April Webinar 
Syncing Personal Values With Your Philanthropy

Our April webinar begins with a brief Philanos annual meeting including the announcement of our newly elected board members.

Webinar details:

We know every dollar we give makes an impact, but have you ever thought about the impact each dollar you invest makes? Learn how to develop an investment strategy that achieves your goals while aligning your money with your values.

Emily Green, Director of Private Wealth, at Ellevest, a women-first financial company offering a mission-driven investing platform, will discuss how you can work with your advisor regarding your personal assets. Hear ideas for motivating endowments you currently support to consider using their investments to support issues that may be personally important to you such as gender inequality, racial injustice, and climate change.

Webinar Date/Time: Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 12 PM ET
Please Register by Sunday, April 9!

Your unique link to join this webinar is emailed separately.

March 2023 eNewsletter - Just published!

Are you curious what your nonprofit partners really think? Do you want to be more responsive to the community’s needs and desires in your grantmaking? Do you want to be a better partner?

Join us to share the love on February 14 when we are joined by Linda Simmons from Women’s Giving Alliance of Northeast Florida and Patricia Massey Hoke of Women’s Impact Fund (Charlotte) to discuss soliciting and responding to nonprofit feedback. This is a best practice of Trust-Based Philanthropy and there isn’t just one way to do it! Linda and Patricia will engage in a Q&A style discussion with each other to share the ways their approaches to feedback are alike and different. You will leave with some practical next steps you could consider for your giving circle. See you there!

Panelists:

Patricia Massey Hoke, Women's Impact Fund (Charlotte)

Linda Simmons, Women's Giving Alliance of Northeast Florida

Webinar Date/Time: Tuesday, February 14, 2023, 12 PM ET
Please Register by Sunday, February 12!

Your unique link to join this webinar is emailed separately.

We have spent the last 18 months speaking with numerous Philanos Affiliates through our "3 Questions With" series, and getting their thoughts on the work they are doing, including asking them 3 specific questions:  1) What’s the most interesting effort your circle is focusing on right now? 2) What is something your circle is currently challenged by? and 3) What Philanos resource has been most helpful to you this year, and why?

Take a look at the good work happening in the Philanos network around the country!

We welcome 2023 and all our chances to do better. We are especially cheered by the opportunity to meet in Baltimore on November 5-7, for our first national in-person conference since 2020 in Seattle. Early bird registration will open May 1 – watch for our upcoming communications.

The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County is our main host, along with an impressive regional contingent of co-hosts, including Anne Arundel Women Giving Together, Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle, DMV Collective Giving Network, Giving Together Montgomery County, Many Hands DC, Maryland Philanthropy Network, and Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County.

Multiple committees have planning underway, looking for inspiring speakers and shared wisdom. We are keen to highlight knowledge gained through collaboration, networks, and programs featuring our affiliates. If you would like to join our program committee, please hop on now, as we get busy building session ideas to populate our breakout tracks.

And speaking of hopping – we have multiple Philanos programs coming up in January and February, beginning with next week’s webinar, Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Noon Eastern, featuring leadership succession models that work, presented by Greenville Women Giving (Greenville, SC) and ninety-nine girlfriends (Portland, OR). Register here.

On Thursday, January 26th at Noon Eastern, our popular Comms Club will continue its deep dive into social media featuring LinkedIn, use of metrics, and member engagement tools. Marketing and communications teams will find these open discussions useful. Register here.

And, on February 9th at Noon Eastern, we will start the first in a series of Tech Talks, headed by our Philanos Board Technology Chair, Amy Conard, Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund. Amy is retired from a successful corporate career in Information Technology, and now consults with nonprofits to help them be more efficient and effective by leveraging software. So, if you have technology questions related to your work, bring them here for a smart place to discuss. Register here.

Looking ahead to Valentine’s Day, our webinar for February features techniques and wisdom behind gathering and responding to feedback from our nonprofit partners—a real-life valentine message. Register here.

Finally, January is also the month when we turn to recruiting new Philanos board and committee members. The work is always exciting, the company is exceptional, and there is not a better time or place to take a chance to get it right in all our communities through the power of collective giving. Please consider this opportunity for yourself or someone who might need a nudge. 

Our 3-hour event focused on trust-based philanthropy and included presentations by national speakers Pia Infante, Kaci Patterson. Philanos Board member, Deepika Andavarapu, facilitated a discussion with Q&A followed by Philanos Spotlight and Willoughby Awards. Watch the presentations and Q&A video recording.

Congratulations to our Spotlight Award Winners: (video recording)

Baltimore Women's Giving Circle - Black Women Build Baltimore

Impact Oklahoma, Oklahoma City - Pivot's Tiny Home Initiative

Spirit of St. Louis Women's Fund - Dream Builders 4 Equity

Congratulations to our Willoughby Award Winner: (video recording)

Katherine Fulton - Impact100 Sonoma

Sandi Slap of The Transition Network Philadelphia Giving Circle

TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle improves the lives of women and children in Philadelphia through collective giving to nonprofit organizations serving their needs.  They are committed to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion and identify and seek to support organizations who share this commitment.

We recently spoke to Sandi and invited her thoughts on their current efforts!

	What’s the most interesting effort your circle is focusing on right now? The Transition Network Philadelphia Giving Circle has designated 2022 as “The Year of the Child” to commemorate our Giving Circle’s ten years of giving.  This year, we are focusing exclusively on the needs of Philadelphia’s children.  To that end, we have hosted three educational programs which addressed the most pressing needs and issues facing our city’s children, including, education, mental health, mentorship, youth job training and opportunities and gun violence.  We have also embarked on a year-long fundraising initiative to enable us to make impactful grants to nonprofits serving Philadelphia’s children in 2023.
	What is something your circle is currently challenged by? We recognize that small grassroots organizations have a positive and direct impact on the lives of children in their neighborhoods.  Our newly adopted Diversity Initiative is aimed at increasing diversity in the size, leadership and approach to addressing problems among our nonprofit grant applicants in 2023 and forward.  We seek small Philadelphia nonprofits embedded in their communities with strong leadership and/or professional staffs of people of color who reflect the communities they serve.
	What Philanos resource has been most helpful to you this year, and why? The webinars on Philanos’ website have provided valuable insights and information for our Giving Circle on trust-based philanthropy and grantee membership programs, among other things. Our Giving Circle is always focused on new ways to increase the impact of our mission and this type of guidance assists us in doing just that.

By Ann Marie McGee
Philanos Communications Co-chair
Impact 100 Redwood Circle, CA

Women’s Giving Circles are Making a Difference Across the Country. Check out news from these 22 Philanos Affiliates.

The 2022 - 2023 Philanos Board of Directors met in Denver in June to plan for the future.

"It was wonderful to be with these amazing national leaders to plan for our organization's future and for the women's collective giving movement" said Philanos Board Chair Susan Benford. "We are looking forward to many new opportunities to support our 78 affiliates in the coming year."