Hello dear members! It is a sign of how much is happening in the world that my “Welcome to 2022!” post is coming out in March. What a busy 2022 we have already had, both inside and outside our Foundation!
Implementing Our Vision
Our mission states that WaWF is committed to changing the course of women’s philanthropy. In honor of that mission, last year we re-envisioned our grants with an eye to some of the newer thinking around philanthropy. Our new grantmaking ideas were deeply influenced by the kind of giving advocated and practiced by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Mackenzie Scott, and the Community Centric Fundraising Movement.
This year we are implementing that reimagined grantmaking vision – which means that this year is much harder than last year. As always when you put ideas into practice in the real world you discover that some of your assumptions must be reexamined! Our new grantmaking model is no exception, and it has been fascinating to discover the places we will need to tweak in the future. For instance, we thought that narrowing our focus would lighten the number of applications we received. It did not. We received almost the same number of applications this year as we have in the past, despite having narrowed our focus considerably. We will clearly have to make some adjustments for our next round of grants to account for the high volume of LOIs we continued to see.
Events
Speaking of events, we have a few Zoom event opportunities coming up for you (You can always find information about upcoming events here), but I wanted to be sure you knew that we are starting to craft our return to in-person events! It has been a long two years, and our connection to one another has suffered by not being able to be together in person. Zoom can only do so much. The Member Engagement Committee, Social Committee, Convening Committee, and staff are all hard at work exploring the possibilities of hybrid and in-person events for the near future.
We are hoping for an in-person gathering this May, but we can tell you that you can Save the Date of June 14 for our Grant Award Celebration at Benaroya Hall! We are finally going to use that deposit we put down for the Stroum Grand Lobby in 2019 this upcoming June (barring, of course, any unforeseen new developments on the COVID front). I admit that knowing we shall finally see each other in person is deeply moving for me. I have yet to meet so many of you! We will be sending out more information about upcoming events both through this newsletter and in emails dedicated to each event, so be sure to watch your inbox for forthcoming invitations.
The World Outside
And while all of this (and more) has been happening within WaWF, we share in much of the world’s collective dismay at the situation unfolding in Ukraine. We have included in this newsletter a far-from-exhaustive list of organizations you can support and resources to learn from. We share this in solidarity with the Ukrainian refugees as well as the millions of other refugees who have fled and are fleeing violence across the globe.
Investing in our Community: Local Organizations Supporting Refugees
- Refugee Women’s Alliance (2010 Grantee)
- Partners Asia (2019 Grantee)
- World Relief
- MAPS-AMEN
- Click here for a full list of Refugee Resettlement Agencies in Washington
Learning Materials: Bringing an Equity Lens to the Crisis
- Listen to this segment of NPR’s All Things Considered
- Read this NYT Article
- Follow Nikole Hannah-Jones on Twitter
- Follow Ibram X Kendi on Instagram
Staying Up-to-Date on Ukraine