The Women’s Giving Alliance is an initiative of The Community Foundation, increasing from 100 members a decade ago to an estimated 250 this year. The annual membership of $1,500 is divided among the grant pool, an endowment fund and administration. More than $3 million in grants have been made to nonprofits. Sandy Cook is a past president and chaired its new “Stronger Voices ... Better Lives” study. For more information, visit www.womensgivingalliance.org
Explain the Women’s Giving Alliance’s mission.
The mission is to inspire the women of Northeast Florida to be strategic philanthropists and to improve the lives of women and girls through collective giving.
The latest study identified five emerging issues, led by cyberbullying. What did you find and what can be done?
While it is recognized that social media has the positive power to both “reach” and “teach,” its downside includes Internet safety and cyberbullying. Consistent with national trends, girls in Northeast Florida are the victims — two to three times more often than boys — and the perpetrators — almost twice as often as boys. Fortunately, there are local efforts to address the issue. Individual schools and school systems are developing protocols for handling bullying of any kind.
Another finding covered the problems faced by elderly women. What is the most prevalent among those problems?
Regarding the “silver tsunami,” women comprise the majority of the elder population and are living longer. Isolation is identified as the major issue facing elders. This leads to mental health problems, especially depression, anxiety. Also needed is assistance in handling daily living — health care, home maintenance and managing finances.
The alliance has grown since the start. How has its grant-making focus evolved?
We have learned that funding research and evaluation pays real dividends by helping to target resources, identifying what works, what should be altered or discarded; pilot programs and supporting them for several years enables new solutions to take root; capacity-building within agencies increases their efficiency and effectiveness; and that systemic reform can improve conditions for an entire target population in our community.
What are the goals for the next 10 years?
The current strategic plan takes us through 2013 and will be revisited then. However, we expect that we will “stay the course” by increasing membership and using our new study and ongoing listening to identify focus areas for grant-making. Our recent research effort pointed to the significant need to improve access to mental health resources.
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