This is a cool Friday afternoon find.  Allison Fine and Marnie Webb have started an online project that is quickly catching on, asking people for ideas about how to give during this holiday season without spending a dime. 

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the 2008 Catalogue for Philanthropy awards ceremony, where we got a chance to hear from a number of past awardees about what recognition in the Catalogue has meant for them.

I came to Washington Area Women’s Foundation thinking that, somewhat naively, it focused solely on service work.

What I discovered instead was an exemplary model of praxis indicating that service, advocacy, and philanthropy cannot be considered insularly. To borrow the words of Patricia Hill Collins, these entities embody a kind of "intersectionality."

On Saturday night, Fashion Fusion in Washington, D.C. will bring together the hottest local fashion designers and a fun way to give back to women and girls in our community. 

Proceeds from the event will benefit The Women’s Foundation. 

The Women’s Foundation is proud to announce that the board of directors has recently approved grants totaling $645,500 to be invested in the Washington metropolitan area.  This brings our 2008 grantmaking total to more than $1.1 million.

See where and how we’re investing.

On Saturday afternoon, I was invited to join three of our board members–Deb Gandy, Donna Callejon, and Rachel Kronowitz–to see the Washington Mystics women’s basketball team take on the Los Angeles Sparks.  The Mystics didn’t end up winning, but what struck me was that regardless, a local nonprofit did.

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.

I was recently inspired by a Courant article, "Giving, But Not Gifts," about how Ray Dalio, a hedge fund exec whose net worth totals about $4 billion, is spending $2 million on an ad campaign to persuade Americans to stop shopping for each other over the holidays, and instead to honor each other with gifts to charity.

On this final day before the Thanksgiving holiday, it seems appropriate to look at ways to give thanks by, well, giving. Buddha says, "Wise [wo]men appreciate and are grateful. Wise [wo]men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else."

If you attended this year’s Leadership Luncheon, then you heard a lot about transformation. The work that The Women’s Foundation does really does transform so many lives. Not only do we help transform the lives of women and girls in the D.C. region, but we transform the lives of women who give.