Can ninety-nine girlfriends give new members a sense of what we’ve been learning about philanthropy, community and social change in the first years of our collective giving? Well, turns out we can! Over the course of three Sundays, Member Education Co-Chair Deborah Edward led new and returning members on three 90-minute learning journeys.

In our first years as a collective giving circle, we introduced core concepts about social change, community, and philanthropy to help frame our collective action. Members have asked us to share the takeaways from our first years' workshops and forums so all of us have these ideas in mind. Enter "Women Power and Giving: The Recap" an interactive, information-filled, and fun way to learn and share with other girlfriends before our voting season. These “salons” to be held on Sunday afternoons in October 4:30-6:00 PM. Time for education, interaction, Q&A, and collective thinking about what drives our giving. Join us and register here for one or all!

On Wed May 15th our Member Education Team presented a forum about our local homeless challenges. Marc Jolin, Executive Director of A Home For Everyone/Joint Offices of Homeless Services, and Brandi Tuck from Portland Homeless Family Solutions shared causes and solutions; grantmakers from Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and Northwest Health Foundation shared their perspectives about how foundations can make a difference on this issue; and all participants had opportunities to think about their own feelings related to homelessness and how each of us can make a difference with regards to this issue. Here are some exemplary resources to help understand how we got to the current crisis nationally and what we can and are doing about it.

Implicit bias is a real thing, and we are working to combat it. Are you wondering if we’re out of our lane here? Well, we don’t think so. Bias can impact who we invite to join ninety-nine girlfriends, who we encourage to lead, and which organizations we deem worthy of a grant–to name a few examples. There are other ways bias rears its ugly head, but these are a few that exemplify the importance of awareness, education, and practice around this subject.

Are you a north? Or a south? What’s your leadership/listening style? What’s the role of philanthropy in addressing the challenges of our region? What’s it like to be a young immigrant in Portland?