The Road to our April 25 Presentation of Grants

​​​With the start of a new year, our attention turns to selecting the nonprofits that will receive Women's Fund grants from the combined donations of our members. Thanks to all our 2015 members—new and returning—for creating the grants pool which we will award on April 25th.

Our diligent Research Committee is narrowing the potential grantees for our 2015-16 ballot, which will be sent to all 2015 members in March via email.

Here are some important dates for you to note on your calendar:

March 11 - Ballot worksheets and background information will be sent to all 2015 Women's Fund members via our electronic newsletter. This information will be useful for planning your individual or group vote. The actual ballot will be emailed separately on March 18 to eligible voters.

March 17 - Individual Members and Group Captains will meet to discuss ballot choices and learn how to vote electronically. Look for your electronic invitation in mid February.

Note to Group Captains: You may want to plan now to set up a meeting for your group sometime between March 18 and the April 2 voting deadline so your group can decide on your group vote.

March 18 - Eligible voters (Individual Members and Group Captains) will receive an email from Survey Monkey that includes a link to cast their vote electronically.

April 2 - Deadline for electronic voting by eligible voters.

CELEBRATING 12 Years of Changing Lives Together

April 25 - SAVE-THE-DATE for our 12th annual Presentation of Grants reception, starting at 3:30 pm at the Fess Parker Doubletree. This is the exciting event where we gather to celebrate our new 2015-16 grantees. These nonprofits will join the 71 other agencies who have received $5.1 million in Women's Fund grants since 2004.

Endowment Update

A new Endowment committee has been formed. It is chaired by Women’s Fund Finance Chair, Melissa Gough (pictured here) and includes committee members Dianne Duva, Jane King and Dannell Stuart.

By the end of 2015, the Endowment Fund reached $265,000, thanks to two generous members. Jackie Inskeep donated $100,000 and an anonymous member created a challenge for us—she promised to donate $25,000 if we raise $75,000 by August 2016.

As of today, we have raised almost $30,000—nearly half-way to the challenge mark! Our Endowment Fund is a way to provide continuing future support to the Women’s Fund with larger gifts such as appreciated assets, bequests or memorials. We hope you will consider helping us meet this challenge grant. Read more about the Endowment on our website.

Get to Know...Earth Angels

A new 2015 Women's Fund membership group

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Pictured (left to right): Cynthia Owen, Cecia Hess, Joyce Tamborello, Bonnie Tanase Cairns, Kathryn Padgett, Robin Martinelli and Julie Franke. Other members of the group include: Jorgia Bordovsky, Gray Felstiner, Dale Hromadka, Nina Hunt, Mary Maxwell, Fran Piacente, Carol Poundstone Olson and Carol Simon.

To get to know this group better, we spoke to Co-Captains Dale Hromadka and Julie Franke.

Why did you join the Women’s Fund? The emphasis is on women and children and in addition, it is a wonderful way to learn more about Santa Barbara.

What inspired you to create your group? We wanted a small group of like-minded people so that everyone could feel involved.

What is the significance of your group name—Earth Angels? We are all old enough to remember all the words to that song!

How many group members do you have? 15

How often do you meet or do you plan to meet? Since we are a new group, we have only had one meet and greet but we intend to meet quarterly. We’re talking about planning our next meeting at Zodo’s—the bowling alley—you can bowl, eat, drink or none of the above.

These are just a few of their answers; read the full article on our website.