Thank you to everyone who joined us on May 12 at Bra-La-La for a fun and festive happy hour toast! It was great to network, socialize, and be together in person, while supporting a woman-owned business and women and girls through the WGC!

Check our Events Calendar for our upcoming events - hope to see you soon!

Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights.

And we are all entitled to human rights. These include the right to live free from violence and discrimination, to be educated, to own property, to vote, to earn an equal wage, and to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The leaked draft decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade will be a direct assault on the rights, lives, dignity, and personal authority of women in our country. We may soon find ourselves in a time where women and girls actually have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had, in a country with the highest maternal mortality rate, no paid maternity leave, no universal child care, no continued birth parent care, and the need for increased mental health care. 

As highlighted in the WGC's State of Women and Girls in Howard County, many women and girls continue to face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, including lower pay, lack of access to education, inadequate healthcare, domestic and sexual violence, and reproductive health.

The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County is building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County. With a vision for women’s philanthropy to shape the future for women and girls through the power of collective giving, our goals are to:

• Expand philanthropy and increase giving by local women.
• Implement a diversity, equity and inclusion lens to all of our work.
• Build a permanent endowment fund.
• Increase the life skills of women and girls.
• Encourage the healthy development and personal authority of young girls.
• Raise the awareness of gender disparities in our community.
• Sustain the WGC for future generations.

We believe:

• All Howard County women and girls, and those who identify as women, have a right to an adequate and sustainable quality of life and an opportunity to develop their full potential.
• Healthy development for girls is achieved through education, life skill training, and a sense of personal authority and safety.
• The needs and concerns of all women and girls in Howard County must be fully understood, acknowledged, and addressed.
• Available resources should be directed to achieving systemic change in the political, social, and economic institutions that influence the lives of women and girls.
• Philanthropy is not measured by the amount of the gift but by the intent of the giver.
• Women’s philanthropy has the power to improve the lives of women and girls in Howard County now.
• A permanent endowment provides a legacy of giving to the generations of women and girls who will follow.
• Education is the cornerstone of understanding and giving.
• Women of concern, compassion, and generosity can make the greatest difference by working together for change.

We also believe that we are stronger together. Read our Statement of Unity here.

And, we believe women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights.

We must and will continue to support the fight for women's rights ... now, more than ever. 

- The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County Advisory Board

The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County is proud to continue our support for Black Philanthropy Month (BPM) which is observed every August. The primary aims of BPM are informing, involving, inspiring and investing in Black philanthropic leadership to strengthen African-American and African-descent giving in all its forms, for the benefit of our planet, our communities, our organizations and our lives.

One way we are doing this is through WGC's "Our Giving, Our Stories!" Profile Series each August. On  August 1 and each day in August thereafter, the WGC is sharing daily profiles on our website and social media in celebration of Black Philanthropy Month.

The Women's Giving Circle of Howard County is currently seeking nominees to share their stories in celebration of Black Philanthropy Month.

Since we started "Our Giving, Our Stories" in 2020, over 60 women have shared the stories of their philanthropic journeys with the WGC, and our community, and we invite you to help us elevate the voices of women who continue to give their time, talent and treasure for the benefit of our community.  

To nominate a woman who enriches the quality of life in our community through her giving, please see the process below. All information submitted will be reviewed by the “Our Giving, Our Stories (OGOS)” Committee and nominees will be contacted directly for more information and to assure they wish to move forward with the nomination. All information supplied by the nominator and the nominee will be strictly confidential.

Nomination process:
​

• Complete the online Nomination Form
• You may nominate as many as you like who meet the basic criteria on the nomination form, including yourself!
• Please submit all nominations by June 30, 2022. 
• Please contact WGC OGOS Committee Chair Malynda Madzel or WGC Executive Director Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz with any questions or concerns.

We hope you enjoy the inspirational stories of these Howard County philanthropists in celebration of Black Philanthropy Month 2021 and 2020. Double click on each image to read the full profile!

“Philanthropy is Deeper than Your Pocket.”  - Valaida Fullwood, Architect, Black Philanthropy Month

On Friday, April 22 we had a terrific conversation on WGC's new State of Women and Girls in Howard County. 

We heard from WGC 20th Anniversary Co-Chairs Jennifer Bodensiek and Candace Dodson-Reed, principal Researchers Sabina Taj and Shaista Keating, and original WGC founders and funders of The State of Women and Girls in Howard County Barbara Lawson and Jean Moon, who discussed the focus of this new baseline compilation of data, the research methodology, implications for WGC's grantmaking, and our goals for use by the broader community.

​You can find a link to the full conversation here.

​Join us for a conversation on the WGC's new State of Women and Girls in Howard County. Learn about the focus of this new baseline compilation of data, the research methodology, implications for WGC's grantmaking, and our goals for use by the broader community. 

Hear from WGC 20th Anniversary Co-Chairs Jennifer Bodensiek and Candace Dodson-Reed and Principal Researchers Sabina Taj and Shaista Keating.

Joining the conversation also will be original WGC founders and funders of The State of Women and Girls in Howard County Barbara Lawson and Jean Moon.

​REGISTER HERE

The WGC was honored to co-Sponsor "​Reading Human Rights​"​ with the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity at the Howard County Library System Central Branch on March 22.

It was a wonderful evening where WGC Advisory Board Members Lynne Schaefer and Jade McDuffie McClary joined others for the event and provided remarks about Women's History Month and the work of the Women's Giving Circle.

Here's what they said:

Good evening. We are Lynne Schaefer and Jade McDuffie McClary, Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County Advisory Board members.

We are proud to co-sponsor tonight’s event with the Howard County Office of Human Rights and Equity and the Howard County Library System.

We would like to give you some background on the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County. The Giving Circle was created to build a community of philanthropists and to establish a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County.

• We fund programs that benefit women and girls because not only is this a cause our members deeply believe in, but also because many of those programs have traditionally been underfunded.  The Women’s Giving Circle works to eliminate the significant funding gaps that already exist. 
• We bring women together to learn about the issues and challenges affecting women and girls in Howard County and to pool our dollars to help address those issues. 
• And, we are pooling our dollars to have a greater impact on these programs together than we might otherwise have alone.

The Circle has been doing this since 2002 and we are excited to be celebrating 20 years of impact in Howard County this year! Here’s a few numbers to illustrate what the Circle has done in those 20 years:

• $1M in Grants - as of this year, we will have given just over $1M in grants to our nonprofit partners in Howard County that have programs that benefit women and girls, through over 250 grants.
• $1.3 Endowment - our founders made the early decision to create an endowment so we would have funds to support women and girls in Howard County in perpetuity, and as of our 20th Anniversary, that endowment has grown to $1.3 million. We are one of the few giving circles in the country that have an endowment, let alone one of this size.
• 1,600+ Donors - and we have over 1,600 unique donors who have given to the WGC in the last 20 years!

These numbers are a powerful illustration of how 20 years later, we have lived up to the mission created by our founders.

In recent years, we have enhanced our core values to better meet our mission by implementing a diversity, equity and inclusion lens to all of our work through a measurable action agenda, with a goal to ensure all WGC activities reflect the organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in practice, policy and governance.  We encourage you to check out the many ways these actions are showing up in our work.

This year we will give $200,000 in grants in honor of our 20th Anniversary year. This is more than we have ever given in one year and we are able to do this by providing an inclusive engagement platform that has 4 distinct ways for women to give to the WGC.

We invite anyone interested to get involved with the Women’s Giving Circle - and you can find information about what we are doing on our website at www.womensgivingcircle.org and on social media.

To provide some context a Giving Circle is a form of philanthropy where individuals with common interests come together as a group to pool their philanthropic dollars to have a greater impact together. Donors give funds collectively to issues and organizations that align with their interests. There are well over 1,000 giving circles in the United States and women make up the majority of members in about 70% of them. Collectively, an estimated 150,000 donors have given over $1.20 billion through giving circles to date. 

And as we celebrate Women’s History Month, you can see that one of the ways women are doing so is through their philanthropy. In fact, many believe that women’s philanthropy is one of the next phases of the women’s movement.

We know that history helps us learn who we are ... but when we don’t know our own history, our power and dreams are immediately diminished.

As we recognize women tonight, and continue to celebrate Women’s History Month in many forms here in Howard County, we are reminded that it is a time to reflect on the often-overlooked contributions of women to United States history. From Abigail Adams to Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth to Rosa Parks, the timeline of women’s history milestones stretches back to the founding of the United States.

It's hard to picture that as recently as the 1970s, women’s history was virtually an unknown topic in the K-12 curriculum or in general public consciousness, but it’s true.

In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month” and since 1995, presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.

Recognizing the achievements of women in all facets of life – science, community, government, literature, art, sports, medicine – has a huge impact on the development of self-respect and new opportunities for girls and young women.

And, that’s what we are here to do tonight! We are honored to join you, thank you for inviting us. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to either of us tonight, and to learn more about the Women’s Giving Circle at www.womensgivingcircle.org and on social media.

Thank you!

Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System, where books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity are read and discussed.

​It all began in the fall of 2000. Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz organized a meeting on behalf of the Maryland Philanthropy Network (formerly Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers) and asked Barbara Lawson, at that time the head of the organization that is now the Community Foundation of Howard County (CFHoCo) to invite local women to attend. 

• “Buffy called me and said you know we're going to be doing this presentation in Baltimore and we're really wanting to gather together a group of women philanthropists that might be receptive to this idea of a different way of giving, and expanding on women's philanthropy - leveraging different ideas about how that could happen.” - Barbara Lawson

Yolanda Bruno, Jean Moon, and Linda Odum accepted that offer, and became fascinated by what they learned about the incredible power of collective giving inherent in the giving circle model.

Read the full story here

March 15 is Equal Pay Day

Equal Pay Day symbolizes how much into the year women must work to earn what men earned the year before.

The pay gap is larger when comparing the wages of women of color to men. 

​This is unacceptable.

It’s time to close the wage gap and demand equal pay for equal work.

The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County is building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County.
 
One of our stated goals is to increase the life skills of women and girls, which we are focused on through our grantmaking. We are also working to meet this goal by hosting an HCPSS Student Intern this year, recognizing that internships can provide a real-world learning experience that can help increase the life skills of young women, open doors, and shape future paths in college and beyond.
 
We recently welcomed our new Student Intern, Lucia Denmeade to the WGC. Lucia is a senior at Howard High School, and already has a good deal of communications, leadership, and marketing experience as the Vice President of the Howard High School Social Studies Honor Society, and through previous internship work with the Howard County Council, the District Court of Maryland, and the Maryland General Assembly.
 
One thing Lucia is supporting this year is our Feminine Hygiene Product Drive, where we are collecting donated products and money to distribute to the Community Action Council/Howard County Foodbank, and Columbia Community Care to distribute to women and girls in our community. We are excited to be able to help provide much-needed items to women and girls in our community.
 
We are thrilled to have Lucia supporting the WGC's Membership and Events Committee, and invited her to share some thoughts about interning with the WGC:
 
1. We are so excited you are working with the WGC this year! Why did you want to take time during your senior year to intern with the WGC?
 
“I have always been interested in law and this year I am researching reproductive rights as part of an independent research course. I thought I would take a step out of my comfort zone and learn more about the people that these broad legal issues are actually affecting. I reached out to the WGC in order to learn more about these issues, while also giving back to my community.”
 
2. Now that you've joined our Membership & Events Committee, what are you working on that interests you?
 
“So far, I have been working on our year-long Feminine Hygiene Product Drive. I have met with branch managers at each of the libraries in the county to set up containers for the drive, and will be working with them in the future to manage the drive year-round. This drive is very interesting to me because lack of feminine hygiene products is such an important issue for people in any community.”
 
3. What is the most interesting thing you've learned so far about women's philanthropy and giving to programs that benefit women and girls? What would you like us to know?
 
“The most interesting thing that I have been able to do so far is just to attend Events Committee meetings, as well as conversing with women throughout the community to get the drive put into motion. It has been so inspiring and the project has only just begun. The Women’s Giving Circle does so much to help the Howard County community, and I am very grateful to be a part of it.”
 
Thank you for your experience, ideas, and hard work Lucia … welcome!

By Liz Bobo
​Former WGC Advisory Board Member 2003-2007
​
Coming in on the ground floor of the Women’s Giving Circle in Columbia, Howard County, Maryland was a great opportunity for me to take a look back at my life as an adult woman.

I majored in literature in college at the University of Maryland. A few years later I attended and graduated from law school as a young mom with two children. Living with my family adjacent to Columbia I developed an interest in how James Rouse went about building that new town, as he named it,  “a garden for growing people“.

Now, at the age of 78, looking back on my life as a young woman, I see a quite shy person. In the late sixties, a friend told me about a women’s group that gathered on a weekly basis in Columbia’s first village centers-sometimes Wilde Lake and sometimes Harpers Choice. I can visualize myself so clearly sitting on a bench in the corner of the room with my knees drawn up and my arms around my legs. I would literally pray that no one would notice me much less call my name. Yes I was very shy.

I don’t know where that shyness went, but as the years passed I became involved as a community activist in Howard County. I led an organization of neighbors encouraging our county government to avoid environmentally degrading the many stream valleys along the Middle Patuxent River which ran through the new town.

In years following, I led the community action effort to build Howard County General Hospital and give it time to get on its feet before adding competing hospitals. This led me to develop working relationships with elected representatives and community activists from other communities between Baltimore and Washington.

As I became more recognized as a community leader, I eventually campaigned to become a member of the Howard County Council, and, after eight years serving on that body, two years as chairperson, I ran and won election to the position of Howard County Executive. I was the first female county executive in the state of Maryland. There was considerable talk about a woman not being able to handle the job. That talk ceased when during my term in office, Howard County became the first in the state of Maryland to receive a AAA bond rating.

After 20 years serving as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing West Columbia and parts of Ellicott City, I chose to end my time as an elected official.  During my last year in office, my first grandchild, Zachary, succumbed to a brain tumor which had first been discovered years before, and following several years in remission, came back.

Zachary spent a good deal of time with me during his last years, having  a profound impact on my spiritual life. I attended a weeklong silent retreat  led by a Buddhist monk for five consecutive years. My meditation practice has led me to a deeper more pervasive way of thinking about life.

I am so grateful to have had the experience of attending the Women’s Center in the early days of Columbia and also of being a part of the Women’s Giving Circle in later years.

I offer a deep bow of gratitude to those women who are keeping it alive.