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Words of Wisdom from Tyeshia "Ty" Wilson of Philanthropy Together & The HERitage Giving Fund3/13/2024
 Happy Women's History Month & International Women's Day!
We had a fabulous night on March 6 at WGC's 2024 Annual Celebration & Pink Party! It was wonderful to have so many of us together exactly 48 hours ago at Howard Community College to discuss how philanthropy can, and is, supporting women's rights. View photos from the event here WGC Chair Jennifer Bodensiek declared that the state of the WGC is strong, highlighted the role that WGC is playing nationally in growing the women's collective giving movement, and underscored our impact the last 22 years:
This, is the power of our giving circle. Jennifer also reviewed the WGC's State of Women and Girls in Howard County, and how we continue to utilize the data to inform our grantmaking and partner in the community. She highlighted basic statistics that drive our work, including that:
Despite all of this - less than 2% of all charitable giving goes to programs that support women and girls. WGC Advisory Board Member Alison Canning provided an overview of our recent efforts to address this, and highlighted our long-standing partnership with Howard Community College, which included discussing 5 ways we have provided funding support:
You can learn more here WGC Executive Director Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz highlighted 5 recent trends in women's philanthropy from the Women's Philanthropy Institute, that included:
You can learn more here And, she discussed how WGC is focusing on women's rights through collaboration with our donors, nonprofit, and community partners. She then introduced our Special Guest Speaker Tyeshia "Ty" Wilson of Philanthropy Together and the HERitage Giving Fund, who highlighted how giving circles across the country are supporting women's rights - you can listen to Ty's words of wisdom here. WGC Advisory Board Member Lee Draminski introduced our powerhouse panel and Advisory Board Member Laura Bacon did a wonderful job facilitating an inspirational and important conversation about how philanthropy can, and is supporting women's rights - with WGC Advisory Board Chair Jennifer Bodensiek, former Maryland Women's Commissioner Melissa Curtin, Howard County Women's Commissioner Kashonna Marrow, and Director of the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity Yolanda Sonnier. They provided insightful and inspirational commentary based on their personal, professional, and lived experiences, answering 3 key questions:
And, we pledged to continue the conversation - stay tuned for additional opportunities. We honored past WGC Chair Alison Canning for Women's History Month, and we enjoyed delicious food from Chef Jamila, non-alcoholic drinks from Beth Harbinson and Sobar, and women-made wine from The Wine Bin. WGC Advisory Board Member Kashonna Marrow ended the celebration with information on how to give and get involved in the WGC. After the Annual Celebration, many of you asked how you can get or remain involved in our collective work. Here are 10 ways to engage in the coming months:
Many thanks to all of our sponsors so far this year, those who attended the event, and to everyone who supports the WGC and all that you do to support women's rights in Howard County. While it is Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day, there is not just one time to celebrate women’s successes and discuss solutions to ongoing challenges. We must continue to do this each and every day, and the Women’s Giving Circle will be here to be your partner in supporting women and girls, and women's rights in Howard County. We are truly stronger together!  Remarks by WGC Executive Director Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz at the WGC's March 6, 2024 Annual Celebration & Pink Party
As we get ready to hear from our incredible panel on the topic of how philanthropy can and is supporting women’s rights, I want to help frame the conversation by highlighting 5 key trends we are seeing right now in women’s philanthropy. Several weeks ago, our friends and partners at the Womens’ Philanthropy Institute (WPI) of Indiana University hosted a webinar to look into a crystal ball and discuss what members of the giving community believe is coming our way in the coming year. Here are the five key trends they identified:
The Women’s Giving Circle will continue to obtain important research, use data, build partnerships, and strengthen relationships to fund women and girls, and to support women’s rights. We thank our partners at the Women's Philanthropy Institute for their important research that informs our work.  Remarks by WGC Advisory Board Member Alison Canning at WGC's March 6, 2024 Annual Celebration & Pink Party:
I am so proud of the long-standing and growing partnership between the WGC and Howard Community College. We all know that educating women and girls can create a ripple effect of greater good that holds the key to unlocking brighter futures and empowers women to reach their full potential. Education gives women a pathway to learn the power of choice: how to advocate for themselves and think about how they want to live their lives, what they want to do, and who their role models are. Providing women with access to education, training, and resources enables them to challenge traditional gender roles and break down barriers Our State of Women and Girls in Howard County underscores what we know - that poverty rates are higher for Howard County women if their educational attainment is a high school graduate or less. Once women attain bachelor's degrees or higher educational degrees, the poverty rate for Howard County women becomes lower. 5 Ways We’ve Partnered I want to share 5 ways that the WGC has partnered with HCC and has served as “a lifeline” to women at HCC through the years:
Our data tells us that:
We know that there is a link between period poverty and gender education gaps … and we have partnered with HCC to provide an opportunity for students to donate products if they can, and to take products if they need to. Here’s a snapshot of what’s happened this past year:
Thank you all for donating products today in our new boxes that will support students at HCC. In fact, rather than purchasing marketing “swag” for this event, we have chosen to invest that money in these new, sturdier, more visible boxes for our 2024 Feminine Hygiene Product Drive. They are making their debut today and you will start to see them around town at all library branches, at CA gyms, and at local businesses like The 3rd, Vectorworks and Bra-la-la. And, we’ve raised over $6,000 to provide to our partners to purchase products for their clients, and we invite you all to continue participating by donating products and donating money as we continue to grow this important effort. We appreciate our long-standing partnership with Howard Community College!
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"Women’s philanthropy shapes the future for women and girls through the power of collective giving." - Jennifer Bodensiek, Chair
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