In today’s rundown: How women and men think about retirement.  |  Dating violence on the rise at local colleges.  |  The dividing line between a healthy and not-so-healthy D.C.  |  A local middle school forms an all-girls robotics team with the help of some special mentors.

Days after the District made the shocking announcement that $20 million had been cut from the homeless services budget for the 2010 fiscal year, advocates and organizations that provide shelter for the homeless are still reeling. One of The Women’s Foundation grantee partners is reaching out for help – as winter approaches and the organizations that assist the homeless face a crisis.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

Personal reflections from women founders of the early giving circles are included in a new booklet just released by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Among the 18 interviews in Women’s Giving Circles: Reflections from the Founders is Lynn McNair’s story of her involvement with the African American Women’s Giving Circle at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

November 22, 2006, when I posted my first post to this blog, seems like a lifetime ago (not in a bad way).  And I know now that anyone who says that a job is just a job has never worked at The Women’s Foundation.

There is something about being with a group of women and sharing the collective spirit of a common purpose that turns delight into magic and conversation into revelation.

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending a recruitment event of the African American Women’s Giving Circle. Though a little warm outside, the heat was no match for the cool conversation and comfort of good company.

As donors try to think of a way to maximize their gifts at a time of such great need througout the country, a lot of attention is falling upon giving circles as an innovative way to give a lot–as a collective, without breaking the bank–as an individual.

Last week, seeing the story of the African American Women’s Giving Circle gave me such a professional high.  Nothing I had been involved in to date had been deemed so newsworthy as to grace the front page of The Washington Post!  So I was thrilled to be connected to this. 

Imagine my delight yesterday at opening the Washington Post to see a front page article on our African American Women’s Giving Circle. The title of the article said it all, “A Circle With a Deep Center: Black Women Pool Resources in Grass-Roots Effort to Alleviate D.C.’s Social Ills.”

Today’s front page of the Washington Post features a story on The Women’s Foundation’s African American Women’s Giving Circle.