, from careers in the banking industry, to long-time residency in the Washington metropolitan area, and our personal dedication to the women and girls of our region.

That’s why we’re so proud to welcome her as our new leader!  Success in this role requires talent, experience and expertise—which Phyllis has in abundance.  With more than 20 years of professional experience in sales and management and a decade of focus on community development and housing initiatives in low and moderate- income communities, Phyllis is the perfect fit to lead The Women’s Foundation.

Moreover, Phyllis has that crucial spark that defines The Women’s Foundation: passion.

Her membership in Washington 100 predates her appointment to President, as does her long-standing history with personal philanthropy and dedication to social change.

Phyllis gets it. She understands giving, our community, and the importance of investing in women and girls. Her passion, combined with her knowledge and expertise of how to bring partners together and generate community investments that build long-term social change, are sure to inspire us all!

Welcome, Phyllis! We all look forward to working with you to change the lives of women and girls, our community, and ourselves!

Deb Gandy is the chair of The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and a director with Citi Private Bank.

Reponse to D.C.'s HIV epidemic must focus on realities of women.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

HIV has reached epidemic levels here in Washington, D.C., reports Susan Levine in today’s Washington Post.

Levine writes, "The first statistics ever amassed on HIV in the District, released today in a sweeping report, reveal "a modern epidemic" remarkable for its size, complexity and reach into all parts of the city.  The numbers most starkly illustrate HIV’s impact on the African American community. More than 80 percent of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 were among black men, women and adolescents. Among women who tested positive, a rising percentage of local cases, nine of 10 were African American."

Combine this with what our Portrait Project found in 2003, and it’s clear that D.C.’s HIV epidemic has a lot to gain by looking specifically at strategies that impact women.  The Portrait Project found that the District of Columbia has a higher incidence (new cases) of AIDS among women than anywhere else in the country. The rate of new AIDS cases among adolescent and adult women in the District of Columbia is 10 times the national rate." 

In response to the new report, Levine reports, "The administration said it wants to use the report to begin asking and answering, "What next?" Given the scope of HIV and AIDS in the District, health leaders say they can’t focus on just one aspect of the disease or one at-risk group."

I hope that this means that they will be focusing on multiple at-risk groups, and designing targeted strategies for each–and that among the top priorities will be strategies to address the growth of the epidemic among women, and particularly African American women. 

Because, as is evident from previous work focusing on women and girls and teen pregnancy, investing in strategies that address the specific needs of women and girls works–particularly when it comes to matters of health.

According to the National Institutes of Health, HIV isn’t just a problem for women in terms of the statistics and their risk to infection.  It also poses different, and specific health threats to them once contracted.  Just some of the factors that mean that HIV impacts women differently than men in terms of exposure to the virus and health risks afterwards:

  • Women are particularly vulnerable to heterosexual transmission of HIV due to substantial mucosal exposure to seminal fluids. This biological fact amplifies the risk of HIV transmission when coupled with the high prevalence of non-consensual sex, sex without condom use, and the unknown and/or high-risk behaviors of their partners.
  • Women suffer from the same complications of AIDS that afflict men, but also suffer gender-specific manifestations of HIV disease, such as recurrent vaginal yeast infections, severe pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and an increased risk of precancerous changes in the cervix including probable increased rates of cervical cancer. Women also exhibit different characteristics from men for many of the same complications of antiretroviral therapy, such as metabolic abnormalities.
  • Frequently, women with HIV infection have great difficulty accessing health care and carry a heavy burden of caring for children and other family members who may also be HIV-infected. They often lack social support and face other challenges that may interfere with their ability to obtain or adhere to treatment.

Further, Advocates for Youth, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization, cites specific behavioral risks to African-American women that put them at greater risk for acquiring HIV.

The additional risks and realities relevant particularly to women in curbing this epidemic are therefore biological, social and economic–and must be addressed that way. 

We have the information to do so.  Now we just need the will to dedicate the resources to using that information to develop strategies that truly address the needs and challenges facing women–and putting them at risk of contracting HIV. 

We have to see this not only as a health issue, but as a social and economic problem.  As a reflection not only of behavioral factors, but of often unseen and little understood power dynamics and pressures.   Pressures that can often only be seen through the eyes of the women facing them. 

There are a number of organizations throughout our region who are looking at HIV in this way, and addressing the specific needs of women who are at-risk of, or have been exposed to, HIV.  Organizations like the D.C. Women’s Collective (a Grantee Partner). 

We can only hope that this latest study will lead to an increased motivation on the part of our local government and other actors to do the same, and to approach the HIV epidemic in this area from a true gender lens.

This is, perhaps, the most efficient, and surest way to turn back the epidemic.  For if women are at the most risk from it, they are most likely the best people to put at the front lines in fighting it.  It’s our job to see that they’re properly armed.

From Texas to Tchad to Takoma, investing in women works.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Becky Sykes, Executive Director of the Dallas Women’s Foundation, wrote in the Dallas Morning News last week that when you help a woman, there’s a ripple effect.

Spoken like a true international development specialist, often quoted as saying, "To educate a woman is to educate a family," or other statements that tie the welfare of women to the welfare of families, and, by default, entire communities.

But Sykes accurately ties this accepted aspect of work developing communities abroad to the work of women’s foundations operating in communities throughout the U.S. 

Because the same principles that apply internationally to developing communities and the status of women also apply here at home, even if they are harder for us to see. 

Sykes writes, "International development studies and projects have shown time and again that an investment in women – more than any other – is the fastest and surest way to affect an entire community.  Here in North Texas, we often mistakenly assume that the needs of women and girls are not as critical as in other, less fortunate communities. What a dangerously incorrect assumption."

Sykes notes the realities that make this true for Dallas, and our region is no different.  Our Portrait Project has shown that in the Washington metropolitan area:

  • Women-headed households, especially those headed by single mothers, suffer disproportionately from the region’s growing poverty.  In the District of Columbia, 30% of women-headed families live in poverty – above the national average and the highest in the region.
  • Women still earn less than their male counterparts. In Fairfax County, where the discrepancy is largest, men’s annual median earnings outpace women’s by $18,700. 
  • In 2000, in the District of Columbia, women-headed families at the median income ($26,500) could afford to buy only 8% of homes in the city. Many families are faced with childcare expenses that consistently exceed earnings. For example, the estimated cost of childcare in Montgomery County for an infant and a preschooler is $15,329, more than one-third of the median income for women-headed families in that county.
  • Despite the improvement in the rates of teen pregnancy, communities in our region still lag behind in infant-mortality rates, a key indicator of healthy pregnancies. The District of Columbia and Prince George’s County have the highest infant mortality rates in the region.
  • The District of Columbia has a higher incidence (new cases) of AIDS among women than anywhere else in the country. The rate of new AIDS cases among adolescent and adult women in the District of Columbia is 10 times the national rate.

As Sykes explains, " When you see women in trouble like this, it is often an early warning signal of deeper, growing problems. Because, just as helping a woman has a ripple effect, so does letting her sink into poverty and disenfranchisement."

Luckily, there is another side to this story, one of communities coming together to invest in programs and work that supports women, lifts families out of poverty and creates stronger cities, neighborhoods and regions for all of us. 

And when they do, the level of impact and transformation they achieve can be astounding.

That’s the work of foundations and funds like The Women’s Foundation that are operating throughout the country and world. 

As Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations has noted repeatedly, "Study after study has taught us that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, or to reduce infant and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health—including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation."

Just as these problems are not unique to countries and communities abroad, neither are the solutions.  The power of Investing in women is a principle that is just in true in Mauritania as it is in Maryland. 

Ready to invest in the single most effective strategy for improving your community?  If you’re in the Washington metropolitan area, learn more about The Power of Giving Together.

Elsewhere, visit the Women’s Funding Network to find a women’s foundation or fund near you.

From single mom to nonprofit CEO…a journey of perseverence.

Posted on by DeVonna Petree

This post is the first in a series from DeVonna on her experience as a single mother and the joys and challenges of starting a nonprofit.

In the summer of 2002, I discovered that I was pregnant.  My child’s father made it very clear that he would take care of his responsibilities but he did not want to be in an exclusive relationship.

Talking about somebody crushed!  I was devastated!  It felt like my whole world was coming to an end!

Never in a million years would I think that I would be somebody’s “baby mother.”  I yearned for a family setting and had dreams of being married with a white picket fence, a dog and one or two kids!

The thought of not having the life I envisioned didn’t sit with me too well.  I also felt that I was taking the easy way out because there were preconceived notions by many people that I wouldn’t amount to anything. I can remember so vividly certain things that my family would say to me. For example, you are going to be just like your mother–a drug addict–or you are going to be pregnant before you graduate from high school.

But I used words like that as my motivation to break the cycles of dysfunctional families.

On January 6, 2003, I gave birth to my daughter.  I loved my child, but being a mother felt like a chore instead of parenting. I had sleepless nights, moments that I would forget to eat and moments that I felt as if my life was over.

I had nothing and the little bit of self-esteem I had left slowly drifted away. The day my daughter turned three months I looked her in her eyes and said “I promise that we will be in our own place for your first Christmas!”

From that day forth, I channeled all of my pain into determination. I started to set goals and never looked back. It’s amazing because the goals that were so major to me back then seem so small right now. I had goals such as:

I will have a job by the time my daughter turns 6 months
I will pay off my credit card debt within the first 2 months of working
I will be in my own apartment by my daughter’s first Christmas
I will have furnished my apartment within the first two months
I will have my driver’s license by my 21st Birthday
I will save 10 percent of my income for a rainy day
I will save my income taxes to purchase a reliable car
I will go back to school

I put copies of my goals on the kitchen refrigerator, bathroom door, my daughter’s crib and more.

I accomplished each goal, but two accomplishments stand out the most: obtaining my first real corporate job and moving into my first apartment.

When I got my first job through a temp agency, as soon as I hung up the phone, I jumped and screamed at the top of my lungs! I already had a sitter lined up. I just didn’t know how I was going to get the money to get to work. My aunt gave me her last $10.00 and said, “DeVonna I am very proud of you.”

 I did my work with pride and was like a sponge.  I wanted to learn everything!

I used my first few paychecks to pay off my credit card debt so I wouldn’t have a problem getting approved for my apartment.  On October 1, 2003, I moved into my first apartment.

It wasn’t the best neighborhood, but it was something that I could afford and call my own. I decorated and tried my best to make it feel like a home. I didn’t have a car so it was very difficult to get acclimated to catching the bus with my child. I would get up 5:30 in the morning.  I would catch a bus to the metro and another bus from the metro to get to the baby sitter’s house. The same bus that took me to the corner of the sitter’s house turned around within six minutes to take me back to the metro so I could catch the train to work.

Though I was able to accomplish each one of my goals, it still wasn’t appeasing to me! 

When I would pray to God, He would say, "I would like for you to make a difference in this world…give back to your community.”

This marinated in my heart for approximately a year.  One night, I couldn’t sleep.  I tossed and turned all night long.

I felt this strange feeling in my heart, so I closed my eyes gently and slowly, tilted my head back and recalled all that I’ve known.  I began to dream, while imagining things unseen.

I figured out my life’s mission: to restore positive attributes into the lives of low-income, single mothers and at-risk youth! I called the organization Tyunin’s Breakthrough, Inc. after my mother, who is striving to overcome her drug addiction. I believe that this organization is her breakthrough to positively impact the lives of women and girls!

DeVonna Petree is CEO of Tyunin’s Breakthrough, which focuses on restoring joy, strength, and growth opportunities into the lives of low income single mothers and at-risk youth located in the D.C. metropolitan area.  Tyunin’s Breakthrough is not a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, and is not officially associated with The Women’s Foundation.

Women Moving Millions: What giving a million gave me in return.

Posted on by Julie Jensen

Today marks a huge day in women’s philanthropy—the official launch of the National Women Moving Millions campaign.

This campaign is the first time that women’s funds from around the world have come together—through the Women’s Funding Network—to raise more than $150 million for women’s funds around the world.  From women giving $1 million each.  In all, the campaign is designed to infuse women’s philanthropy with enough money to bring its totals to the $1 billion range.

But the campaign holds special meaning for me, since $1 million was my first significant gift to any organization, and it was a big step. My $1 million gift was an investment in Washington Area Women’s Foundation, and I sincerely believe that it changed me as much as it changed them.

Neither of us were very seasoned at the time, in 2004. They were a young organization still, and it was the first time they made a really big ask of a donor. And it was the first time I stepped up to really act upon my vision, on my true passion not only to give, but to really shift my community.

It felt bold, it felt daring, and it felt risky when I made my $1 million contribution to Stepping Stones, an initiative with a range of strategies to create self-sufficiency for women, especially single mothers.

A new initiative. An untested initiative.

I had no idea if it would work. I only knew that as a single mother who went to law school when it was tough for women to do so, it felt right to invest in other single mothers, women who may not have the resources I did.

Today I think back on that gift, and I remember my thinking when I made it. How I had just read Rambam’s Ladder by Julie Salamon and learned of the Eight Stages of Giving, or the rungs on the ladder.

Salamon provides a thoughtful exploration of each one of Rambam’s steps, from the lowest kind of charity-giving (begrudgingly), to the highest form–the gift of self-reliance, so that the recipient, through a loan or a job, will not have to ask for help again. 

The highest rung is all about charitable actions aimed at breaking the poverty cycle and enabling the poor to establish themselves as independent and productive members of society.

But many things were flying around in my head.  How much to give?  How do we know if our gifts are being used wisely?  Is it better to give anonymously? 

Rambam argued that giving at the highest level often requires that you don’t remain anonymous. So I made the decision to actually use my name.

This gift went far beyond writing a check. It was a way of seizing my own power, of taking responsibility for a significant decision and investment, and it required me to jump in, to learn, to become an incremental part of the success of this initiative.

Today, Stepping Stones is on fire. It’s changing lives every day, providing women with training and access to jobs, the opportunity to save money and buy their own homes. The women emerging from programs funded by Stepping Stones are changing the landscape of their own lives, and of our entire community.

When I sit and listen to the stories of women who have transformed their lives by entering fields in construction or law enforcement, fields they never thought they’d be capable of entering, I can’t help but see myself in their stories.

Because whether you’re a philanthropist or a single mom working towards a better future for your family, we are all changed when we do something outside of our comfort zones, bigger in scope than anything we’ve ever done before.

Women Moving Millions is so exciting for me not only because it’s a first, and it’s bigger than anything anyone has ever imaged for women’s philanthropy, but because I see such potential in the women who will emerge, many for the first time, to step up and invest their success, their wealth, their resources, their voice—with power, with certainty, with impact—in other women.

I know the adventure that awaits them, and I can see, just from my experience here in Washington with The Women’s Foundation and Stepping Stones, the rippling impact that this is going to have on our communities, on our country, on the world.

Women’s philanthropy—and the power it has to change lives and communities—is about to be lit on fire. And we’re all about to feel the warmth and light of it.

Cultural relevancy half the battle in fighting teen pregnancy.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Earlier this week, there was hopeful news about the declining national and local teen pregnancy and birth rates.

Among the areas that still merited attention and focus, however, were culturally appropriate strategies for educating young men and women about healthy reproductive health choices.

For instance, while rates are declining among many populations, including African Americans, teen pregnancy rates among Latinas continue to rise.

The reason why? 

Applying the same approaches and strategies to Latinas that are applied to black and white communities isn’t working.

Translating a message into Spanish doesn’t necessary mean that it’s going to get across if other cultural factors aren’t taken into account–a reality discussed in an article in Newsweek this week, "Learning to ‘Think Twice’: A new salvo in the fight to prevent Latino teen pregnancy."

Alvaro Simmons, COO of Washington, D.C.’s Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), explains in the article that Latinos who are closer to their parents tend to delay sex, and engage in safer sex practices, due to an ingrained respect for elders that is part of Hispanic culture, as an example.

"Literature shows that this concept is unique to the Latino community," Simmons says.  "It is one [teen-pregnancy] intervention that works when tested against other communities. "

The article, and the work being done by Mary’s Center and other innovative organizations that are applying a researched, gender and cultural lens to the issue of teen pregnancy, are a great reminder of the importance of investing in social change strategies that take into account realities specific to culture, gender, geography, etc. to achieve marked impact.

Otherwise, even the best-laid efforts and intentions can be lost in translation.

Drop in teen pregnancy rates shows power of investing in women and girls.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

According to today’s Washington Post, there’s good news to celebrate for our region’s women and girls–a declining teen pregnancy rate over the past decade.

In Washington, D.C., Arlington and Prince George’s County, teen pregnancy and birth rates have markedly declined–along with those around the nation–and have inspired hope that programs aimed at young people–and especially young women–are working.

A few take-aways from the article:

  • Investing in issues that impact women and girls works.  For everyone.
  • To be effective, efforts require a unified effort across communities.
  • Investing in messages and work that protects the health and well-being of women and girls does inspire marked behavior change.
  • Efforts to truly impact diverse communities, such as Latinas, where rates are, unfortunately, still rising, requires approaches that view challenges, problems and program design through a culturally appropriate lens.
  • Providing information and access to health care to young women leads to wise decision-making.

In all, a very hopeful picture about the power of investing in women and girls.

But there still remains much work to be done, particularly in our region.  In Montgomery County, teen birth rates crept up this summer.  Alexandria’s teen birthrate increased over the past decade, and experienced only a minimal decline in its teen pregnancy rate.  Rates among Latinas are rising.

Overall, however, a hopeful picture of how investing in programs, messages and people that improve the health and well-being of women and girls does lead to positive change that impacts not only those women and girls, but their families and entire community.

A great message to carry with me as I prepare for Thursday’s Leadership Awards meeting, where a group of volunteers who have been working for the past few months to evaluate and learn more about innovative, effective nonprofits that are impacting the health and safety of our region’s women and girls, will award eight of them with a Leadership Award of up to $10,000.

The news from this article is a great note on which to finish up our efforts this year–and to remember that the decisions we make about how we invest our money, and the organizations and issues that we support, do have a defining impact on the health of our community.

It’s nice to have a voice in work that’s really making a difference.

The Leadership Awards committee is just one of many ways that you can be involved in the work of changing women’s lives through The Women’s Foundation.  Learn more.

Reflections on a transformative Leadership Luncheon!

Posted on by Sherell

I find it hard to believe that the big day, our most anticipated event, the 2007 Leadership Luncheon, has come and gone. 

The luncheon followed an invigorating and positively inspirational morning thanks to the Community Briefing with Assistant Chief Groomes, Department Commander Cheryl Pendergast, Camille Cormier, Director of Local Programs and Policy at Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW); and Tamieka Bridgett, a trainee preparing for a career in law enforcement through WOW’s program, the energy of the Luncheon began filling the atmosphere.

As I watched a diverse crowd of hundreds flow into the ballroom and our panelists preparing for their positions, it was a great reminder that there are still women and men out there, fighting the good fight, and believing in the power of giving together. The crowd was filled with families, friends, couples, volunteers, college students, and individuals from all walks of life.

One woman stopped me to remark on the energy, how she was just so excited and couldn’t believe all the energy she felt in the ballroom. From the Mystic Mayhem’s awesome dance moves, to the heartwarming and inspiring video of our Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) graduates, and the many powerful speeches given, the day was one to be remembered.

As I scanned the expansive ballroom floor filled with roundtables of over 1,500 individuals, transformation was evident in every way, shape, and form. As The Women’s Foundation is transitioning towards more growth in our community, partners, and philanthropic education, our Grantee Partners’ clients are transitioning towards better jobs, better wages, a life replacing despair with hope for them and their children.

As I reflect, "metamorphosis" was an appropriate theme for a year filled of growth and renewed energy!

For me, the luncheon was a time to reflect, educate the community on our work at The Women’s Foundation, emphasize the impact that investing in women and girls has, and celebrate our work and the uniqueness of it (incorporating a gender lens, recognizing and highlighting the importance of women in nontraditional occupations, etc).

I’m thankful for all the participants, attendees, volunteers, board, staff, and the countless others who put their effort, time, and resources into this event to make October 10 a big success. I can’t wait to see next year’s luncheon–it can only get bigger and better!

Become part of our expanding community of people, corporations, nonprofits and community leaders investing in women and girls.  There is a place for everyone at The Women’s Foundation.  Find yours today, and help us get to a record-breaking $1 million by October 24th!

Leadership Luncheon '07: The power of the collective!

Posted on by Camille Cormier

I just want to thank all of you again for the wonderful opportunities that have and will come out of our Women in the Protective Services project being featured at yesterday’s Community Briefing. 

As an example of the power of the collaborative that ensues from being connected to The Women’s Foundation, a program officer from a family foundation approached me afterwards and indicated her serious interest in the project.  We’ll be meeting soon.

This combined with other audience interest and connections I made or strengthened at the VIP reception will just be great for the project, I’m sure.

The entire day went off just about flawlessly, I thought, as usual.  My congratulations to all at The Women’s Foundation!

Camille Cormier is director of local programs and policy at Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.  WOW’s Women in the Protective Services program was featured as the discussion topic of this year’s Community Briefing.  WOW is also a partner of Washington Area Women in the Trades, whose work was featured at this year’s Leadership Luncheon.  You can see the video here.

Ready to join the power of giving together?  There are three ways that you can help support nonprofits like WOW, and others doing amazing work, through The Women’s Foundation.