(512) 657-8631 [email protected]

DALLAS WOMEN’S FOUNDATION LEADS

HISTORIC “WOMEN MOVING MILLIONS” CAMPAIGN,

WITH 18 LOCAL WOMEN DONORS GIVING $1 MILLION OR MORE

 

$27 million of $30 million goal raised to date in campaign investing in women and girls

 

DALLAS, May **, 2009 – A major movement has been underway in Dallas, putting the region at the leading edge of a significant moment in women’s history and philanthropy.  Eighteen women donors have made gifts of $1 million or more to the Dallas Women’s Foundation’s comprehensive campaign and have put Dallas philanthropists at the forefront of an international fundraising campaign called “Women Moving Millions.”  The Dallas Women’s Foundation has garnered more million-dollar-plus gifts than any other women’s fund participating in Women Moving Millions, which is a virtual campaign that is raising the bar on giving to women and girls by high net-worth women.

 

Together, these generous Dallas women have played a significant role in helping the Dallas Women’s Foundation raise $27 million of its $30 million goal for its comprehensive campaign, as well as another $26 million in planned gifts.  The goal of the campaign, launched last fall and running through 2011, is to invest in women and girls as the most efficient way to strengthen families and entire communities.  The Foundation believes in what it calls “the ripple effect,” asserting that by lifting up a woman, you raise the prospects of her children and her community too, creating a positive, exponential effect.

 

In addition, these million-dollar donors have put Dallas at the forefront of Women Moving Millions as it has surpassed its goal of $150 million and raised a total of $176 million.  Over a three-year period, more than 90 women donors committed $1 million or more to one or more of the 145 member organizations of the Women’s Funding Network.  Eighteen of these women donors made gifts to the Dallas Women’s Foundation.

 

“What many don’t realize is that the U.S. suffrage movement was mainly funded by men, while women gave of their time and hearts to the cause.  The unprecedented generosity of women to the Dallas Women’s Foundation campaign illustrates that we are at a new juncture in history when women are wielding their purses to help enact social change,” said Becky Sykes, executive director of the Dallas Women’s Foundation.

 

“We are delighted, but not surprised, by the fact that – against the bleak backdrop of the global recession – women have stepped forward to raise the bar on giving to women and girls.  They recognize that giving more, not less, is what is needed when we are in the midst of an economic crisis,” said Helen LaKelley Hunt, co-founder of the Women Moving Millions campaign, a founder of the Dallas Women’s Foundation and a major donor to the Dallas Women’s Foundation’s campaign.

 

There are 18 women donors with roots in North Texas who are behind 19 million-dollar donations to Women Moving Millions and the Dallas Women’s Foundation campaign.  They include, in addition to nine anonymous donors: Lucy Billingsley; Cecilia G. Boone; Serena Simmons Connelly; Lauren Embrey and Gayle Embrey of the Embrey Family Foundation; Trish Houck and Lyssa Jenkens; Joy S. Mankoff; Robbie Raphael; Nancy T. Richards, CEO, & Lisa Barrentine, President, First Preston Management, Inc.; and Trea C. Yip.

 

Leading by example and sharing their stories, these women have encouraged others to consider gifts of personal significance to the Dallas Women’s Foundation campaign at all levels. By educating women about philanthropy and linking their values with their giving, the Dallas Women’s Foundation encourages everyone to be a philanthropist. “Giving should be an alignment of strategy and joy,” said Cecilia Boone, co-chair of the Dallas Women’s Foundation campaign.  Boone, who made a gift of more than $1 million to the campaign with her husband Garrett in the first year, recently stepped forward to make an additional Women Moving Millions gift to the Foundation of $2 million.

 

The Dallas campaign has already begun to effect major changes for the Dallas Women’s Foundation and its work in the North Texas community.  Prior to the campaign, the Foundation was making $1 million in grants annually to programs addressing the critical needs of women and girls.  In its fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, the Foundation will for the first time make $2 million in grants.  Prior to the Dallas Women’s Foundation Campaign, the organization had received one donation of $1 million or more.  Over the course of the last three years, the organization has received 19 gifts of $1 million or more.

 

About the Dallas Women’s Foundation Comprehensive Campaign

The Dallas Women’s Foundation’s comprehensive campaign was launched publicly in the fall of 2009 with a goal to raise $30 million or more by 2011, growing the organization’s grant-making capacity to $2 million annually and its investment assets to $25 million.  The campaign puts Dallas Women’s Foundation at the center of a giant ripple effect in North Texas, investing in women who in turn lift up their families and the communities in which they live.

 

 

About the Dallas Women’s Foundation

Created in 1985, the Dallas Women’s Foundation researches the needs and issues of women and girls, makes grants to programs that address those critical areas and empowers women philanthropists.  The foundation has invested more than $9.5 million in more than 800 organizations primarily in Dallas, Denton and Collin counties, assisting more than a quarter of a million of the region’s women and girls. The Dallas Women’s Foundation is one of the oldest and the second largest, in terms of investment assets, of the 145 women’s funds throughout the world that belong to the Women’s Funding Network.  This global network of women’s foundations raises money and makes grants to create lasting social change through the advancement and leadership of women and girls.

 

For more information about the Dallas Women’s Foundation comprehensive campaign, contact Philanthropy Director Lesly Bosch Annen at (214) 965-9977 ext. 118.