Happy summer, WaWF members-

Hello from Kris Kaminishi, current board chair, longtime member and all-around WaWF enthusiast! If you’ve participated in any of the grant committees in the past 16 years, I might have served alongside you. If you’ve attended any of the Let’s Talk Membership or New Member Orientation Sessions since early 2023, I likely met you on Zoom. With so much happening at the Foundation, the board would like to communicate with fellow members on a regular basis throughout the year, starting with this inaugural message.

Board Introductions

WaWF has a 19-member Board of Directors elected from and by the membership and who oversee the finances and strategic direction of the organization. Let me introduce the 2024 Board officers/chairs:  Cedra DuFlon-Heide, Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect; Barbara Fielden, Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair; Melinda Herrin, Secretary, and Susan Barley, Governance Committee Chair. The photos and bios of the full board are on the website https://wawomensfdn.org/who-we-are/our-board/. The board shows up in numerous ways at the Foundation and in the community and shares a deep commitment to seeing WaWF thrive!

Congratulations Grantees

The completion of another program year at WaWF is joyous time. It gives us a chance to reflect on the great learning that has taken place and think about what could be even better for the upcoming year which begins in the fall. Those of you who were able to attend the Grant Awards Celebration (GAC) on June 6 heard from the amazing six new grantee organizations (link here).  Together as members and community leaders, we enjoyed connecting, conversing, supporting, dining, drinking, and celebrating with one another. The GAC represents the best of who we are!  A special shout out to the staff at WaWF–Maria, Aviva, Deborah, Katherine and Jeri– who made the GAC shine and who bring expertise and joy to our work throughout the year.

Upcoming Events

Thank you for your membership—if you’ve been a member since our founding 29 years ago, have recently joined us, or somewhere in between—we  appreciate you. Our collective continues to grow (320 members and counting) and we ask for your help to make us even stronger. Bring a friend to the Convening on September 19 (details in link here) or the next Let’s Talk on August 28 via zoom (registration here).

I hope to see you at a summer event and look forward to being in touch again soon.
 Kris Kaminishi, board chair/ Member since 2007