Inside the Foundation Blog
News, Updates, Stories, and Impact Across Washington
In her first video message, Maria Kolby-Wolfe introduces herself as the new President & CEO of WA Women’s Foundation. Transcript Hi everyone. I’m Maria! I’m the new President and CEO of Washington Women’s Foundation. I’ve been here a month and I’m so honored, and glad, and thrilled to be here with all of you at this pivotal […]
The Pooled Fund Grant Committee began reviewing LOIs in January and has selected 25 organizations to submit full proposals. This fall we updated our grant criteria in response to feedback from members and nonprofit organizations. To learn more about those changes, read this blog post. We seek to support and collectively make grants to organizations […]
After an extensive national search, Washington Women’s Foundation is delighted to announce Maria Kolby-Wolfe has been appointed President & CEO of our Seattle-based women’s collective grantmaking organization. Kolby-Wolfe brings decades of experience leading fund development, equity initiatives, membership relations, program evaluation, and strategic communications for Pacific Northwest arts and social service organizations. She will partner […]
As we finally reach the end of 2020, our 25th year of grantmaking at Washington Women’s Foundation, I have had the opportunity to reflect more deeply on our current strategic plan and what we have together accomplished over the last two years. The foundation of this plan was the visions and hopes of our members, who […]
This fall, 15 WaWF members joined the pilot Capacity Building Grant Committee to explore collective grant making using trust-based philanthropic practices. We are happy to announce our four grant award winners: Ingersoll Gender Center, KVRU, Para Los Niños, and Somali Health Board. Each received a $22,500 capacity building grant! Background of CBGC The capacity building […]
I love rollercoasters, and my time at the Foundation has been one of the best rides of my life. Now that the ride is ending, I wanted to thank you for helping me grow and learn. When I started as a part-time office coordinator, I had planned to stay for a year, tops. At 24, new to Seattle, and the first Black […]
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 […]
When the Foundation’s Board of Directors adopted our Strategic Framework 2020 two summers ago, we committed to a new set of organizational values, some long-held, some aspirational, and some that would challenge us on a daily basis: In All Things, We Will… Build relationships – elevate or amplify the power of all who identify as women – be bold – share […]
This fall, we start our third year of grantmaking focused on increasing equity and reducing disparities. Each year, we understand more deeply what it means to apply an equity lens to our grantmaking and gain greater clarity about how to articulate what we’re looking for. Feedback from grant applicants and committee members continues to inform this work, and today we’d like to share […]