Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle

 Today the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle (BWGC), a fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation, launched its 10th anniversary year with a luncheon at The Vollmer Auditorium at Cylburn Arboretum.  Since making its first charitable distributions in 2002, the BWGC has awarded 151 grants totaling $1,974,360 to 107 organizations working to improve the lives of disadvantaged women and their families in the Greater Baltimore area.

The idea for a women’s giving circle began with a committee of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers (ABAG), formed to promote philanthropy for women.  With seed money and staff support from the Baltimore Community Foundation, the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle was formed in 2001 and quickly grew to 50 members.  Today the BWGC is the largest giving circle in the region with 336 members. 

The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle grantees serve women and their families in the following key areas: literacy/education, job and career training, life skills, housing, mentoring, parenting skills, healthcare services, and domestic violence.  Each grant application goes through a review process by a team of grant readers.  Seventy-one readers actively participated in the 2010 granting cycle, completed in May. “This year we have partnered with 20 organizations to provide intensive case management for substance abusers, literacy training, after-school programs, access to specialists who motivate and recruit at-risk students to apply to and attend college, programs to train volunteers to become advocates for foster children, and much more,” says Christie Coe, co-chair of the Giving Circle.  “We are so impressed with the creativity and effectiveness of organizations addressing the challenges that exist in our community.”

The education of its members is also a primary function of the Circle. According to BWGC Co-Chair Ellen Bernard, “It is important that we become knowledgeable about the critical issues in the Greater Baltimore area and what steps the government and various non-profits are taking to address them.”  Community leaders, analysts and clients of grantees are invited to speak to the group at meetings throughout the year.  Recently, BWGC launched a book club, The Circle Reads, to put what they have learned about the local community into a broader, national context.

Other BWGC programs help improve the effectiveness of the Circle’s grants. Post Grants connects each grantee with a Circle member who interviews the grantee during the grant period to see how the program is progressing and, as Bernard explains, “to learn as much as possible about factors contributing to a project’s success or challenges, so that Circle members can become better grant makers.” The Grantee Connect program brings together grantees in similar or related areas.  In its first two years, it has fostered relationships among grantees, promoting strategic alliances for shared services and joint ventures.  Beginning this fall, Grantee Connect will offer three technology workshops hosted by Circle grantees.

“Going forward,” Coe says, “The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle is focused on growth, not only in grant capacity and membership, but also in the way we reach out to the community and each other.”

For more information about the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle or to join, please visit http://www.thebwgc.org or contact membership@thebwgc.org

About the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle
Through collective giving and collaboration, the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle at the Baltimore Community Foundation seeks to improve life for disadvantaged women and their families in the Greater Baltimore area. The Giving Circle encourages members to participate in philanthropy through education, grantmaking, and other community-based activities. Since its founding in 2001, the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle has granted more than $1.9 million to nonprofit organizations serving women and their families in the Baltimore area. More information can be found at www.thebwgc.org.

 

About the Baltimore Community Foundation
The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle is one of more than 600 different charitable funds comprising the Baltimore Community Foundation. With assets of $149 million, BCF distributed $22 million in 2009 to hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore region and beyond. BCF invites donors to Invest in Baltimore through its civic agenda, which combines economic development with poverty reduction by making strategic investments in the areas of human services, youth, education, transportation, neighborhoods, diversity, environment, arts and culture, and promoting Baltimore. More information about Invest in Baltimore as well as support for individual donors’ philanthropy and more can be found at www.bcf.org.