The Women's Fund - Celebrating Ten Years of Investing in Women and Girls!
2012-2013 Women's Fund Needs Assessment
To better understand the needs of women and girls in the region and to better meet those needs we conducted a needs assessment in 2012. Read the full report here.
Together We Can Accomplish What None of Us Could Do Alone
Our Mission
Our Goals
Our Structure
What We Have Accomplished So Far
How You Can Help
Current Members of the WF Leadership Committee
Our Mission: "The Women's Fund exists to improve and empower the lives of women and girls in the region through collective and engaged philanthropy among women."
Women have made important strides in recent decades, achieving significant leadership positions in business, academia, government and the military. How can it still be, then, that two-thirds of American adults who live below the poverty line are women? How is it that more than one-third of all women-headed households in the U.S. fall below poverty level? What are we to think in a nation where a girl without a high school diploma has a 90% chance of being poor and raising children who will also live in poverty?
In 2002 we resolved to put the collective power of our hearts, minds and
money to work to find solutions to these and many other serious issues that
have a profound impact on women and girls, so we could make a real difference
right here in our own communities.
Return to top
Our Goals
- Address the serious issues that impact women and girls in our region by grantmaking to organizations addressing those issues.
- Build a permanent endowment that can be used to help the region's women and girls now and for the future.
- Provide an efficient way to turn the power of donors' individual contributions into a collective philanthropic force that can achieve greater impact on women's issues than any single smaller donation could.
- Involve donors to the Fund in the process of deciding how the grant funds are spent and which agencies and projects receive them.
Our Structure
The Women's Fund Leadership Committee oversees the activities of the Fund and serves as an advisory committee to the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation for South Central New York, which has the legal responsibility for the operation of the Fund. The Leadership Committee's members (as well as those of other Women's Fund committees) are drawn from donors to the Fund.
What We Have Accomplished So Far
The Women's Fund has made $66,500 in grants to over thirty-five projects and programs at nonprofit agencies throughout the five-county region we serve. We have funded programs that address: sexual violence and domestic abuse, financial literacy, character and leadership development for girls, women's health, parenting skills, Internet safety and more.
Women's Fund grants awarded to date.
How to apply for grants from The Women's Fund.
"The Five in 5 Drive"- We Met Our Goal!
As of December 31, 2012, The Women's Fund's fund balance was $511,766. As an endowed fund, we adhere to the Community Foundation's spending policy of 4%. In 2012, the Fund awarded $18,000 in grants to programs supporting women and girls, $10,000 in honor of our 10th anniversary.
We know that the needs of the region's women and girls are pressing, that much more remains to be done and in response, we embarked on an ambitious campaign in 2007 to raise a total of $500,000 for The Women's Fund by the end of 2012. Having reached and exceeded that goal, we will eventually be able to award $20,000 in grants each year.
We invite you to join us in the work of The Women's Fund!
Your gift can be in the form of cash or check. For greater convenience, you can make a pledge over time or use VISA or MC.
For those who aren't ready to make a gift right now, and are interested in learning more about planned giving options or bequests, we are happy to speak with you at your convenience. (Contact us)
Ready to make a gift or pledge of support?
Call us at (607) 772-6773 or download a convenient form
to mail to:
Community Foundation for South Central New York
520 Columbia Drive, Suite 100
Johnson City, NY 13790
Current Members of the WF Leadership Committee
| Linda Biemer, Chair | Cory Jacobs |
| Natalie Thompson, Vice Chair | Betsy Koffman |
| Whitney Beal | Suzanne McLeod |
| Diane Campbell | Roberta Melville |
| Heather M. Cornell, Esq. | Merri Pell-Preus |
| Susan Fertig | Jennifer Schorr |
| Betty Goodwin | Towhee Shupka |
| Amy Howard | Jackie Visser |
| Paula Huntsman | Jane L. Zuckerman |
