Starting this evening and through the rest of the week, we here at The Women’s Foundation will be attending the Women’s Funding Network’s annual conference–which is being held this year right here in Washington, D.C.  (Well, Crystal City, to be exact).

I’ve always had a passion for fashion, and a great concern for our community as well.

And so it occurred to me, why not merge my passion for fashion with my compassion?

So I have launched Fashion Fusion, a fashion event with the theme, "Inspired Giving, Inspired Style," that will serve as a fundraiser with benefits going to Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

The recorded history of philanthropy can be traced back to the 1600’s. People have been finding ways to give of their time, talents and treasures for as long as we can remember.

So, what is the enigma called philanthropy, really?

With today’s headline, "Despite Negative Press, Facebook Is a Powerful Agent for Social Change," it seems appropriate to let all of our faithful readers know that Washington Area Women’s Foundation officially has a Facebook Cause.

And we’d love for you to become our friend.  So far, we are 106 strong and hope to keep growing.

Today is Equal Pay Day.

This day signifies the fact that it takes women almost 16 months to earn what men earn in 12.  Women still only earn about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the wage gap worsens for women of color.

Getting the Ball Rolling
Thirty years ago, Women & Philanthropy was born out of the desire and outrage of a small cadre of women (and a couple of male allies).  Troubled by the lack of representation of women in positions of leadership in the philanthropic field (a report from the Council on Foundations reported that only 18 percent of foundation trustees and 28 percent of foundation professional staff were women), and the dearth of program funding supporting programs for women, one motivated woman held an impromptu lunch to figure out what could be done.

In a cool semi-related follow-on to yesterday’s story about how more low-income women aren’t gaining access to our region’s financial boom because they’re not job ready, we see an example of how a fire department in our area is taking pro-active strides to make its work environment female friendly.

According to today’s Washington Post, the economic boom in D.C. is leaving out those who stand to benefit the most from it–low-income families.

Nearly one in three working families in Washington, D.C. is poor, says a report being released today by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

Today, I had the pleasure of joining Phyllis, our president, and our new philanthropic education officer, Nicole, at the Prince George’s County Fire Department’s "Hour of Power." 

The staff around The Women’s Foundation know that I’m a big advocate of the "civilized lunch," where you actually leave your desk and talk to other human beings. 

This is my very first blog ever, and I can’t think of a better entré into this wild world of blogging than to reach out to all of you from my new position at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.