Our Story2012 - 202

WGC 

OUR STORY 2012-2022

4-9-2022

It all started for Sue Guben when she served key lime mousse to Naples dinner guests.  When her friend complimented the dessert, Sue  explained that, in Baltimore, as a member of the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle, Sue’s responsibility had been to monitor the use of a grant for a culinary arts training program at a shelter for homeless women.  They invited her to visit them for lunch, served the key lime mousse, gave her the recipe and even taught her how to zest a lime.  Sue’s friend responded that, if Sue ever started a giving circle in Naples, she would be the first to join.

A few years later, Sue mentioned this incident to the founder of the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle who suggested she speak with Nancy Cohen.  At the time, Nancy lived in both Bonita Springs and Baltimore, and her membership in the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle had become a touchstone for her time there.  Its mission to provide essential help for women struggling with basic  needs, its egalitarian approach for members and its engagement of like-minded women captured Nancy’s interest and heart.  She became convinced that starting such an organization in the Naples area would be worth exploring. Amazingly, even though they had both been members of the same organization, Nancy and Sue had never met.  

They rectified this in the fall of 2011 with a lunch in Mercato, where they discussed their visions of a giving circle for southwest Florida, and decided to explore the possibility of going forward.  The first goal would be finding a “home” in an already established charitable organization, preferably a community foundation which could hold the group’s funds and confer on it its tax-exempt status.

Nancy and Sue spent the winter defining their vision and pursuing this goal and in July of 2012, the Community Foundation of Collier County arranged a meeting for them to present their idea to a focus group of local prominent women.  None had previously heard of the concept of a giving circle, but they were all enthusiastic. Two of these women accepted the invitation to join in a two year experimental pilot program, and the Community Foundation welcomed us as one of its funds.  

Nancy and Sue met regularly at The Apple Store, learning how to create and share files, researching how other giving circles operated, and inviting the women who would comprise their first membership of 10.  None of these were familiar with giving circles, but they were willing to embark on this adventure. In addition to Nancy and Sue, these founding members, most of whom are still active in the WGC, are Karen Biernesser, Jane Doherty, Sally Gleason, Mana Holtz, Marty Howard, Barbara Knepshield, Diane Lepola, and Linda Penniman.

They comprised a committee of the whole and The Women’s Giving Circle of Southwest Florida officially began at the home of Marty Howard on November 16th, 2012. At this first meeting we defined our mission and established our priorities and most fundamental policies such as: grants would go to non-profits in both Collier and Lee Counties, no hierarchy among members, every member donates the same amount and has equal voice in decision making, no fundraising, and giving away $1,000 times the number of members yearly.  We also had fun deciding on a name for the giving circle.  All kinds of cute names were considered, but we finally decided to accept the advice that our name should simply say what we are.

During the fall and winter of 2012-13, we met monthly.  At the Community Foundation we learned about local needs and potential grant recipients, and the best ways to approach these to introduce ourselves.  We visited a few, offered them the grant applications which we had created, then met to review the applications and awarded two grants for a total of $10,000.  At a final meeting and potluck dinner in April of 2013, we celebrated our accomplishments,  reviewed what did and didn’t work, and planned for another year.  A few of the members commented that they had had no idea what they were getting into when they joined, but they were now quite pleasantly surprised to see that it worked!

After a second successful pilot year in 2014, with three grants awarded, we concluded that we were ready to plan a future and welcome additional members.  To help us develop a recognizable brand, Nancy’s daughter, a graphic designer, created our logo  —  a circle because we function as a circle rather than a vertical hierarchy, with a blue background to reflect Florida’s blue skies and water, and lettering in yellow and orange to reflect our sunshine. A wine and cheese party at Linda Penniman’s house was planned where we each invited a friend to hear from our first grantee who described how our grant had been used. Our membership immediately doubled.  

With new members, we divided ourselves into executive, grants, membership and education committees.  It became our policy that each committee would be led by two co-chairs who would share the responsibilities for a two year period and that the current group of co-chairs would become the Leadership Board with monthly meetings from November through April.  We also joined what is now Philanos, a national umbrella organization of giving circles. Nancy and Sue attended a conference in St. Louis in April, 2014, where they learned that we were the newest and smallest giving circle represented in the organization, but that we were proceeding in the best possible way.  It also became clear that we are unique because we live in Vacationland, where so many of our members are here in SWFL only seasonally, and our activities need to be scheduled to accommodate our members’ many commitments that are independent of the giving circle. 

Our first Fall General meeting was held at the Colony Bay Club in Bonita Springs, on November 6, 2014, almost exactly two years after our initial meeting.  Our speaker was Meg Geltner, Executive Director of PACE of Lee County, one of our first grantees.  Seventeen of our 22 members attended.  

The following year our membership doubled and the next year it doubled again, all simply by word of mouth.  Each year since, we have grown exponentially in the same manner.  

Each year we have also learned, adjusted and refined how we operate, in order to meet the current community needs and our members’ interests.  In 2016, thanks to an initial offer from eBella Magazine and then to the efforts of our own Beth Juliano, we developed our website.  In 2017 we added monthly lunches to offer our members the opportunity to informally enjoy each others’ company.  At most of these lunches, we have also collected much needed supplies for one of our current or previous grantees.  

In 2017-18, to address the immediate needs created by Hurricane Irma, our ability to be flexible enabled us to accelerate our grant process and quickly focus all grants on the special needs generated by the hurricane.  From this experience we decided to have a focus each year for the grants we would offer.  Our 2019 grants were geared to Health and Mental Wellness, and our 2020 grants were dedicated to helping Seniors.  In 2020, Covid-19 upended all of our lives and we again speeded up our grant process so that our 2021 funds could quickly assist programs whose participants were dealing with the effects of the pandemic.  

The pandemic forced us to adapt to new technology and, thanks to Zoom’s remote virtual conferencing, we were able, not only to quicken the pace of our grant-making activities, but also to add monthly educational programs featuring some of our previous grantees as well as non-profits created by some of our WGC members.  We also held our first virtual book discussion that focused on women leaders.

Back in 2012, The Women’s Giving Circle of Southwest Florida began as an experiment, and we didn’t know whether we would succeed.  It’s hard to believe we’re in our tenth year!  We have grown from ten to 113  members and have given away over a half a million dollars!  Our philosophy has been, within the parameters of our mission and basic policies, to be flexible, to consider our members’ ideas and suggestions, and to evolve as appropriate.  We celebrate our achievements and look ahead to continuing to learn and work together to make our community a better place for all.

WHAT MAKES US SPECIAL? 

WHAT DO OUR MEMBERS VALUE ABOUT MOST about the Women’s Giving Circle of SWFL?

-Pooling our funds  for charitable purposes greatly enhances the impact of each member’s individual donation.

-Everyone is equal.  Each member makes the same financial contribution of $1100, no one has more power than anyone else, and everyone has an equal vote in the grant decisions. Our “circle” concept gives each member access to committees and leadership opportunities.

-There is no fundraising, and no pressure to acquire more money than we have members, because each year we give away in grants $1,000 x the number of our members.  There is no requirement to increase our membership in order to increase our overall grant funding, though women who hear about what we do or who attend a program as a guest often are eager to join.

-Our members learn about the needs of our community, how to determine which organizations address these needs, and then develop relationships with the people and organizations that provide needed services.

-We always seek suggestions from members and have the flexibility to adjust  our operations to meet our mission and to address community needs and our members’ needs.

-Participation in our all volunteer WGC is encouraged, but not required. A member may participate according to her time, availability and interest.

-Our members become friends with other like-minded women they might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet. A broad sense of community connectedness for the Giving Circle members is an unintended but important benefit of being a member of our all volunteer, women led philanthropic organization.   

WGC  LEADERS 2012-2021

 2012-13  

 2013-14

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben

FOUNDERS  —  Karen Biernesser, Jane Doherty, Sally Gleason, Mana Holtz, Marty Howard, Barbara Knepshield, Diane Lepola,  Linda Penniman 

 2014-15

WGC CO-CHAIRS  —  Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben

GRANTS —  Barbara Knepshield, Karen Biernesser

MEMBERSHIP — Sally Gleason, Jane Dougherty

EDUCATION  — Marty Howard, Diane Lepola

TREASURER — Karen Biernesser

2015-16

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben

GRANTS — Karen Biernesser,  Amy Quaremba

MEMBERSHIP — Sally Gleason, Lia Denson

EDUCATION — Beth Juliano, Pat Ferreri

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE — Beth Juliano

TREASURER — Judi Lipnick

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2016-17

WGC CO-CHAIRS  — Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben , Karen Biernesser

GRANT RESEARCH — Barbara Knepshield, Pat Bloomgarden

GRANT EVALUATION — Amy Quaremba, Mary Ann Lambert

GRANT MONITORING — Pat Ferreri, Pat Jackson

MEMBERSHIP — Beth Juliano, Lia Denson

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE — Beth Juliano

TREASURER — Judi Lipnick

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2017-18

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Karen Biernesser, Beth Juliano

GRANT RESEARCH — Barbara Knepshield, Vivian Wunsch, Mary Molofsky

GRANT EVALUATION — Carol Vesce

GRANT MONITORING — Mary Lynn Podolak, Heather Maier-Claster

MEMBERSHIP-EVENTS — Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE — Beth Juliano

TREASURER — Judi Lipnick

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2018-19

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Beth Juliano, Mary Lynn Podolak

GRANT RESEARCH — Barbara Knepshield, Mary Molofsky

GRANT EVALUATION — Carol Vesce, Carol Horowitz

GRANT MONITORING — Heather Maier-Claster

MEMBERSHIP — Nancy Cohen, Sue Guben, Karen Biernesser

PROGRAM — Mo Winograd

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE — Beth Juliano

TREASURER — Judi Lipnick

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2019-20

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Mary Lynn Podolak, Carol Vesce

GRANT RESEARCH — Barbara Knepshield, Mary Molofsky

GRANT EVALUATION — Carol Horowitz, Judi Mehlman

GRANT MONITORING — Heather Maier-Claster 

MEMBERSHIP — Sue Guben, Beth Juliano

PROGRAM — Ruthmarie Mitsch, Jackie Aab

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE, CONSTANT CONTACT — Beth Juliano

TREASURER — Judi Lipnick

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2020-21

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Carol Vesce, Ruthmarie Mitsch

GRANT RESEARCH — Mary Molofsky, Colleen Fitzsimmons

GRANT EVALUATION — Carol Horowitz. Judy Mehlman

GRANT MONITORING — Nancy Cohen, Peggy Garson

MEMBERSHIP — Beth Juliano, Sandy Kidd

PROGRAM — Jackie Aab, Karen Leland

COMMUNICATION — Laura Fitzgibbons

NEWSLETTER — Marty Howard

WEBSITE, CONSTANT CONTACT — Beth Juliano, Laura Fitzgibbons

TREASURER — Barbara Knepshield

SECRETARY — Marty Howard

 2021-22

WGC CO-CHAIRS — Ruthmarie Mitsch, Mana Holtz

GRANT RESEARCH — Colleen Fitzsimmons, Denise Vachhani

GRANT EVALUATION — Carol Horowitz, Judi Mehlman

GRANT MONITORING — Nancy Cohen, Peggy Garson until December, then Marty Howard

MEMBERSHIP —  Sandy Kidd, Carol Vesce

PROGRAM —Jackie  Aab, Karen Leland

COMMUNICATION — Laura Fitzgibbons (Includes newsletter, website, constant contact )

TREASURER — Barbara Knepshield

SECRETARY — Pat Bloomgarden