a fund of the Community Foundation
of Southeastern Massachusetts

Kate Fentress
Executive Director

Advisory Council

Carolina Africano
Louise Anthony
Christina Bascom
Wendy Bauer
Paula Benedetti
Carolyn Burnham
Priscilla Ditchfield
Missy Gilbarg
Nan Johnson
Rachael Kolb
Nancy Kurtz
Jean MacCormack
Carolee Matsumoto
Nancy McFadden
Susan Perry
Christel Phipps
Robin Robinson
Cathy Roberts
Lara Stone
Lisa Strattan

Committees of the Women's Fund

Executive
Grantmaking
Attired & Hired
Development
Marketing
Governance
Events
Women's Stories

About Us

The vision embraced by the Women's Fund has inspired insightful women to step forward in support of this initiative.  They are women from all walks of life who have seized the opportunity to participate in charitable giving by and for women.

The fund was the inspiration of a local woman who reaped the benefits of a supportive living arrangement after a divorce. Through the help of other women and children, she was able to complete college and her professional training. In creating the Women’s Fund, her goal was to enable other women and girls to overcome obstacles and have successful futures.

The goal of the Women's Fund is to create a $1M endowment as a permanent resource for the women and girls of Southeastern Massachusetts.

These are the milestones the Fund has reached since its inception:

• Hired its first staff person, a Coordinator (now Executive Director) part-time in 2004 to begin to actively implement our vision and mission.
  
• Established first round of small, flexible grants, Action Awards, to enable an individual girl or woman or a girl’s or women’s group to take the next step forward in any of the Women’s Fund areas of interest. Below are the recent grantees:

  YWCA
  Brick by Brick
  STTAR Women’s Program
  MCAS Summer remedial program
  Peaceworks Urban Garden project
  Culture Park
  Trips for Kids
  Coalition Against Poverty
  Inner City Youth
  Bioneers Conference Youth Program

• Collaborated with the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women and UMASS Dartmouth’s Center for Policy Analysis and developed a statistical profile of women in Bristol County, breaking out separate data for women living in Fall River and New Bedford. The data compiled is helping the WF and local officials’ better focus on the specific needs of women in our local area.
• Become an active, sought-after participant in area civic affairs to promote awareness and focus on issues of women and girls, including a 2005 Mayoral Debate in New Bedford, 2006 Bristol County District Attorney Debate and Gubernatorial Forum on regional issues at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
• Facilitated a collaboration to create “Attired 2B Hired” (formerly called Career Gear) with Child & Family Services providing interview and work clothing to women referred by homeless and domestic violence shelters and job training programs. Over 150 client referrals since the program started in the fall of 2005.
• Began “Giving Circles” - small group directed giving initiatives where friends gather together to fund a project of their choice.
• Developed a logo and graphic identity, website and promotional brochure.
• Hosted hundreds of area women at a series of community networking events that included show-casing volunteer opportunities in programs serving women and girls and discussing women’s leadership with area women elected officials.
• Hosted a successful Mother’s Day Road Race which will become an annual traveling opportunity to raise awareness about Women’s Issues in other area communities.
• Established a program fund which allows donations from individuals and organizations to designated activities that support our mission, as well as providing a vehicle for undesignated gifts which can be used at the discretion of the Women’s Fund Program Committee.