The Women’s Fund improves and empowers the lives of women and girls in the region.
We do this through collective and engaged philanthropy, fundraising, and thoughtful grant making to organizations meeting the needs of women and girls in Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga counties. In 2022 we celebrated our 20-year anniversary and meeting our $1,000,000 goal!
In 2022 we awarded a total of $43,500 to eight organizations supporting women and girls.
Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga $2,500 to support an art therapy program at A Place to Call Home
Commerce Chenango $5,000 for their Women in the Workforce event for Chenango County professionals
Family Planning of the Southern Tier $8,000 for the “Teens Count” summer program in Binghamton and Johnson City
Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways $8,000 for Camp Beyond Binary, a summer camp for LGBTQ+ youth
Otsego Land Trust $4,800 for a chain saw skills workshop for women
Richfield Springs Community Center $2,200 for programming to address needs of girls, young adults and seniors at the center
The Salvation Army $5,000 for a basic needs pantry for women and girls
Twin Tiers Honor Flight $8,000 to support an Honor Flight to Washington DC for female veterans
How can you help?
There are a variety of ways a donor can support the Women’s Fund and play a significant role in supporting, encouraging and helping women and girls.
- Make a single or recurring gift by Donating Today.
- Become a member of The Empowerment Society and support the Women’s Fund with a cumulative gift of a total of $1,000 or more each calendar year. It’s easy, just $84 a month ensures your membership in The Empowerment Society. Your gift can be in the form of cash or check. For greater convenience, you can use VISA or MC and pay online here!
- Consider a gift of stock or a planned gift. Contact Diane Brown, Executive Director to learn how.
Members will be recognized in the Community Foundation’s Annual Report, in the Women’s Fund Newsletter and at Women’s Fund events.
Women’s Fund Feature Stories
- The Women’s Fund: $1 Million and Counting
- Help Her Run
- Helping Women and Girls Get to Work, Pursue their Dreams and Find Bonds in the Community
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 improves and empowers 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.
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 $315,751 in grants to over one hundred 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, small business development, character and leadership development for girls, services for women veterans, women’s health, parenting skills, Internet safety and more.
As of December 31, 2022 The Women’s Fund balance was $1,013,915. As an endowed fund, we adhere to the Community Foundation’s spending policy of 5%.
Women’s Fund Grant Guidelines will be released in spring of 2023.
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 Leadership Committee
| Melissa Klinko, Chair | Julia Hepworth Jurena |
| Christina Dolan, Vice Chair | Jacquelyn Newman |
| Sharon Chesna | Judy Osburn |
| Rachel Coker | Kimberly L. Peabody, PhD |
| Rita Chirumbolo Ernstrom | Angela C. Riley, PharmD |
| Michelle L. Gardner | Jenn Small |
| Ebony L. Hattoh | Jackie Stapleton-Durham |