As Asian Pacific American Heritage Month draws to a close, I thought it was worth revisiting a few statistics from The Portrait Project about Asian women in the Washington region.  While these data are a few years old now, they still serve to remind us of the divide that exists in our region within all racial and ethnic groups—and of the need for an organization like The Women’s Foundation, which is attempting to be a bridge across the divide.

When The Portrait Project was released in 2003. . .

• Asian women’s median annual earnings in each jurisdiction of the Washington metropolitan region exceeded the median annual earnings of $27,194 for women nationally. In the region, Asian women’s median annual earnings ranged from $29,804 to $38,370. In four out of six local jurisdictions, Asian women’s earnings outpaced the national figure for this group by at least $2,773 (Fairfax County), and upwards to $7,321 (District of Columbia).
• Yet, Asian women had the second highest poverty rates of all women in the region at 8.9 percent.  And, elderly Asian women in Alexandria and Arlington had the highest poverty rates of all women in every jurisdiction at 42.1 percent and 37.4 percent respectively (compared to Montgomery, Prince George’s, Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria).
• One of the largest wage gaps existed between Asian women and men’s median annual earnings. Asian women’s earnings in the region ranged from being 68 percent of Asian men’s earnings in Fairfax County ($33,822 for women compared to $49,589 for men) to 88 percent of their earnings in the District of Columbia ($38,370 compared to $43,646 for men).
• 56 percent of Asian women in the region had some sort of college degree. Yet, 17- 21 percent of Asian women in our region lacked a high school diploma.

Clearly, there is much work to be done in bridging the divide. It is through our existing partnerships with Grantee Partners such as ASHA, Boat People SOS and Chinatown Service Center–and through new partnerships–that we can begin to make progress.

If you’re a low-income single mother, or, for that matter, a low-income married parent, one piece of bad news about trying to raise your kids in the U.S. is that our child care system is abysmally insufficient, and our pre-K programs are nearly as bad.  If you have money, you can bypass all of that by hiring a nanny or paying for private child care or pre-school.

If you don’t, though, you’re kind of stuck.

The good news is that this is changing, and pretty rapidly. With increased concern about a lack of kindergarten readiness, the rich-poor/black-white achievement gap, and too many high school drop-outs, states are beginning to get the message: we need to get kids, especially those most at-risk, ready for school, and for life. Over the past 15 years, an increasing number of states have invested in public pre-kindergarten programs.

Some are quite good, with small classes, qualified teachers, and even subsidiary services. But where you live can make a big difference.

In Georgia or Oklahoma, you don’t have to be rich, or poor, to enroll your four-year-old child in high-quality pre-K.  Anyone is welcome, and it is free. Indeed, both states currently serve over half of their four-year-olds. The same will likely soon be true in Illinois, which may also include three-year-olds, and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is exploring that possibility, too. Florida is just starting to implement “universal” pre-K for four-year-olds, but neither the access nor program quality is yet clear.

Others – Kentucky, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Connecticut – have high-quality programs, but only for a limited set of low-income children. Other states, like Texas and New York, serve large numbers of children but are not very high-quality. 

Eleven states, including most of the Central Mountain region and Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Nevada, have no state-funded programs at all. (Stay tuned for a color-coded map showing each state’s status on pre-K coming soon!)

It’s frustrating. 

Research shows that high-quality pre-K can boost the school readiness of at-risk children, significantly reduce their odds of being held back in school, placed in special ed, or dropping out, and even prevent their involvement in the criminal justice system or, for girls, of becoming teen moms.

But how can we push more states to step up to the plate and invest in it?

One way is to figure out why those states that have implemented programs have done so. In other words, what is it that they want as a return on this investment?

It sounds like an odd question – don’t policy-makers know why they put money and effort into a policy?

But the answer too often is, “No, not really.”  We can all probably think, off the bat, of instances in which states (or countries, or schools, or people) seem to just copy a good idea from a neighbor, or act on a whim or a hope.  But states do have real needs, and understanding what those needs are, and how pre-K programs might fulfill them, might help advocates better “sell” pre-K.  It might also help a public tired of too many attempts to fix seemingly intractable problems buy in to a really good one and keep it going.

My theory is that different states have different reasons for their pre-K investments.

Specifically, I believe that cultural and geographic differences – progressive versus conservative and southern versus non-southern states – may drive different types of pre-K investment in different states. 

I also think that they might be focusing on different aspects, with some states more interested in getting more children enrolled (access), while others want a high-quality program but aren’t as bent on high numbers of attendees. 

If so, different states may be inclined to create different types of programs to best fit their needs.

My hope is that finding answers to these questions might help advocates to get more states on board and help those that already have programs better design, evaluate and maintain them.

I’ll be returning to post periodically on evolving findings from my work in this area. 

I welcome your feedback, whether from a research perspective, that of an advocate seeking tools, parents looking for information about pre-K programs, or others. The more we talk about how to improve this work, the better the results will be!

Elaine Weiss is a doctoral candidate at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  She presented her research, "What Motivates U.S. States to Invest in Pre-Kindergarten Programs" at the 2007 Stepping Stones Research Briefing. 

For more perspectives on the research briefing, please see Peter Tatian’s post, "How a research briefing was born" and Lisa Claudy Fleischman’s post, "Learning Through a Gender Lens."   Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more updates and perspectives from the researchers who presented at the 2007 Stepping Stones Research Briefing. 

On May 11, The Urban Institute and Washington Area Women’s Foundation hosted the second annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing, an event bringing together researchers, supporters of The Women’s Foundation, Grantee Partners, and members of the community to discuss some of the latest research on issues facing women-headed families in the Washington region.

The idea of holding a research briefing grew out of a challenge from The Women’s Foundation to encourage and promote public policy research with a “gender lens.”

Since the very beginning, The Women’s Foundation has been committed to basing its strategies and grantmaking on solid information. Starting with The Portrait Project: A Portrait of Women and Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and continuing with its commitment to informed grantmaking and results-based evaluation, The Women’s Foundation has sought out and used high quality data and research to inform its actions.

And so, the Stepping Stones Research Briefing was born! 

The first two briefings have been a great opportunity to showcase some of the outstanding research being done on issues of importance to women in the region.  But, doing research with a gender perspective means more than just comparing women with men.  As The Urban Institute’s Margery Turner put it in her welcoming remarks, "We did not want to simple-mindedly run everything separately on the basis of gender, but rather to think about the ways in which taking a gender perspective might generate new insights coming out of research and new ideas on the implications of research for policy and practice."

Over the next few weeks, some of the researchers who participated in the research briefing will be writing their own blog entries, sharing with you additional insights from their work.

Their presentations touched on three policy areas:

• Financial education and wealth creation – Megan Gallagher and Oramenta F. Newsome discussed the opportunities and challenges for increasing wealth in women-headed families through homeownership.
• Child care and early education – Jesse Bailey, Elaine Weiss, and Gina Adams presented both local and national perspectives on strategies to increase access to quality child care, a vital support for single women with children in the workforce.
• Microenterprise development – Nancy M. Pindus, Telaekah Brooks, and Roxana Moayedi described the barriers to women trying to start their own businesses, including perspectives from local women entrepreneurs, and some of the assistance that is available to help them succeed in the business world.

Like you, I will be looking forward to hearing more about the exciting research that was presented at the research briefing. 

But, for those of you who can’t wait, you can listen to the entire set of presentations through a series of audio files available on the Urban Institute Web site.

Peter Tatian is a senior research associate in the Urban Institute’s Center on Metropolitan Housing and Communities.  (The views expressed here are his own and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.)  Peter plays a crucial role in the development and success of the Stepping Stones Research Briefing. 

For an additional perspective on the Stepping Stones Research Briefing, check out Lisa Claudy Fleischman’s post, "Learning Through a Gender Lens."

I thought I’d welcome summer this weekend with an afternoon stop in Dupont Circle to enjoy the weather and do some reading (i.e. people watching).

When I was approached by a Street Sense vendor and asked if I’d like to buy a paper, I couldn’t refuse, as I really love the mission of Street Sense, which is to "make the public more aware of issues related to poverty and homelessness while also providing homeless men and women with an economically beneficial opportunity and a forum to be published."

And, since on this particular Memorial Day in the park the vendor was a woman–the first time I’d met a female vendor–I doubly couldn’t refuse.

And was so glad I didn’t, as Muriel Dixon introduced herself and explained proudly that her story, of graduating, was on page 13.

"Graduating from what?" I asked, to a beaming smile. 

"I just graduated from the Goodwill of Greater Washington’s Environmental Services Training Program," she told me.  "And I got a job!"

When I told her that I worked for an organization that partnered with Goodwill on similar training programs, she went on to tell me how much it had meant to her, and that it had changed her life.

She would be starting a job soon, she said before bounding off.  "Page 13!" 

When I turned to page 13, I couldn’t help but smile when I read the second paragraph of her story, which stated, "Vendor Muriel Dixon uses the income she earns for the necessities and as stepping stones to increasing her skills for other potential employment opportunities."

While this program isn’t one that we fund in particular, I couldn’t help but think of its similarities to our Stepping Stones, and to the general truth that with a little training, encouragement and investment, lives can be stepped up in amazing ways.

It was a nice thought, in the park on a nice summer day to realize that while I’d have to give up the park tomorrow to head back to work, that I’d be doing so somewhere devoted to just that. 

See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:

The Women’s Foundation in the News!

On May 18, 2007, a Wall Street Journal article, "When Small Donors Get Together," discussed local giving circles, with a mention to The Women’s Foundation.  In response to the article, Tactical Philanthropy cited The Women’s Foundation as "cornering the market" on giving circles and gave a shout out to this very blog! 

On Philanthropy

This week, The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers released a report acknowledging the tremendous growth and impact of giving circles–to the tune of more than $100 million in funds raised–over the last two years.  More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Shared Giving reveals key findings such as:

• The number of existing giving circles has more than doubled in the last two years; there are now at least 400 giving circles nationwide.
• In 2006 alone, giving circles surveyed donated $13 million for community needs.
• Nearly 12,000 people participate in the 160 giving circles surveyed.
• Giving circles are diversifying.  Nearly half of circles now have male members, and the popularity of giving circles is also growing among people of color and in the gay and lesbian community.
• Giving circles have staying power. Nearly a third of circles surveyed have been through more than five rounds of grantmaking. 

"There’s never been a better time to start or join a giving circle because it multiplies the impact of your charitable donations," said Daria Teutonico, director of the New Ventures in Philanthropy Initiative at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. "With the same amount of money you’d use to write a check to a charity, you get to make more of a difference, spend more time with friends, and learn more about what your community needs."  To learn more about joining a giving circle in our region, visit TheWomensFoundation.org.

Earlier this week, the Maine Women’s Fund released news that they had received their first $1 million gift to advance women and girls in Maine!  The gift, from the five female trustees of the River Rock Foundation, is discussed in detail in fund’s press release.  Says the release, "According to Women & Philanthropy, less than ten percent of all overall funding is aimed at programs that directly impact women and girls. ‘The River Rock Foundation gift is newsworthy because of the amount and because it was given by women, for the specific purpose of helping women and girls. It recognizes a strategic shift in philanthropy – because women are the gateway to health, education, and economic decisions, when women thrive, whole communities will prosper,” said Elizabeth Stefanski, the newly hired executive director of the Maine Women’s Fund. ‘It’s a wonderful example of women using their wealth and philanthropy to dismantle poverty, violence and discrimination—issues that disproportionably harm women and girls,’ reported Stefanski." 

Tactical Philanthropy brings us news about The Case Foundation’s new plan for a pilot grantmaking program encouraging civic-centered participation.  The program is interesting, Sean reports, because, "The Foundation will not only be supporting citizen-centered efforts, but will be attempting to walk the talk of citizen-centered practice itself by involving the public in virtually every aspect of the process from creating guidelines to vetting proposals to making grant decisions."  Exciting indeed, and very much in line with the spirit of The Women’s Foundation’s own Leadership Awards Program, also a grassroots grantmaking program.   

Dr. Susan Raymond of Changing Our World Inc. asked on On Philanthropy last week if philanthropy has truly abandoned the needy, commenting on the recent study commissioned by Google.org that concluded that, "less than a third of tax-deductible donations are targeted at those in need."  Susan’s article salutes the study for its commitment to unearthing more empiracle knowledge about the philanthropic sector, but questions the study’s premise that, "The philanthropic expression of concern for the ‘needy’ is measured by dollars allocated to immediate services."  She writes, "And if we are to discourage people from funding complex, long-term problems with uncertain outcomes, then how will we ever innovate?  How will we ever come to fundamental understandings and fundamental solutions?  And how will the needy ever become anything but needy?"  

On Women and Girls in Our Region

The D.C. Women’s Agenda released its white paper, Voices and Choices for Women and Girls: Recommendations to City Leaders 2007.  The report outlines recommendations by District advocates for girls and women on programmatic and funding priorities in the following areas: economic security, housing, health, women and criminal justice, safety, leadership and accountability, and girls.

On Women in Nontraditional Jobs and Job Training

The Wall Street Journal reported this week on "Finally, Women’s Wear for the Hard Hat Set," on the increasing trend of women working in construction and the need for clothing and attire to meet their needs.  This story hearkens back to our work here at The Women’s Foundation, where we fund programs such as the YWCA’s Washington Area Women in the Trades and Goodwill of Greater Washington’s Female Construction Employment Class to further the skills and confidence of women hoping to enter nontraditional careers such as construction. 

On Poverty and Economic Security

The Congressional Food Stamp Challenge wrapped up on Monday, with the participants, Congressman Jim McGovern, Congressman Tim Ryan and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky–as well as a few Hill staffers–blogging about their week buying food based on the average food-stamp benefit of about $3 per day to raise awareness about the challenges facing Americans living in poverty. 

And that’s it for this week! 

Enjoy catching up on the lastest news and views, and don’t forget to drop us–or the sites you visit–a comment or two about your thoughts! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

As a donor supporting The Women’s Foundation, I am very heartened to know that my gift supports the foundation’s strategic and collaborative work to advance a social change agenda on behalf of women in our community. This work is largely embodied in Stepping Stones, an initiative to build financial independence and expand opportunities for women and their families.

Did you know that the number of people living in poverty in our region has increased by approximately 32 percent in the last ten years?  That 70 percent of poor families in D.C. are headed by women?

These women need to build assets and create financial security for themselves and their families

This month, I attended the Stepping Stones Research Briefing, an all-morning session in which community leaders and policy advocates showed us what’s happening now and what needs to be done to improve women’s financial opportunities and potential.  This second annual briefing was organized by The Women’s Foundation and The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research and policy institute that analyzes problems facing the residents of America’s cities.

We heard eight experts–community group leaders, researchers and university professors–present compelling data and policy recommendations concerning women’s financial education, wealth creation, microenterprise, and access to quality care and education for children. 

The diverse audience of more than 70 attendees included a county government official who wanted to understand how local government can implement change, leaders of nonprofits who are exploring ways to enhance their services for low income women, philanthropists learning about opportunities to invest in programs and women with low to modest incomes who are looking to develop their own businesses.

It’s so gratifying to me to see how The Women’s Foundation is encouraging researchers and community activists to view these issues and challenges related to poverty and opportunity throughout our region through a gender lens,  and therefore serving as a catalyst and partner to craft and implement innovative solutions for women and girls, and their families. 

Through Stepping Stones, The Women’s Foundation takes the learnings established through forums like the Stepping Stones Research Briefing, The Portrait Project and other venues for gathering and examining data and research and sharing information and turns it into innovative, effective solutions developed and implemented in partnership with businesses, community groups, Grantee Partners, and local governments.

And together, we’re able to invest in programs and nonprofits that enable women to gain access to credit, affordable housing, higher education, and quality child care…the very "stepping stones" to economic security. 

Lisa Claudy Fleischman is a member of The Women’s Foundation’s Washington 100 donor network and is a founding co-chair of Rainmakers, The Women’s Foundation’s first giving circle.

Tenants in downtown Washington, D.C. office buildings won’t be surprised to learn that office rent in D.C. is virtually the highest in the United States, second only to midtown Manhattan.  Investors have called D.C.’s real estate market the most profitable in the world.

But most of the people who keep these buildings running – janitors, security officers, and parking workers – don’t benefit from the booming real estate market. 

The 2,000 private security officers in D.C. – mostly African American women – face low wages starting around $8 an hour and don’t have access to affordable healthcare or paid sick days.

Yesterday, in recognition of the low-income mothers who comprise the target population for its Stepping Stones initiative, Washington Area Women’s Foundation hosted a brown bag lunch discussion about the condition of building services workers to raise awareness among fellow tenants at 1411 K Street. 

The event was organized as part of the Building Benefits project – a local effort by office building tenants to support the janitors, security officers and parking workers in our own buildings.  During the meeting, security officers spoke about the realities of the low pay, lack of benefits, and job insecurity that are part of their industry.  They shared their stories about the difficulty of having wages vary from week to week depending upon building placement, lost wages due to time off for illness and the costs associated with the lack of affordable health insurance, among others. 

One woman discussed her difficulty in being able to continue her studies without having a predictable schedule each week and the flexibility to request hours around her class schedule. 

In addition, members of the Building Benefits network presented specific ways they are working to raise standards for building workers.  Currently, members of the network are supporting two ongoing campaigns.

The first includes efforts by security officers to win a citywide contract for better wages and working conditions.  This March, officers succeeded in pressuring employers to recognize their union, Service Employees International Union local 32BJ.  Now, they are preparing to negotiate a union contract for private security officers across the city. 
 
The second stream of focus is efforts to win legislation in the D.C. Council that would would ensure 10 paid sick days for most workers in the city to take care of their own illnesses, care for sick children or deal with domestic violence situations. 

Earlier this month, the D.C. Paid Sick & Safe Days Act was introduced to the city council with the support of all 11 councilmembers, thanks to the work of the DC Employment Justice Center (A Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation) and a coalition of other groups supporting the legislation. 

DC Jobs with Justice – a local coalition of labor unions, faith communities and community organizations that is part of the national Jobs with Justice campaign – first began organizing office building tenants during the summer of 2006 to support efforts by security officers to form a union.  After joining with the Center for Law and Social Policy and the DC Employment Justice Center, the Building Benefits project was launched with the goal of creating a permanent network of tenants who would support efforts to raise standards for building workers.

Since then it has grown to include tenants from two dozen downtown office buildings!

Tenants can support service workers in a variety of ways. Some tenants have handed out stickers supporting officers’ campaign, others have collected petitions encouraging the city council to support sick days legislation, and others still have organized a delegation to their building owner’s office to communicate tenants’ expectations for worker rights in their building.

Do you work in an office downtown? Then get involved!  We would love to help you host a brown bag lunch with tenants in your building, where tenants will learn more about these issues and decide on what actions to take to support workers in the building.

To get involved, please contact us to learn more:
DC Jobs with Justice:  Contact Mackenzie Baris (202-974-8224)
Center for Law and Social Policy: Contact Jodie (202-906-8003)
DC Employment Justice Center: Contact Jessica Goshow (202-828-9675 x20)

Jack Mahoney is a Solidarity Intern at DC Jobs with Justice and a student at Georgetown University. He has worked on the Building Benefits project since the fall of 2006.

See below for a round-up of what was news this week in the world of philanthropy, social change and women and girls in the Washington metropolitan region and beyond:

This month is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.  In celebration, Feministing has invited API women to offer their voices to the blog. 

Among them this week, Kiran Ahuja, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, reflected on being a young leader.  She writes, "That I am one of the youngest leaders in the national women’s movement is telling and highlights a serious challenge for the movement – where and when do we make room for new, young and diverse leaders, and when do we see that the inclusion of them determines the success of our movement?" 

Liezl Tomas Rebugio, also of NAPAWF, writes in "Connecting the Dots: Human Trafficking and Reproductive Justice," "The trafficking of women and girls is the quintessential example of reproductive oppression. ‘Get your laws off my body’ was a slogan used in the 1970’s during the women’s movement. But how does that apply to trafficked women and girls whose bodies are not treated as their own, but are treated as commodities?"

The Women’s Foundation in the News!

A May 11, 2007 Washington Times editorial, "Lasting security a Mother’s Day wish for many," by Adrienne Washington, advocates thinking in terms of long-term investments in women’s economic security for Mother’s Day, and not just in terms of long-stemmed roses–and she discusses Stepping Stones and Training Futures, a Grantee Partner, as examples of how to do just that!  

Stepping Stones Research Briefing Related News!
On May 11, 2007, The Women’s Foundation, in partnership with The Urban Institute, hosted the second annual Stepping Stones Research Briefing, featuring research on financial education and wealth creation, child care and early education and microenterprise development–with each topic examined from a gender lens.  To download the audio, or to check out the panelists’ presentations, click here!

Peter Tatian, a senior research associate with The Urban Institute, was quoted shortly thereafter in an article in the Examiner on subprime mortgages in our region, and their impact on increasing rates of foreclosures.  This topic was also explored at the briefing through Meghan Gallagher’s presentation, "Female Borrowers in the Washington Mortgage Market" and on The Huffington Post, where Jon Goldin-Dubois discussed how mortgage foreclosures are skyrocketing due to increasing sub-prime lending and a lack of regulation by the government.

Local Philanthropy and Activism

The Washington Post reports on more than 90,000 people–primarily women and mothers–throughout 37 states and Washington, D.C. who are "Pushing the Motherhood Cause," by meeting to mobilize around "six main issues: family leave, flex time, health insurance, child care, fair wages and children’s activities, such as better after-school programs. Their proposals are not new, but together they create a ‘motherhood’ agenda that has attracted a fresh enthusiasm."   

Women and Health and Safety
Health and safety is the focus of this year’s Leadership Awards Program and an issue area under Stepping Stones. See below for research and discussion that informs and impacts the health and safety of women and girls on a local and national level.

On Feministing, Jessica asks whether "Women-only hotel rooms"–designed to increase safety for women in hotels–are really a valid safety tactic, or whether it’s just a way of separating women instead of trying to improve the world they live in?  She asked a similar question about Brazil’s women-only train cars, designed to curb sexual harrassment. 

An article by Allison Stevens with Women’s eNews, "Bush May Veto Bill That Would Help Protect Hate Crime Victims," explains that, "Women’s rights groups are making a last-ditch push to enact legislation that would expand existing "hate crimes" laws to include gender and other categories such as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability."  Acvocates of the bill say that it would greatly benefit women and girls.  "Women could stand to gain substantially from the law," reports Stevens.  "The bill would add significant resources for prosecution of crimes in which the victims were targeted for their gender, as was the case in two high-profile shootings last fall in Pennsylvania and Colorado."

On Poverty and Economic Security

Education is a crucial component on the pathway to economic security for many.  In Give and Take, Peter Panepento discusses in, "Scholarships: What’s a Donor to Do?," the difficulty faced by those who want to fund college scholarships for those with the greatest need.  Citing research, Panepento writes, "The major problem…is many donors are operating under the false perception that students with the greatest needs are those coming out of high school.  But…many ‘needy’ students are adults returning to school, single parents, and students who hope to transfer from community colleges into four-year institutions."  In a similar cord, Siu Lang Panoke, a graduate student at American University, writes about her experience funding her education as a single mother in her blog post, "Economic Status Should Not Hinder Higher Education" on Real Women, Real Voices, the National Women’s Editorial Forum’s blog.

Riane Eisler in AlterNet discusses in, "What’s a Mother’s Worth?" how women over the age of 65 are twice as poor as their male peers.  She writes, "There’s a reason poverty so disproportionately hits women. Most of these elderly poor women were, or still are, caregivers — and according to most economists, the people who do the caring work in households, whether female or male, are ‘economically inactive.’ Of course, anyone who has a mother knows that most caregivers work from dawn to dusk. And we also know that without their work of caring for children, the sick, the elderly, and maintaining a clean home environment there would be no workforce, no economy, nothing. Yet current economic indicators and policies fail to include this work as ‘productive work.’"  On our blog, we also discuss the financial issues surrounding women and retirement.

On May 11, Washington Grantmakers’ Children, Youth, and Families, and Health Working Groups hosted a funders’ briefing on regional children’s issues.  The Washington Grantmakers’ blog reports in "Lines on a Map But Real Barriers for Children, "Some of the challenges facing area children stem from the fact that while families can move within the region, governments stop at the borders. There are gaps in funding and services because state governments’ scopes are too narrow to address certain problems.  Through regional collaboration, Washington Grantmakers members have an opportunity to leverage resources and coordinate in a way that has proven difficult for area governments, and to make a difference in the lives of our region’s children."

The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give and Take reports that, "Congressmen Issue Food-Stamp Challenge," to raise awareness about poor Americans.  "From May 15-21," explains the article, "four lawmakers are buying food based on the average food-stamp benefit, which is about $3 a day."  They’re blogging about their experience at the Congressional Food-Stamp Challenge site.

On Philanthropy and Nonprofit Capacity

Just as our recent Philanthropy Forum discussed the legacy of giving across families, so too is the Community Foundations of America examining best practices in family philanthropy in an essay, "Giving as a Family."

Generation change and nonprofit leadership has been a significant topic of conversation recently, fueled largely by the release of research from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund indicating that leadership transitions from the Baby Boom generation to Generations X and Y will become more common within the nonprofit sector.  The report, Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations, offers recommendations on how a variety of stakeholders can improve the hand-off from this generation of leaders to the next.  On a similar note, the Initiative for Nonprofit Sector Careers examines the "missed connections" between nonprofits and new recruits out of college in its report, The Next Generation of Nonprofit Sector Leadership.

And that’s it for this week.  Enjoy catching up on the lastest news and views, and don’t forget to drop us–or the sites you visit–a comment or two about your thoughts! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

If Philanthropy 101 got to the heart of giving, and Research 101 is where the mind comes in, then Site Visits 101 got at the soul of philanthropy, where the heart and mind come together to get to the exciting moment of saying yes to making the grant, the decision, the gift.

At today’s Site Visits 101 session, part of our Philanthropic Education series led by Siobhán O’Riordan, 25 women gathered to learn the ins and outs of conducting a successful site visit that will unearth the true essence of a potential nonprofit partner.

Through a participatory workshop wherein participants discussed the objectives, value and logistics of a site visit and then took on the roles of site visitor and site visitee, the group revealed these essential key components of an effective site visit:

1.  Be selective about who you visit.  Because site visits require extensive preparation on the part of the nonprofit, you should limit visits only to those groups who have an excellent shot at being funded.  This doesn’t mean 100 percent, but it means that by looking at the proposal, you can see no reason that they wouldn’t be funded, and that you’ve already gone through a serious process to select a few finalists for site visits.  The optimal ratio for a site visit would be that an organization has a 2 in 3 or 50/50 shot at receiving funding.

2.  Do your homework.  The organization you’re visiting will likely be in a preparation frenzy to plan a perfect site visit from the moment they recieve your call.  Be sure you’ve also done your homework.  Be sure you have thoroughly read their proposal and other materials and that you’ve met with your site visit team mates to establish questions and roles.

Ideally site visit teams, if you’re doing the visit as part of a giving circle or selection panel rather than as an individual, should include 2-3 people.  Any more, and the site visit could lose focus, go too long or unintentionally intimidate the nonprofit and constrain conversation. 

Before heading out, teams may want to clarify who will "lead" on the visit, and who will take notes, so that you end up with good notes at the end, but also have one or two people who can remain focused on the discussion, making eye contact and keeping the meeting friendly and informal. 

3.  Call first…and go ahead and spill the beans.  "Site visits are not about the element of surprise," said Siobhán.  Call ahead to schedule the visit, and be sure to give plenty of notice so as to enable the organization to really put their best foot forward.  Site visits take a tremendous amount of preparation on the part of the the nonprofit, so to truly get a sense of who they are, you’ll need to allow them time to plan.  Among the items to let the nonprofit know:

• The questions you’ll be asking.
• What materials to have prepared.
• The day and time of the site visit.
• That you’d like to schedule the visit at a time that will enable you to see programs in action. 

4.  Be friendly (but not too friendly)!  The purpose of a site visit is to learn as much as possible about an organization, and to really get at the heart of what they do.  This will be best achieved if the nonprofit’s staff feel that they can speak with you openly and that the site visit is more of a dialogue than an interrogation.  Be friendly and empathetic, allow ample time for the organization to respond to questions and provide positive feedback when possible and appropriate. 

That said, on a site visit, never make any promises, commitments or recommendations (this is a time to get information, not solve problems) or compare the nonprofit to others you’ve visited, and maintain a professional demeanor at all times. 

5.  Learn, learn, learn!  As you’re on the site visit, consider both subjective (How knowledgeable and accessible are the staff?  How is the energy of the program participants?) and objective information (What is their evaluation data? How are they showing success?), each of which will be valuable to you as you reflect on and eventually select an organization to fund.

But throughout the process, remember that this is a great opportunity to learn about the issue you’re interested in, the nonprofit sector in general and to continually gauge and ascertain your personal values and interests as they relate to your philanthropic giving.

And that’s the latest from another fun, informative workshop as part of our philanthropic education series! 

Drop us a comment if you have any questions or other thoughts or suggestions related to the important task of conducting a site visit!

And to learn more about our Philanthropy 101 series or to recieve email updates about upcoming workshops, please email Siobhán at soriordan@wawf.org.      

A May 11, 2007 Washington Times editorial, "Lasting security a Mother’s Day wish for many," by Adrienne Washington advocates thinking in terms of long-term investments in women’s economic security for Mother’s Day, and not just in terms of long-stemmed roses.

"Mothers need gifts that last longer than the blooms from long-stemmed roses," Washington writes, and supports her claim with the value of investments in women’s economic security such as The Women’s Foundation’s Stepping Stones initiative, and a Stepping Stones Grantee Partner, Training Futures. 

Writing about a Training Futures graduate, Linda Butler, whose life took a "360 degree turn" as a result of Training Futures and Stepping Stones, Washington explains, "For decades, she was a waitress earning $12,000 annually while her children were in school. Now she earns $50,000 as a due-diligence manager for Building Evaluations.  ‘Training Futures gave me all the tools that I needed; it made me feel hopeful instead of helpless, and that’s a big extreme,’ Ms. Butler said…She is also worried about what she views as the "epidemic proportions" of single mothers forced to leave their children without adequate care while they go to work.  ‘It’s a lot of single mothers struggling out there. … We need love and support from everybody,’ she said."

Nisha Patel, a program officer at The Women’s Foundation, explains in the column how Stepping Stones, and last week’s Stepping Stones Research Briefing, are providing this support and increasing the economic security of women throughout our region.  Writes Washington:  "The program will focus on ‘the lack of opportunities that keep low-income women trapped in poverty,’ Ms. Patel said. ‘And, we want the research community to have more of a focus on gender when considering these issues.’…For example, one panel will discuss how expanding child care and early education strengthens the economic security of single mothers in the District and the region."

To read more about how Stepping Stones is paving the pathway to economic security for women, click here to read the full article and then be sure to stop back by and us know what you think!