Letters from the President Strategic Planning Women in Leadership Building Momentum for Women and Girls Across Washington June 23, 2026 / September 30, 2026 by Maria Kolby-Wolfe As we continue moving through this “Year Zero” of our new plan, we are building on decades of collective giving while sharpening our focus on the future: women funding women and girls across Washington State. Read more »
Board of Directors Strategic Planning Women in Leadership The Grace to Slow Down: Business Plan Year Zero, Quarter One April 16, 2026 / September 14, 2026 by Maria Kolby-Wolfe Executive Summary: In the first quarter of 2026, Washington Women’s Foundation launched its new business plan and began the important work of putting it into practice. We applied our updated grant criteria to 156 applications and piloted our first place‑based grant in Yakima. We also surfaced key learnings about what it truly means to center women and girls and to pursue systems‑level change. This quarter we continued to […] Read more »
Grantees Grantmaking Letters from the President Membership Resources Strategic Planning Building a Stronger Future for Women and Girls: January 22, 2026 / September 30, 2026 by Maria Kolby-Wolfe A New Chapter for Washington Women’s Foundation For 30 years, Washington Women’s Foundation (WaWF) has believed and acted on a simple but powerful truth: When women come together, we change the world. And we have always been ambitious in living that truth. Historically, we moved to change everything, investing in grantmaking that was intentionally broad and widely focused on addressing racial and gender inequities across Washington state. Today, we are stepping boldly into our next era, […] Read more »
Board of Directors Strategic Planning Open Call: Invitation to Board Service April 14, 2025 / September 30, 2026 by Maria Kolby-Wolfe Are you looking for a new or deeper way to engage with the Foundation? Consider serving on the Washington Women’s Foundation Board of Directors! We have several openings on the board beginning January 1, 2026, for a three-year term (which may be renewed twice). The director recruitment process is an open call: We welcome all […] Read more »
Letters from the President Moments with Maria Strategic Planning Transforming Together: 2021 in Review November 3, 2021 by Isabelle Shively In 2018 the board of Washington Women’s Foundation (WaWF) approved an ambitious Strategic Framework that was meant to guide us through 5 years of planning and transformation. By the time I arrived as your President and CEO in February of 2021, many items on that Strategic Framework had been seen to: We had engaged nonprofits in ongoing dialogue about their needs and sought continuous feedback and evaluation from […] Read more »
Letters from the President Strategic Planning Transforming Together 2020: Annual Meeting Recap October 30, 2020 by Aki Shibuya Thank you to the many members who attended our virtual Annual Meeting this week. I am pleased to announce that the membership elected three new candidates to join our Board of Directors as of January 1, 2021. They are: Julie Burg, a member since 2018 and a senior consultant with Nygren Consulting, a boutique consulting firm […] Read more »
Grantmaking Strategic Planning Transforming Together 2020: New Grantmaking Initiatives April 17, 2020 by Aki Shibuya Since the first of March, the Foundation’s Board of Directors has had two virtual meetings, a 7-hour video conference “retreat” (in lieu of our annual Board and staff retreat) and a special meeting earlier this week. The primary focus of these meetings has been determining the allocation of funds contributed by our members last year for grantmaking this year. As you may […] Read more »
Letters from the President Strategic Planning Transforming Together 2020: Annual Meeting Recap October 25, 2019 by Aki Shibuya Thank you to the many members who attended our Annual Meeting this week. I am pleased to announce that the membership elected five new candidates to join our Board of Directors as of January 1, 2020. They are: Yvonne Hall, a member since 2001 and a founding partner of the Hall Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo […] Read more »
Diversity Equity and Inclusion Letters from the President Strategic Planning Transforming Together 2020 March 7, 2019 by Aviva Stampfer This week marks the start of the second phase of work for the 2019 Pooled Fund Grant Committee. Proposals from our Top 25 are due this week, and the Grant Committee Work Groups will be reconvening to discuss how these proposals reflect work being done to increase equity and reduce disparities in communities throughout Washington […] Read more »
Letters from the President Strategic Planning Transforming Together 2020: Annual Meeting Recap November 9, 2018 by Aki Shibuya Thank you to the many members who attended our Annual Meeting on October 31, 2018. It was the largest attendance we have had in the four years since I joined the Foundation staff, and I truly appreciated the engaging conversation. In this week’s e-newsletter you will find a copy of our 2017 Annual Report. At […] Read more »
