Always learning: Girlfriends join 350+ peers at women’s collective giving conference Seattle February 23-25, 2020

Did you know that ninety-nine girlfriends is part of an international network of women’s collective giving organizations? It’s called Philanos (formerly Catalist or the Women’s Collective Giving Grantmaking Network). Every 18 months or so, women from the 70+ affiliates gather for 2-3 days to learn together. In February 2020 the Washington Women’s Foundation, based in Seattle, hosted POWER UP!  This year’s event focused on how women’s collective giving circles can advance issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in our learning and grantmaking. In addition to inspiring plenary speakers, lots of opportunities were created for members of giving circles to swap stories and share tips and tools. 

Our own Michelle Hynes was one of the organizers of a set of break-out sessions related to membership and communications. She was great! Michelle enlisted Tammy Wilhoite to share details and inspiration from our Fellows program, and recruited Deborah Edward to moderate a session on Strategic Planning. Michelle co-facilitated a session on Creating a More Diverse Membership and Inclusive Organization. We are so grateful to Michelle for her leadership in the conference planning team and for the valuable resource of time that she invested. 

Members Christine Zieverink, Kirsten Brady, Susan Ehrman, and Elizabeth Klein also attended the conference. We learned about topics such as Striking a Balance: Power Sharing & Building Equitable Partnerships with Grantees, Blueprint for Impact: Dismantling Structural Inequities, and Embracing Change in Collective Giving: Stories from Austin and Philadelphia. 

The conference schedule and materials were managed entirely on a phone app – allowing people to share information in real-time. We were delighted to hear from some well-known nonprofit thought leaders from the Raikes Foundation and the Whitman Institute as well as voices from diverse communities, helping us think more deeply about issues of race and gender. We even got to hear Vu Le, a provocative social justice activist, live.

We all learned a lot and have brought back to Portland some ideas and insights to help shape our year ahead. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic changing our world, the ideas that emerged from this conference ring true to our work going forward. In fact, they seem even more important now!

To learn more about the content of the conference go to the webpage featuring conference pre-reading, speaker bio’s and materials.