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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!

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Help Spread The Word!

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This year, ninety-nine girlfriends will fund organizations from five focus areas that are working to dismantle systemic racism, advance anti-racism, and move our region towards racial equity. These FAQ and definitions provide additional information about our 2022 Funding Priority and process. Funds may be used for general operating or project support and impact partners can choose to have funds disbursed in one year or over the course of two years. Our Timeline provides key dates for application review, decision-making, and payment.

New Member Number Coming Soon

As you know, our deadline to renew for 2022 was April 23. We are in the midst of finalizing our membership number and are excited to share that with you soon. Before I joined the membership committee, I wondered why it took extra time to figure out how many members we have. In case you’re curious too, here’s my short answer. We have a lot of different ways Girlfriends join and pay. With the rush of renewals at the end, it takes us a while to sync those up. And we usually need to reach out to a few members with questions.

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We Welcome Our Six New Fellows!

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The Fellows Program is thrilled to welcome our six new Fellows: April Jay Unterberger, Brianna Babbitt, Hanna Lilly, Josie Greer, Katrina Machorro, and Tuyen Ta. Earlier this month, we also hosted a virtual graduation for third-year Fellow Mikayla Posey – featuring customized Zoom backgrounds, spring tulips, inspiring poetry, and a gift certificate for a professional photo. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!

Share Your Zoom Expertise

Have you gotten really good at running the controls on Zoom meetings? Have you helped with a Zoom webinar? If the answer to these questions is yes, and you have an hour or two a few times a year that you’re willing to volunteer, we’d love to hear from you. Please reach out for more information. Don’t worry. We won’t rope you into anything you don’t want to do.

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Impact Partner Update: Constructing Hope

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My visit with [2021 Impact Partner] Constructing Hope was a great experience. I spent a little over an hour there, got a tour of the facility, and had lots of time to chat with [leaders] Pat Daniels and Courtney Jenkins. They wanted to invite any and all Girlfriends to their events this year, which are posted on their web site, particularly their grand re-opening on 4/21 and their 15th anniversary celebration sometime this fall (TBA).

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In-Person Reunion & Orientation and Virtual Orientation Coming Soon

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Yes, the rumors are true. We are, in fact, planning our first in-person gathering since March of 2020! Save these dates and stay tuned to your Member Updates for more information. What we can tell you right now is that you’re welcome whether you are a new or returning member and we will have limited space for the in-person event due to the pandemic and our desire to do our part to keep everyone safe.

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The Grants Steering Committee is in full swing!

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The Grants Steering Committee is a big deal in ninety-nine girlfriends. It’s one of our largest committees, made up of many teams (Outreach, Intake, Grant Review, Financial Review, Voting, and Impact/Liaisons), and it provides numerous volunteer opportunities while doing really important grantmaking work. Here is just a taste of what is going on with this awesome committee of Girlfriends.

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Volunteer Spotlight

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KATHLEEN PORCELLO

What brought you to ninety-nine girlfriends?

I was volunteering as a grant writer for NAMI Clackamas when I first discovered ninety-nine girlfriends and the annual Impact Awards program. Months later, I saw a LinkedIn post about the young adult Fellows program, and I immediately applied for an interview! I was drawn to the opportunity to learn firsthand about trust-based philanthropy, grantmaking, and the diverse nonprofits doing incredible work in our region. Plus, I wanted to get to know the many amazing members of ninety-nine girlfriends!

Renew Now!

With more than 230 members for 2022 already, we are feeling positive about the coming year. AND with 24 days until our April 23 deadline to join or renew, we have 250 members who haven’t renewed yet. That’s over half of our 2021 members! Please renew today if you haven’t already so we can continue to support our impact partners and communities (and give our hard-working membership committee some peace of mind).

Fellows News

Over the last two weeks, the Fellows Program hosted a terrific professional development event with Alice Tang about lifelong money and financial health (thanks again to member Agnes Zach) and invited SIX new Fellows to join us for the 2022-2023 year. Stay tuned to meet these remarkable young women(*) early next month. Also, we're looking forward to celebrating Mikayla Posey's graduation in April. Mikayla has completed her three-year Fellowship, during which time she's made remarkable contributions to the girlfriends' grantmaking, events, and more! Mikayla manages NW Portland’s Hostel Cafe, so if you find yourself in the neighborhood please drop in and say hello to wonderful Girlfriend and Fellow Mikayla Posey.

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Grantee Partner Highlight

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“The funds received from ninety-nine girlfriends helped pay the salary of a full-time, bilingual, registered Nurse Manager. The addition of this new position was critical for ensuring we were able to adapt from a walk-in to an appointment-based model. This appointment-based model allowed us to pre-screen patients for COVID-19 symptoms, have fewer patients in the clinic at one time, and better protect patients, volunteer providers and staff from potential exposure to COVID-19 and other illnesses. The Nurse Manager is an integral part of the medical team, who oversees the day-to-day operations of patient services. This includes providing direct patient care and supervising medical assistants and volunteers. This position was also vital for implementing the new electronic medical record system and developing policies and procedures around its use.” – Free Clinic

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Volunteer Spotlight

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JEAN MALARKEY

What brought you to ninety-nine girlfriends?

In the first or second year of ninety-nine girlfriends’ existence, my cousin-in-law, Jinx Faulkner, invited me to an educational event on philanthropy, and I was immediately intrigued by the group and all the great women I met there. I missed the window to join the next year, but was excited to do so in 2018.

Help Us Rebuild Our Events Team

Our intention (and hope) is to begin offering in-person events after membership closes on April 23, when safe for members and appropriate for our organization. To do this, we will need volunteers so that we can put an Events Team/Committee back in place. Kind of like getting the band back together.


Do you like to seek out venues, manage hospitality, and find fun decor while collaborating with the committee responsible for the content of the event? If so, then this volunteer opportunity may be right up your alley.

Please email us if you’re interested in learning more about this fun opportunity. It doesn't involve a lot of your time but is a great way to meet other girlfriends and contribute to our collective.

Host Your Own Mini Cafe

Nothing is more engaging than your personal touch. If you have girlfriends who’d like to learn about ninety-nine girlfriends we have a fun idea for you! Host your own mini-cafe utilizing these timely videos.

Invite your friends to check out The Magic of ninety-nine girlfriends and Pip and Tammy’s fireside chat and then join you to learn more. Let us know when your event is and we’ll try to provide a Girlfriend to answer questions or just use the handy FAQ link. If you need additional materials, please contact Kaye. And if you host a mini-café, please let us know how it goes.