How We Work

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WIN-WIN

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Based on our recent strategic planning efforts, we are changing our annual membership contribution to be more inclusive. The contribution options are now $300, $600, $1200, $1800, and $2500. Please join at a level that is meaningful to you, understanding the bigger our pool of money, the bigger our grants, and the greater our impact.

Everyone will have an equal voice within the organization, regardless of contribution amount. These new options will welcome more Girlfriends to participate in collective giving while continuing to provide significant grants. Definitely a win-win!

Your $100 is Hard at Work

Have you ever wondered what happens to the $100 you contribute to ninety-nine girlfriends above and beyond the $1,000 grant pool contribution? Here’s your answer: Our annual administrative, event, and education expenses are supported by your $100 membership contribution. Per the 2023 budget, approximately half of your dues are expected to offset the costs of events planned for this year and to cover technology expenses. Merchant charges, licenses, and insurance expenses compile roughly 25%, and accounting/contract services and professional development expenses comprise the remaining key expenses.

Do you have a question about how things work in ninety-nine girlfriends? If so, submit it here and we’ll do our best to answer it in a future issue.

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Register for a Grant Review Team and Help Select our Finalists!

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Have you ever wanted to serve on a Grant Review Team (GRT) but just didn’t have the time? This may be your year! Grant making at ninety-nine girlfriends is going to look A LOT different this year — streamlined and simplified in order to make room for our strategic planning activities. The whole GRT commitment will take about three weeks and there will be just ONE team meeting on June 10, after which your work would be done!

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A Wonderful Time was had by All

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It was such a gift to be able to gather together to celebrate our Impact Partners and our 2022 work. The music was lively, the food was yummy, and the opportunity to be together in real life was wonderful. Here is the link to the photos from the event for your enjoyment.  The password is Greatroom.  
Please credit Andrea Lonas Photography if you choose to share them on social media.

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The Girlfriends will Test a Hybrid Model at the Awards Celebration

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In the interest of inclusion and taking what we’ve learned in the pandemic and carrying that forward, while honoring the wonderful live event experiences we enjoy sharing, we will be testing the hybrid event model at our Awards Celebration on Tuesday, December 13. The event will be in-person and we encourage you to register and join us for a wonderful evening of celebration of our new Impact Partners and the work we’ve done over the past year, while we welcome new friends and colleagues who want to learn more about ninety-nine girlfriends by attending this event. If it doesn’t work for you to attend in person, please register for the virtual event and you can log onto zoom and watch the event from home. The virtual option will be free and the in-person option will offer a sliding scale that will help us recoup a small portion of the cost of the event. Be sure to register for the option that works best for you HERE.

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Register for Meet the Finalists!

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Did you know that one of the best ways to support our finalists is to show up at the virtual Meet the Finalists event? It’s true. They feel the love - even through the screen and the chat - just ask last year’s finalists. Also, this event and our awesome Voter’s Guide will greatly inform you when it comes time to cast your ballot for this year’s Impact Award Winners!

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Grant Review Team Results Are In!

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Some exciting news as summer moves into fall! The 2022 Grants Steering Committee and Grant Review Teams (“GRTs”) are delighted to announce that 20 semifinalists have been chosen from among the 131 grant applications that ninety-nine girlfriends received in June. Our GRTs have worked really hard to advance organizations that inspire them and align with our 2022 Funding Priority and Guiding Principles.

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What Is Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP)?

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In preparation for the coming months of our grantmaking process, we encourage you to learn more about how ninety-nine girlfriends’ grantmaking is grounded in trust.

The giving circle model is built on large amounts of trust: trust between members, trust between grantees, trust in collective giving.

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Activities Are Ramping Up!

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Watch your email inbox because we’re getting to a really exciting and educational part of our year. In October, your Member Education Committee will offer several small-group discussion opportunities to learn about gender, systemic racism, and how to have an inclusive conversation.

Next we we move on to Meet the Finalists (a signature event where you learn about this year’s finalists for Impact Awards), voting for Impact Awards, and our signature Awards Celebration. It’ll be a few months of wonderfully engaging activities and opportunities to learn and connect before our winter break (January-February).

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Register for Discovery Forum 2022 by Sunday, June 5th

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Join us for this year’s Discovery Forum, the kickoff of our Member Education programming for 2022!

Each year, ninety-nine girlfriends offers interactive educational programs informed by our annual learning question. This year's question is “How can systems change and advocacy advance racial equity?"

Discovery Forum 2022 features a panel of speakers from local nonprofits sharing their experiences with systems change and advocacy, and the impact those have had on the important issues they are working to address. We will also have an interactive table discussion among members to learn more about systems change and each other.

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Pronoun Project Begins

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At our recent event, we began a project we are calling the Pronoun Project. Through this we are asking our members to add their pronouns to their name tags so other Girlfriends know by which pronouns they would like to be referred. This is part of our ongoing effort to be inclusive and to help every single Girlfriend feel a sense of belonging in our community. Read more about the importance of pronouns here and look for the labels at your next in-person event so you can update your name tag too. Your Member Education Committee will be presenting a program on understanding gender that we hope will be of interest to you. Watch for more about that in the fall.

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Grants Steering Committee Update

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Have you been in the eye of a hurricane? It is calm and quiet in an eerie way. That is where most of the Grants Steering Committee is now, in the eye of the hurricane. The Impact Award application was released on May 6. While we are waiting for the flurry of applications (due June 6) and the hard work of the Grant Review Teams (GRTs) to begin in earnest, we are enjoying the relative quiet. This lull involves the Outreach Team answering the questions of potential applicants and the Intake Team learning how to use our intake software. But, while some of us are enjoying the pause, one of our teams, the Grant Review Team Coordination Team (GRTCT), is fully in the storm. These Girlfriends are preparing trainings for our GRTs on consensus building and implicit bias within the framework of ninety-nine girlfriends grants. They are also planning a training for the entire Grants Steering Committee on Trust Based Philanthropy, which is essential to the work we do. We are filled with gratitude for the GRTCT for preparing us all for the next big push! Onward!

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Our Equity Statement

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We continue learning and embedding racial equity in all that we do, and would like to share our new Equity & Inclusion statement which was spearheaded by the Racial Equity Committee. In addition, the Outreach Team has connected with more nonprofits that identify as indigenous or Native American to invite them to learn about our grant opportunities and we are creating space for indigenous people to share their voices and perspectives with our members at our events as an addition to our land acknowledgment. We will continue to learn and incorporate inclusive ways that we can embed racial equity in our work. If this work interests you, reach out and learn more!

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Volunteer Spotlight

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JEANETTE SWAFFORD

What brought you to ninety-nine girlfriends?

Five years ago I was getting my hair cut by Fahti and began chatting about a small giving circle that I was participating in. Fahti shared that she had just joined this amazing group of women who were also experimenting with giving, but on a larger scale with transformative amounts. I used to work in tech start-ups and that fresh energy of building something new was exciting to me. I didn’t know anyone aside from Fahti, but I loved the idea of change-makers out there stirring it up. These were women that I wanted to know!