The Women's Fund of Central Ohio

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]] Founded in 2001, The Women's Fund of Central Ohio (WFCO) is a public foundation which promotes social change by growing philanthropy and making grants to programs that exand opportunities for women and girls. The mission statement of The Women's Fund is "to transform the lives of women and girls by mobilizing the collective power and passion of all women working together." A member of the Women's Funding Network, The Fund serves Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, and Union counties, bringing voice and visibility to the more than 800,000 women and girls in central Ohio. To date, The Women's Fund of Central Ohio has made 115 grants totaling over 1.3 million.

History

On May 4, 2000, a small group of women gathered on a front porch in Granville, Ohio to discuss the idea of starting a women's fund. At that time, only 7% of national foundation dollars went to programs specifically supporting women and girls. After a series of further conversations and a survey of the community's women leaders, The Women's Fund of Central Ohio convened its first Board of Directors meeting in July, 2001 and opened offices in February, 2002. Today, the original founders continue to contribute to The Fund.

Funding

The Women's Fund of Central Ohio prides itself in being a different kind of funder-one that attempts to make their grant process as inclusive and accountable as possible. For example, they are open to questions, they utilize a unique grant reader process, they are ACTIVE in helping programs form from IDeaS, and they offer feedback on grants, whether funded or not. The Fund makes grants to programs that promise positive social change for women and girls in any of the seven counties of central Ohio, and they invest only in programs that serve one or more of their three priority areas:

• Economic Self-Sufficiency for Women
• Leadership for Women
• Lifeskills for Girls

In addition, each program must demonstrate some form of social change through evidence of at least one of five shifts, as are defined by the Women's Funding Network:

1. Shift in Definition-the issue is defined differently in the community or larger society
2. Shift in Behavior-people behave differently in the community
3. Shift in Critical Mass or Engagement-people in the community are more engaged in the issue
4. Shift in Policy-specific organizational, local, regional, state, or national policy has changed
5. Maintaining the Line-earlier ProgresS made on the issue has been maintained in the face of opposition

The Women's Fund of Central Ohio has supported a diverse selection of grant partners in an effort to reach all the women and girls in the community. Previous and current grant partners include Amethyst, Inc., Columbus AIDS Task Force, Community Refugee and Immigration Services, Doma International, Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland, HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties, Inc., Homes on the Hill, Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, Planned Parenthood, and Rwanda Women in Action.

The Application Process

The Fund currently makes grants on an annual basis up to $20,000 per funded program. The process begins in the summer with a submitted Letter of Intent. Accepted programs are then invited to submit a grant application, and funded projects are announced each December. In addition, grant workshops are offered in the summer to aid prospective applicants with the process, and a technical assistance deadline is available to all grant applicants, should they want feedback prior to final submission. Though programs May Be funded indefinitely, each year all programs must submit to a competitive, open grant cycle, no matter their funding status.

The Grant Reader Process

As part of its unique funding process, The Women's Fund of Central Ohio recruits a diverse group of women ages fourteen and up, ranging from high school students, to read the grant applications. Using a Quaker model of consensus, the grant readers are split into groups to review and grade the various applications. Those recommendations are then passed on to The Women's Fund Board's Grants Committee, where other considerations such as monies available for grants and representation of priority areas are taken into account. Ultimately the grants are presented to the Board of Directors for final review and potential funding.

The One Girl Initiative

The One Girl Initiative is a comprehensive, research-based effort, which focuses on the issues impacting girls in grades 5-12 throughout the seven-county central Ohio region. A funding collaborative made up of The Women's Fund of Central Ohio, The Columbus Foundation, Cardinal Health, and Nationwide Insurance, One Girl is also paired with local non-profit partners-The Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, Ruling Our eXperiences, The Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland, The Mentoring Center of Central Ohio, and YWCA Columbus-in a combined effort to aid the girls of the community. Previous to the initiative there had been no gender-specific study AbOUT girls in central Ohio. Undertaken in 2009, the Women's Fund commissioned detailed data collection surrounding eight different factors: population, diversity, economic characteristics, childcare, education, health, [...] health, and safety and risk behavior. The result of the initial research was a report entitled, One Girl: A Status of Girls in Central Ohio, the first comprehensive study on girls and women under 18 in the area. The project has since grown, and in 2011 the One Girl: A Snapshot of Girls in Central Ohio report was released. The report contains research on over 2,000 girls in grades 5-12, who responded to a survey. With these findings, the One Girl non-profit partners have implemented a research-based, proven program centered around the idea that girls must value themselves before they can add value to the world. The One Girl collaborative aligns organizations, agencies, and girl-centered programs within a conceptual framework in order to coordinate the targeted delivery of services to girls in the seven central Ohio counties. The program has thus far been implemented in Franklin and Licking Counties.

Keyholder

The annual Keyholder event is The Women's Fund of Central Ohio's largest fundraising affair. In general, the event features a notable speaker and highlights The Fund's current grant partners and initiatives. Previous speakers have included Gloria Steinem, Andrea Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (authors of The Daring Book for Girls), and Diane Keaton. The event also showcases tributes, a tradition of The Fund, where each guest or donor may honor someone who has made a lasting imprint on another in the community, and which are then published in the Keyholder program. Over the history of Keyholder more than 2,500 tributes have been made. Keyholder 2011 is scheduled for May 11 of this year and will feature Goldie Hawn.

Current Board Members and Founders

Board of Directors:

• Chair: Mary Jo Green
• Vice Chair: Kelley Griesmer
• Secretary: Kathryne Reeves
• Treasurer: Lisa Stein
• President and CEO: Nichole E. Dunn

Carol Andreae, Wendy Arlin, Barbara Benham, Sheila Clark, Darci Congrove, Almeta E. Cooper, Sally Crane, Patricia Finkelman, Judy Garel, Karen Jones, Peg Mativi, Brenda McAuliffe, Paula Miller, Kimber Perfect, Kathryne Reeves, Terrie Hale Scheckelhoff, Angie McLarty Seamon, Susan Tomasky, Guadalupe Velasquez

Founders:

• Chairs: Judy Garel, Mary Lazarus

Carol Andreae, Sharon Cameron, Loann Crane, Sally Crane, Barbara Fergus, Stephanie Hightower, Nancy Jeffrey, Cathe Chapin Kobacker, Melodee Kornacker, Ann Pizzuti, Kathy Ransier, Emily Rutherford, Jody G. Schieman

External links

• http://www.womensfundcentralohio.org/
• One Girl: A Status of Girls in Central Ohio report
• One Girl: A Snapshot of Girls in Central Ohio report
• One Girl: A Snapshot of Girls in Central Ohio executive summary
• COUNT ON HER! report