Jennifer Bennett, Impact San Antonio
Impact San Antonio brings women together to provide substantial grants to nonprofit organizations in the Greater San Antonio community through the power of collective philanthropy.
We recently spoke to Jennifer Bennett, President of Impact San Antonio and invited her thoughts on their current efforts!
What’s the most interesting effort your circle is focusing on right now?
One of our goals is to educate our membership on the needs in our community and to do it in partnership with other like-minded local organizations. We recently connected with an organization of women of color and are brainstorming topics. We plan to offer the program to the broader community, not just our membership. We hope to spark more action in tackling problems, while also increasing awareness of our organization and encouraging greater diversity of our membership.
What is something your circle is currently challenged by?
We recently reviewed our conflicts of interest policies relating to agency interactions. Through robust debate on options and their implications, our board found a balance to achieving fairness and objectivity, while avoiding unintended consequences. We recognized that too strict a policy would exclude women from serving on our board who serve in executive roles on local nonprofit boards or who work at those agencies. We want experience like that because it will help us improve how we operate and our decision-making.
What Philanos resource has been most helpful to you this year, and why?
The “We Give Summit” in May was a tremendous resource for great ideas and best practices being used by other women’s giving circles that we could apply to our organization. One terrific aspect of my experience was being a presenter with 2 other wonderful ladies on how to grow membership in a pandemic. Through our collaboration I learned about some of their successful approaches that we plan to implement to enhance our member retention and acquisition results.
Honoring Changemakers Among Us The Willoughby and Spotlight Awards October 14, 2021
This year we are excited to announce the Willoughby and Spotlight Award winners at a virtual event on October 14 at 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern. Guest Speaker Sara Lomelin, ED of Philanthropy Together, will help us celebrate these special award winners live and inspire us on how far forward the movement has gone. Philanthropy Together was created by many giving circles, to diversify and democratize philanthropy.
We hope you will join us to honor these amazing women and affiliates among us who are part of our growing network, and are helping to elevate all of our work every day. Register here.
Quotes:
Maureen Romito, Impact Las Vegas
Impact Las Vegas empowers women by giving collectively in a way that positively transforms our community.
We recently spoke to Maureen Romito, Founder and Executive Director of Impact Las Vegas and invited her thoughts on their current efforts!
As an organization, we have primarily operated with a very limited number of volunteers. As Founder, I have been guilty of doing many administrative and operational tasks myself rather than encouraging volunteers. This is changing, however so I have been documenting processes and cross-training board members, but this shift is causing us to focus more on volunteering than we have ever done in the past.
It has been difficult to communicate the reality of this change and for our Membership to understand exactly what it means. Even the board, despite numerous discussions, strategizing, and planning meetings has been slow to realize that the change is happening. Encouraging a larger group of volunteers than we have ever had to do in the past is currently our biggest challenge.
As my final news as Philanos chair, I am delighted to share that during our May board meeting, we had an extraordinary event I want to share.
After a discussion about the number of women who have been nominated for The Willoughby Award, a board member, our founder Colleen Willoughby, made a pledge to endow the award for 5 years. Additionally, retiring board member Dale Clifford made a 10-year endowment pledge, a memorial to her mother, Laura Egerton Lothrop. We are incredibly grateful for their vision and generosity.
Applications for The Willoughby Award are due June 30 and our Spotlight Awards are due July 15. Every affiliate has outstanding leaders and grants, we want to hear about yours.
Philanos Declaration of Unity
We are stronger together.
No member of our society should ever feel threatened, or invisible, or devalued, or experience acts of violence. All people deserve to live full and abundant lives free of prejudice, discrimination, and oppression.
Every characteristic that makes an individual unique—height, weight, physical and mental ability, eye color, ethnicity, education, gender, race, geographic location, religious preference, sexual orientation, and more—is an asset if we choose to believe that.
Our vision is that communities in which women’s collective giving organizations exist are healthier, safer, more equitable, and thriving. This vision can be our community’s reality.
We are committed to equity, diversity, collaboration, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability because therein lies our strength.
Philanos supports philanthropy which is anti-racist and anti-bias through education, resource sharing, training, and open and honest discussions.
Philanos encourages affiliates to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their grantmaking, and to fund organizations whose leadership includes the population they serve in order to recognize and value lived experience.
Women know the power of collaboration and that we are stronger when we advocate for our vision together. Philanos accelerates this collaboration with our affiliates, partner networks and fellow philanthropists.
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Philanthropy Together along with Philanos and other networks are hosting the We Give Summit throughout the month of May!
The We Give Summit is designed to ignite and unite all of us in the powerful movement of collective giving.
Open to giving circle members, philanthropy experts, community leaders, and social impact newcomers, we've been learning, growing, and dreaming together across four weeks in May as we joined sessions centered on this year's theme: Stronger Together. Here's a quick event overview:
If you've been participating, we hope you've been enjoying it so far. If you haven't yet had a chance, it's not too late to join in the learning and fun! See the full schedule and register here.
And, make sure to check-out the Philanos-hosted sessions that have taken place, and those coming up:
Learn, grow, and think big with hundreds of everyday givers during the final weeks of May - join us!
Philanos, the leading women’s giving circle network in the U.S., announces five newly elected board members comprised of women who are members of Philanos affiliate organizations.
“The Philanos board wholeheartedly welcomes these women to the board,” says Jenny Berg, Chair of Nominations. “These are all very skilled women who bring many talents, skills, knowledge and experiences to the board.”
Deepika Andavarapu, AICP, PhDImpact 100 Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Deepika is the founder and CEO of DEEP Consultants. Dr. Andavarapu, who uses she/her pronouns, is an urban planning scholar, community researcher, and evaluator working with government, nonprofits, and other philanthropic organizations. She is a strategic systems thinker designing long-term solutions with an emphasis on results and measuring impact.
Deepika has over sixteen years of experience working with the public sector and philanthropy over many social justice issues. As a researcher, she has produced trailblazing scholarship related to social capital's role in the resilience of disenfranchised communities such as slums. She is a published author, a public speaker and presented her research at a TEDx conference. Dr. Andavarapu is an intersectional scholarly practitioner who brings academic rigor and expertise to the nonprofit world. She designed and implemented rigorous impact evaluations that meet the guidelines of federal and state grants such as CNCS, HRSA, etc. She conducted landscape assessments that included issue mapping, policy mapping, data mapping, and stakeholder interviews to assess the state of knowledge around a topic.
In 2018, Dr. Andavarapu received the Rising Star award by Cincinnati's YWCA and went through rigorous leadership and DEI training. Dr. Andavarapu has held many local and national leadership positions, and she was the first DEI committee chair for Impact 100 Cincinnati. In that role, she led the development of the first-ever DEI strategic plan for the 20-year-old organization. Under her leadership, the organization's diversity more than doubled (2.5% to 6.5%) in three years; today, the organization is working towards incorporating an equity lens into its grant-making process. In 2020, the 400+ members voted DEI as the top priority for the organization. In 2021, under Philanos Leadership, Dr. Andavarapu co-designed and facilitated the first-ever conversations around DEI with six collective giving organizations across the country.
Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County, Columbia, MD
Buffy began her career working for an international human rights organization in Washington, DC. More recently she was the Communications Director at the Maryland Philanthropy Network and is President of her own firm BBS Consulting, working with foundations, nonprofits and political campaigns.
She has come “full circle” by now serving as the first Executive Director of the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County (WGC), having been an original founder 19 years ago, and a past advisory board chair.
Buffy is a co-author of the award-winning book Women & Philanthropy: Boldly Shaping a Better World with Sondra Shaw-Hardy and Martha Taylor, is the author of numerous articles on women’s giving, and has participated in ground-breaking national research on giving circles for the last two decades.
She’s in the “Circle of Excellence” being named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women three times - in 2003, 2008 and 2010 by The Daily Record, and an "Innovator of the Year" in 2004 by The Daily Record, and honored as one of "40 Under 40" in 2004 by the Baltimore Business Journal. She was a first Impact Award Winner in 2012 by The Mall in Columbia and the WGC, and is a 2019 Inductee by the Women’s Commission of Howard County into the Women’s Hall of Fame.
Buffy has served on many boards including the Community Foundation of Howard County and Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County and she’s involved in political campaigns and gun violence prevention efforts.
Rebekah Bonde Washington Women’s Foundation, Seattle, WA Previously with Impact Austin, Austin, TX
Collective giving became a passion for Rebekah in 2011 when she became a member of Impact Austin in Austin, Texas. Elected to board leadership, Rebekah spent five years in different roles that included chairing the Audit, Finance, Personnel, and Governance Committees, as well as in executive leadership positions as Treasurer, Vice President, and Chair of the Board of Directors. After moving back home to the Pacific Northwest in 2018, Rebekah became a member of both 100 Women of Whatcom and Washington Women’s Foundation where she currently serves as a co-leader on a Pooled Fund Grant Committee.
Rebekah’s previous board services include Street Youth Ministries, Sammamish Rotary Club, and Women’s Enterprises (all based in Seattle). Rebekah is also a past director of Philanos where she served as Treasurer. Her work in women’s philanthropy has been featured in Philanos webinars, newsletters, and conferences; local media; and in The Huffington Post Blog.
Rebekah and her husband are supporters of Bellingham Food Bank (WA), Central Texas Food Bank (TX), Bellingham Symphony (WA), Manos de Cristo (TX), and pro bono financial education organizations in both Washington and Texas.
Stephanie Cook San Diego Women’s Foundation, San Diego, CA
Stephanie is on the board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of San Diego (YNPNSD), currently serving as treasurer and a member of the executive team, after previously serving as programming co-chair. In addition, she is a member of Girl Scout San Diego’s Leadership Advisory Bureau (GSSD-LAB), a group of local leaders committed to providing support and mentorship to Girl Scouts, troop leaders, and GSSD volunteers.
Stephanie’s previous work experience includes program and event management, marketing, communications, and membership growth strategies in the nonprofit sector. Stephanie has a background in gender studies, certificates in nonprofit management and nonprofit DEI solutions, and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago, where she conducted research and wrote a thesis on changing notions of community and empowerment in Cuban women’s movements throughout the 20th century.
Paula Perkins Impact 100 Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls, TX
Paula continually demonstrates a keen sense of purpose and meaning in her volunteer efforts with a strong commitment to improving her community through direct action. In 2014, her governance expertise assisted in founding the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts & Culture in response to a community-wide arts and culture plan. Additionally, Paula has facilitated numerous efforts to address food insecurity through board service with the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank and co-founding its signature fundraiser, Empty Bowls, in 2012. She has served as president of the Junior League of Wichita Falls and as a board member and the governance committee chair of the Association of Junior Leagues International. Paula has been named as one of Nexstar Media’s Remarkable Women of 2021 and received a Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2013 for forging the way for others through her extensive community leadership.
Philanos is a philanthropic network of women’s funds, foundations and giving circles that grant collectively into their own communities. Philanos accelerates women’s philanthropic giving by providing resources to its members to increase their impact. Philanos believes that communities with women’s collective giving circles are healthier, safer, more equitable and thriving. The network is comprised of women and those who identify as women. Philanos represents over 17,500 women in 80 affiliates in the U.S. and abroad who have collectively infused over $146M into their respective communities through their collective giving organizations.
The recent big news in philanthropy was that in late 2020 Mackenzie Scott donated $1.7 billion to 116 nonprofit organizations, followed four months later with an additional $4.2 billion given to another 384 organizations. Each of the recipients received a carefully researched gift – many of which were the largest they had ever received. Scott’s extraordinary generosity, coupled with the increased need caused by the pandemic, raised the question: Does a philanthropic gift have to be large to have impact?
On January 12, the Philanos monthly webinar was The Power of Thinking Small: Smaller Grants Can Have Big Impact. It had the largest-ever registered audience. The two presenting affiliates were Spirit of St. Louis, a founding organization of the then-WCGN network, and Impact 100 Seattle, founded just a year ago. Members of affiliates can view the webinar in the Philanos member portal.
For both of these affiliates, identifying smaller non-profit organizations and giving grants of $25,000 or less, represented their approach to philanthropy. But that is not true of all the affiliates who have recently begun looking at smaller grants. There are intriguing examples of how other Philanos organizations have deviated from long-standing practices to supplement their granting with what each refers to as “small grants”. These are two of them.
Womenade Boston
In a city of many women’s giving circles, Womenade Boston has carved out a special mission: to improve the lives of underserved women and teen girls. Their approach has been to make four grants (two supporting women and two for teens) each year in the $20,000 - $25,000 range to non-profits around $1.5 million in size. Their vetting process was for their Evaluation Committee to reduce the number of requests to sixteen semifinalists (eight for each), all of which would receive site visits. Following the visits, the committee would identify eight finalists. From this group, the entire membership would select the grantees.
But 2020 was a different year. Like so many affiliates, they were right in the middle of their selection process when Covid-19 restrictions hit. The Committee met to discuss the situation in a group that included leaders of some of the local nonprofits. They realized there was no time to finish the formal process, including site visits, they had used previously. And they knew many in their group of sixteen urgently needed the money.
In a radical move, they decided to give all sixteen semi-finalists grants of $5,000 to use immediately as they saw fit, an idea immediately embraced by members and recipients. Did it work? Anecdotally, yes – but final reports are not due for another month. What they do know, according to Jennifer Flanagan, President, and Sara Lavoie, VP and Chair of Evaluation, is that all sixteen organizations are still open and serving their constituencies – a significant accomplishment in these times.
Impact 100 RVA
To honor their tenth anniversary and in response to community leaders’ request for accessible funds, the women of Impact 100 in Richmond VA created the Neighborhood Catalyst Grant. This four-year, place-based grant will fund up to $25,000 each year utilizing the trust-based philanthropic model.
In 2019, the members selected the Fulton neighborhood with a focus on food security in the community. A true partnership, Impact 100 members work closely with a panel of neighborhood leaders – Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) – identified with the assistance of people living in Fulton who were already focused on marshalling community resources. The NAC has the responsibility to highlight very specific needs and concrete solutions for improvement. Throughout the program’s three years, the NAC has played a key role in encouraging grant applications and collaborative projects among the neighborhood’s important support organizations.
The Neighborhood Catalyst Grant is a complementary undertaking to the annual awarding of at least one $100,000 grant Impact 100 RVA has done historically (there have been two grants in recent years). It has different committee members and the money is raised separately from the annual membership fee. A big benefit to members has been the opportunity to work closely with the women neighborhood leaders in the Fulton community. According to Talley Baratka, Impact 100 RVA founder and Catalyst Grant Initiative co-founder, “Trusting women is what women’s collective giving is all about. This approach is about trusting women in their own neighborhoods to know what needs to happen. It is that simple.”
As these innovative programs show, a gift can be impactful if it is large or small. It just needs to be the right size for its purpose. To learn more, go to www.womenadeboston.org and www.impact100rva.org
In March, I and my team will launch a pilot project for online affinity group engagement among interested affiliates. The purpose of the test groups is to provide peer-to-peer sharing for affiliates involved in adopting DEI-related initiatives for their respective giving circles.
Several Philanos affiliates are participating, including Impact 100 Cincinnati (OH), San Diego Women’s Foundation (CA), Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County (MD), Impact 100 Essex (NJ), Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle (MD), Women’s Giving Alliance of Jacksonville (FL), Many Hands (DC), Women’s Impact Fund of Charlotte (NC), Idaho Women's Charitable Foundation (ID) and The Philanthropy Connection (MA).
These affiliates are assigned to one of the following two tracks and will meet for at least two sessions. Then they will determine how they want to stay connected as they proceed.
Track 1: “Grant Making with an Equity Lens”
For organizations that are exploring, testing and doing early-stage implementation of changes in grant making processes that further equity and trust-based philanthropy. Facilitated by Laura Midgley, WA Women’s Foundation member; Philanos Board Member; Past Chair of WCGN (now Philanos)
For organizations that are exploring, testing and doing early-stage implementation of changes in grant making processes that further equity and trust-based philanthropy.
Facilitated by Laura Midgley, WA Women’s Foundation member; Philanos Board Member; Past Chair of WCGN (now Philanos)
Track 2: “Organizational/Membership DEI Strategies”
For organizations that are implementing DEI learning resources for members, outreach to BIPOC women as members, and enhancing leadership diversity. Facilitated by Deepika Andavarapu, VP, Impact 100 Cincinnati; Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
For organizations that are implementing DEI learning resources for members, outreach to BIPOC women as members, and enhancing leadership diversity.
Facilitated by Deepika Andavarapu, VP, Impact 100 Cincinnati; Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Philanos promotes the global initiative for the collective giving movement through Philanthropy Together.
Philanos is proud to be one of five networks, along with Amplifier, Asian Women Giving Circle, Community Investment Network, and Latino Community Foundation, that founded Philanthropy Together (PhT) in April 2020. Its goals are to:
PhT’s global initiatives will bolster all networks like Philanos as well as individual giving circles. So what does PhT do and how is it different from Philanos?
Philanthropy Together intends to democratize and diversify philanthropy around the world by incubating giving circles and supporting existing ones. It has four strategic, global focus areas:
One way PhT will promote sustainability and vibrancy is through its “We Give Summit” throughout the month of May 2021. The purpose of this celebration of collective giving is elevating the movement and spawning collaborations across networks and giving groups. If you have ideas for breakout sessions around perennial topics of interest like member retention, strategic planning and Board development, please send them to sbenford@philanos.org.
Because Philanos had to cancel its planned PowerUP! in-person event for September 2021, we will be active presenters (and attendees) in the “We Give Summit”. Plan on joining us!
Also, PhT is creating an international, searchable directory of giving circles. Each profile will cover the basics about each giving group: its mission, issue focus area, membership, dollars raised and invested, and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to raise the visibility (and impact) of your group and giving circles in general.
Join Philanthropy Together on January 28 at 4 pm Pacific/7 pm Eastern as giving groups around the world complete their profiles together and meet each other for the first time. Please register here, which also puts you in the running to win:
If you’ve questions about the directory or the profile party, contact PhT’s Director of Engagement, Tyeshia Wilson (tyeshia@philanthropytogether.org) or Philanos Chair Paula Liang (pliang@philanos.org).
See you there!
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