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Springing into Action

 

In the March 2021 issue…

 

Context for Voting: Trends Impacting Nonprofits

Since last summer, the Research Committee worked tirelessly to create this year’s ballot, which we saw for the first time last week and at our recent Ballot Review Meetings. In her opening comments, Research Co-Chair Sabina White shared how the COVID pandemic has impacted the most vulnerable in our community.

Researchers started their work by reviewing the community needs you identified in our member survey last summer—healthcare, mental health, housing assistance and homelessness, early childhood development, education (k-12), family support, and food and nutrition. In this brief presentation, you can see how these areas were critically impacted by the virus. We think this is valuable context as we vote to select our new grantees.

Don’t forget:

Voting Deadline: Saturday, March 27 at 6 pm PDT
Virtual Celebration of Grants: Wednesday, May 5 at 5 pm PDT
 

 

Membership Corner—The Power of Belief

Starting and keeping a Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara group together may be a challenge for some, but not for Parm Williams. She has done it four times. She says that it is easy when you believe in the Woman’s Fund mission of collective philanthropy and can explain it to possible recruits.

Parm is the mother of the Hope, Friends, Esperanza and D’Penguineer Friends groups. While she handed off the still-successful Hope, Friends and Esperanza groups to other captains, she has continued with D’Penguineers Friends.

How It Started

As a Woman’s Fund researcher, Parm came to appreciate the unique and lasting impact of Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. She supported a $150,000 Women’s Fund grant—one of the first grants that DPEA received for construction of a new facility. The new building significantly enhanced the curricular opportunities available to students and tripled the number of students that could be enrolled in the Academy. Read how the Academy has inspired many students.

At the dedication in 2009, she noted several women in the crowd and suggested they form a Woman’s Fund group based on their mutual interest in the Academy. They named the group D’Penguineer Friends—the name comes from “D” for Dos Pueblos plus “Penguin” for the robot constructed by students as a project.

Staying Together

Penguineer Friends is an eclectic group, comprised of professionals in education, nonprofits, philanthropy, and business. It includes the mother of Academy founder Amir Abo-Shaeer, Anita Bradford; plus Lynne Abbey, Sue Birch, Karen Burgett, Kathy Burt, Shawn Carey, Lisa Daniels, Norris Goss, Jan Kelleway, Sharon Larson, Sandy Seale, and Rachil Vincent. Initially strangers from varied backgrounds, the women have found friendship and have remained committed to the mission of the Woman’s Fund with Parm at the helm.

The group has one remarkable tradition. Every year, the entire group re-ups their membership in the Women’s Fund in January. This year is no exception—the women have already made their donation for next year’s grants pool even before we’ve voted this year!

It says a lot about the Woman’s Fund and the generous women who make it possible. And it says a lot about the power of friendship.

Welcome New Members!

Please welcome our seven newest Women’s Fund members who also believe in the power of changing lives together: Holly Carmody, Marianne Carter, Kay Crippen, Christin Hunt, Laurie Leis, Holly Minear, and Ginger Woolf.
 

Volunteer Engagement Corner—Are You Inspired?

Did watching the Ballot Review Meeting and reading the Ballot Information Package inspire you to want to do more? You can!

It’s easy to get involved and meet some of the great women who are part of the Women’s Fund. Click here to learn more about volunteering with the Women’s Fund.




 

 
 
 
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