Giving Circle, Helps Local Charities
Posted Courtesy of The Post and Courier (http://www.charleston.net)
BY SARAH LUNDY
Of The Post and Courier Staff
3 women started group that has grown to 130
A year ago, Weesie Newton offered to volunteer at a local
charity that works to prevent child sexual abuse.
But Anne Lee, executive director of From Darkness to Light,
had a better idea.
She introduced Newton to two other Lowcountry women with
similar philanthropic interests who became the founding
members of an endowment fund to benefit Lowcountry charities
that help women and children.
Newton, Nancy Snowden and Katie Milner created Women Making
A Difference, a group that grew to 130 members in its first
year.
They hope for a maximum 200 members in 2003.
The organization is part of a national philanthropic
movement of "giving circles" that are popping up
throughout the country.
Like the popular investment clubs of the 1990s, giving
circles combine people's money as a way to make a bigger
financial impact than if they donated individually.
The goal for Women Making a Difference is to recruit women
as members.
A full member pays $1,000. An associate member contributes
$250.
Most of the money - about 90 percent - goes to Charleston
County charities, while the remaining 10 percent is used for
the endowment fund. Interest on the fund also accrues to
provide for grants.
Each member of the giving circle also volunteers at least
five hours a year at a charity.
Last month, the group doled out its first grants totaling
$48,000 to eight local charities.
The grants ranged from $2,000 to $13,000.
"It was meant to be fun but also to make a
difference," Newton said earlier this week outside the
West Ashley coffee shop where she and Milner met for the
first time nearly a year ago.
Going from the original three to 130 women this year hasn't
been easy.
Like many organizations looking to grow, Newton, 34,
Snowden, 46, and Milner, 26, hosted recruitment parties.
In February, Snowden held the first cocktail party in her
Tradd Street home.
"Everybody called 10 to 20 of their friends and asked
them to come," said Newton, a Daniel Ravenel Real
Estate Co. broker associate.
The group grew. Their ages range from 20-something to
70-something.
"We could pull from different social circles,"
said Snowden, president of NCGS Laboratories Inc.
One member started a newsletter. Another set up a Web site (www.womenmakingadifference.
com) for anyone interested in joining.
Outside sponsors, such as the John Doyle Gallery, donated
money to the pot. The group also voted on its logo, a symbol
created by local artists Shannon Brown.
In June, the group joined the Community Foundation Serving
Coastal South Carolina, which helped the organization set up
and administer the grants.
"They helped out so much. We didn't know how to do
it," Newton said.
The group created a grant committee with 14 volunteers, who
reviewed the applications and visited the charities. This
year's recipients are: Care Centers ($2,000), Center for
Women ($5,000), Crisis Ministries ($5,000), Dee Norton
Lowcountry Children's Center ($5,000), My Sister's House
($5,000), People Against Rape ($5,000) and Safe Moves
($5,000). Because From Darkness to Light helped get the
group started, they were awarded $13,000.
"I think it's wonderful that a group of women have come
together to raise and come up with funds to give grants to
organizations that are geared toward providing services to
women and their children," said Elmire Raven, My
Sister's House executive director. The shelter for victims
of domestic violence plans to use its money for general
operating expenses.
Next month, the grant committee will review the group's
first-year efforts and recommend changes to the entire
membership. The membership drive will also begin again.
"I've met so many women I wouldn't have met
otherwise," Snowden said.
|
