FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Deborah Edward

Tel: 503-265-8099

401 Portland Area Women Make THREE $100,000 Grants, TWO $20,000 Grants and THREE $12,200 Core Mission grants in Third Year of Collective Giving Project

In year three, local women’s giving circle give $401,000 for a total of ten grant awards

Portland, Oregon – December 5, 2018 –Ninety-nine girlfriends women’s giving circle is pleased to announce a $100,000 Impact Award to August Wilson Red Door Project’s Evolve: Using Theatre to Impact Public Safety in Portland, Oregon, a $100,000 Impact Award to KairosPDX’s Transformational Education for Tomorrow’s Leaders and a $100,000 Impact Award to Red Lodge Transition Services’ Healing the Sacred Hoop.

Also awarded were $20,000 unrestricted Finalist Awards to Bark’s project, Climate Change & Beavers: Worth a Dam and the Cascade AIDS Project, The LGBTQ+ Mental Health Program.

Additionally, for the first time, ninety-nine girlfriends also awarded five Core Mission unrestricted grants of $12,200 each to Bravo Youth Orchestras, Adelante Mujeres, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, CASA for Children. Inc, and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.

In 2016, the ninety-nine girlfriends collective giving circle was launched in the Portland/Southwest Washington four-county region. Friends invited friends to join. Each woman contributed $1,100: $1,000 went into the grant fund pool and $100 was applied to administrative and education expenses. In the first year 117 women joined the Founder’s Circle. In 2017 ninety-nine girlfriends more than doubled and welcomed 253 women to its second cycle of learning and this year 401 women created a grant pool of $401,000 available for 2018 awards.

Michelle Hynes, Co-chair of the Grants Steering Committee of ninety-nine girlfriends says, “I love that ninety-nine girlfriends makes it possible for me to multiply my contribution, learn more about my community, and meet great people who care about making an impact.” Over 60 volunteers reviewed 142 bold ideas in the form of letters of interest. Five projects and ten runner-up projects were then recommended to the members for a vote in November to determine which would be awarded the $100,000 Impact Awards, the $20,000 Finalist Awards and the $12,200 Core Mission awards.

Ninety-nine girlfriends is an all volunteer project and uses a collective giving grantmaking model styled after the Impact100 programs. It is a member of the Women’s Collective Giving Grantmakers Network, a group of 55 national independent giving circles. GRANTMAKERS of Oregon and SW Washington is the 2018 fiscal sponsor for ninety-nine girlfriends affording the project 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, as well as additional support and educational resources.

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