Today’s Portrait Project 2010 fact is one of the most mind-blowing statistics you’ll find in the report: the average annual cost of full-time center-based infant care is 52 percent of the median annual income for a single mother with children in the District.

With more than half of a family’s income going to childcare alone, it’s difficult to imagine how families living below the poverty line could hope to improve their circumstances.

On October 14, Washington Area Women’s Foundation will reveal more statistics like this with the release of 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area.  And we’ll introduce you to the ways organizations right here in our community are working to help these families build better lives.

Portrait Project 2010 will be unveiled at The Women’s Foundation’s 12^th annual Leadership Luncheon and Community Briefing. Between now and then, we will be releasing some of the most compelling facts from the report.  Visit our blog frequently for new information.  We’ll also have updates on Facebook, Twitter (using #PortraitProject) and LinkedIn, so be sure to join us there, too.

Click here for previous facts we’ve revealed from Portrait Project 2010.

Photo Credit: Michael Colella at Colella Photography

But we know that true power comes from much more than a job or a public voice. It stems from collective action and dedication to postive change–in ourselves, our families, our community and the world.

And that’s why we’re a part of The Women’s Foundation’s powerful wave of philanthropists helping improve our community through investments in women and girls.

So, we’re thrilled to be serving as this year’s luncheon moderators, along with emcee NBC4 News Co-anchor, Doreen Gentzler, and to help share The Women’s Foundation’s story of how investments in women and girls pay off infinitely in change within our community.

We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at The Women’s Foundation’s 2009 Leadership Luncheon from noon-2 p.m.

You won’t want to miss our annual community-wide celebration of the powerful women’s philanthropic movement in the Washington metropolitan area!

As always, the Leadership Luncheon will be preceded by the annual Community Briefing, which will feature an update on Stepping Stones–The Women’s Foundation’s groundbreaking initiative that is helping low-income, women-headed families escape poverty and create lives of financial independence and success.

Please join us at the 2009 Leadership Luncheon, where we’ll stand together as a proud community of philanthropists and activists helping to transform our community through investments in women and girls.

Rebecca Roberts is an award winning journalist whose work can be heard on Talk of the Nation, Weekend All Things Considered, and the Kojo Nnamdi Show.  She is also a member of The Women’s Foundation’s Washington 100 and is co-chair of the 1K Club.  Her mother, Cokie, is an award winning journalist, currently serving as a senior news analyst for NPR News and a political commentator for ABC News.  Cokie is also a member of Washington 100.

Tags: 2009 Leadership Luncheon, Rebecca Roberts, Cokie Roberts, 1K Club, Washington 100, Doreen Gentzler, Community Briefing

Perhaps it was because it provided our community a much needed break from the pessimistic news we’ve been pummeled by, and offered a moment – or a few hours – to reflect on the possibility of hope.

The timing of this event was indeed propitious.

Who knew that October 15, 2008 would find itself ensconced within an economic environment full of unknowns alongside not a small amount of gloominess for leaders in our nonprofit and foundation community? What a better time, then,and what a grand opportunity for us as a philanthropic comunity to collectively take a deep breath–something that we’ve been deprived of through September and October.

Last week’s event allowed for a moment to relieve the pressure of the markets, those 401Ks and all those uncertainties, and look in a different direction.

What we saw were 10 people who told the story of The Women’s Foundation’s community’s history and future and who surely represented everyone gathered in the room. But those 10, and the event itself, also represented our community’s nonprofits, foundations, corporations, and individuals who all make our region a better place to live as a result of their investments and gifts.

Whatever may lie ahead of us as we look to the weeks and months beyond October 15, it was well worth declaring together that there are strong foundations (in more than one sense of the word) like The Women’s Foundation that serve as a mooring to keep us afloat, pointed in the right direction and moving forward.

I am proud to be associated in some small way with this work.

Eduardo Romero is Director of Membership at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington. He also sponsored the 2008 Leadership Luncheon and serves on The Women’s Foundation’s Program Committee.

Tags: Eduardo Romero, Leadership Luncheon, economic downturn

For the third year in a row, Hobo International will donate the “handbag centerpieces” that appear on the banquet tables. The Women’s Foundation is a natural partner for us. Their values and principles resonate with us and how we approach our work: Sound research, tested strategy, and real solutions that address the needs and realities facing women and girls today.

As a women-owned company, we at Hobo International can uniquely understand the triumphs and challenges that shape the female experience. The founder of Hobo International, Toni Ray, was a single mom who was forced to re-think her career after leaving the only job she had ever known. Through hard work and perseverance, Toni turned adversity into a new opportunity. And 20 years later, Hobo International is a thriving accessory design house, now under second generation leadership of Toni’s daughter, Koren Ray Brewer.

The work and mission of the Women’s Foundation changes lives. Everyday. Last year, program participants Laceiy and Sharan shared their life-changing journeys that were made possible with support from The Women’s Foundation. Their personal stories were inspirational.

And I wasn’t the only one to think so!  At the conclusion of the luncheon last year, two of the women who won bags from the table drawings noticed that Laceiy and Sharan didn’t win handbags—and gave them their bags.

In that moment, the spirit of The Women’s Foundation was captured: women helping women.

As we celebrate incredible women like Laceiy and Sharan for their courage and their personal triumphs over adversity, let us also remember that the power of giving can change lives.

We at Hobo International look forward to another exceptional Leadership Luncheon, and to making this year the most successful year to date!

Wendy Pierce is marketing director at Hobo International.

Tags: Hobo International, handbags, Leadership Luncheon, Wendy Pierce

Last summer, I had the honor of getting to participate in her work directly, when I spoke at the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute’s Power Girls Summit.  As a gift after the summit, I received a wonderful, inspiring book of quotations by Dr. Cole, Dream the Boldest Dreams: And Other Lessons of Life. 

I thought I’d share a few of my favorites from the chapter called "Women" to help set the stage for the treat we’re in for with Dr. Cole speaking at our luncheon next week.  We’ve been talking a lot about her, but here are a few quotes that establish her ideas about women and women’s equality in her own voice:

The higher the pay, the less likely it’s going to be called women’s work.

It has been said: If you educate a man, you educate a man. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.

We could stop a lot of things from falling if we just let women hold up half the sky.

A truly determined woman will succeed in doing what society has determined she is incapable of doing.

For us women folks, the distance between where we’ve been and where we’re going is surely determined by the speed at which we insist on going.

At The Women’s Foundation, we’re all about speeding things up for our region’s women and girls, and we’re thrilled to have Dr. Cole with us at this year’s Leadership Luncheon as we celebrate 10 years of our community’s efforts to close the gap between we’ve been and where we’re going! 

Jennifer Cortner is president of EFX Media, and a member of The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors.

Tags: Dr. Johnnetta Cole, 2008 Leadership Luncheon, women,

I discovered Dr. Cole in 1994 when I read her book, Conversations: Straight Talk with America’s Sister President. The book includes a discourse on race, gender, and her experiences as an African American woman, and Dr. Cole urges the eradication of racist and sexist views through education, tolerance, and expanded social awareness.

I was particularly impressed with her candor, encouraged by her achievements, and appreciated and responded to her continued message that we can all make a difference in our communities, our country, and our world! 

Her consistent charge is: Go out and make this a better world!  Be involved!

She has continued to be a source of inspiration and hope for me as I have watched and supported her various endeavors from afar.  I am so looking forward to being in the audience as she moderates the luncheon.

Thank you Washington Area Women’s Foundation for acknowledging and including such an inspirational and motivational speaker in your Leadership Luncheon!

Ebony Ross, M.A., is a capacity building specialist with Fair Chance and is responsible for providing organizational development training during a free year-long partnership to executive directors of nonprofit organizations providing services to children and youth in Wards 5-8 in the District of Columbia.

Tags: Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Ebony Ross, Leadership Luncheon, diversity

As the former president of Spelman College and Bennett College for Women, our nation’s only two historically Black colleges for women, I witnessed the crucial link between education and a woman’s economic security. And we all know that a woman’s own education will have an influence on whether her children expect to have a college education and whether or not she can afford to send her children to college.

In my current role as the chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute, I am keenly aware of the critical importance of advancing diversity and inclusion in our schools, our workplaces, and indeed in all arenas of our nation and our world. When different people are "at the table," different and innovative ideas come forth, and as a result, businesses can compete more successfully, schools can do a better job of educating students, and communities can more successfully tackle their problems.

There are countless examples of the value of bringing women and girls "to the table." That is why I am thrilled to have been invited to play a role in The Women’s Foundation’s Leadership Luncheon and 10th anniversary celebration.  Women’s philanthropy represents so much of what my work and learning have been about throughout my career:

The power of investing in women and girls.

The return on the investment for all of us when you bring a woman and her family out of poverty.

The power of people coming together to make a difference.

I understand that this year’s Leadership Luncheon will be like no other that has happened before. Rather than moderating a conversation among experts on a topic, I’ll be leading a special staged program that will at once be a discussion of the value of women’s philanthropy and the story of the collective power of giving together—told through the stories and experiences of key members of The Women’s Foundation community.

I’m really looking forward to being with you all on October 15th at the luncheon and to leading this exciting celebration capturing the power and potential of investing in women and girls!

Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole is Chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute and will be speaking at The Women’s Foundation’s 2008 Leadership Luncheon.

Tickets and sponsorships are still available!  We hope you can join us and experience firsthand The Power of Giving Together!

Tags: Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Leadership Luncheon, poverty, women, inclusion, equity, Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute

Having the time away also gave me time to think about the power of inspiring people to change the course of our lives and work by changing our perceptions of what is possible. I started thinking about this as I prepared my blog on one of my personal heroes and role models, Madame C.J. Walker, and the last few weeks have continued to lead me down this trail of thought.

Particularly my experience at Girl Scout Camp CEO, where I joined other women executives at to spend time with young women leaders in high school talking about the skills and qualities that lead to success and leadership in the corporate world—and life in general.

Spending a hot summer day roughing it with these bright, energetic young women, and sharing my experience as a woman in business and now as the leader of a nonprofit, reminded me of the importance of the mentors that had made a difference for me—that had inspired me to think of my potential in terms far greater than I might have imagined on my own.

As I worked on badges and sang camp fire songs with these young women, I was inspired by their confidence, their intelligence, and their proud sense of all they could do in this world. Of their sense of unlimited potential, and of their determination to unlock it in themselves, and in each other.

I couldn’t help but wonder who their role models were, and what messages were helping them develop this broad sense of who they could be?

Was it the impact of seeing Hillary Clinton run for president, or knowing that Nancy Pelosi was the first female speaker of the House that had to do with their bold ambitions? Was it seeing Michelle Obama’s successful career, poise and leadership as the potential first African American First Lady?  How much of their optimism was driven by their mothers, their sisters, their teachers, their Girl Scout leaders?

But as the week wore on, and many of the young women were far more able to identify and discuss a contestant on American Idol than Nancy Pelosi, it struck me that their hard-won sense of place in the world had emerged through a far more complicated set of messages than I could have ever imagined—even with two daughters of my own.

For their role models seemed to be the contestants on the reality shows they followed enthusiastically, which showed them that fame and fortune could happen overnight. And the movie and television personalities—from Beyonce to Angela Jolie — who made it look effortless to achieve lifestyles of incredible wealth and fame, and stunning good looks.

These figures were such a far cry from the hard working, disciplined, bright, serious women before me with expectations of success in a diverse array of careers that I couldn’t help but wonder where the balancing messages came from.

Were there real life examples of success of political, academic or medical leaders that touched them?  Who are the voices that have been able to cut through the many messages that tell young women that their worth is their appearance, their ability to fit in, the size and shape of their bodies?  Who have been the examples that have, like Siobhan reminded us earlier this month, shown them that a woman is evaluated for her mind far more than her looks, for her mental strength more than the numbers on scale?

This led me back to thinking about last year’s Leadership Luncheon, and the power of the stories shared by Laceiy and Sharan, about how they overcame harsh obstacles to utterly transform the course of their lives—about how they were shown the power of their potential and found the strength to unlock it.

Even when it seemed someone had not only hidden the key, but thrown it away.

And this is the power behind inspiration, I realized.  And why the voices of those close to the young women at Camp CEO–the voices of their personal mentors and role models—are able to get through to them, cutting though the chatter of easy success and glamour that is thrown at them every day from every angle.

And why Laceiy and Sharan had found the strength to change their lives.

Not because someone on TV told them to. Or because a movie inspired them. Or because they saw someone do it on Project Runway.

But because real people shared their stories—their defeats, their challenges, and their obstacles—and how they overcame them.

And in so doing held up a mirror that showed not only what was, but what could be.

And that is why I’m so re-energized and thrilled to be back at The Women’s Foundation and the work we do here. Because our work is precisely that—to hold up that mirror for women and girls throughout our region.

And to ourselves.

For by coming together, and giving together, we are able to see that our collective potential to change lives—and our community—is unlimited.

And that’s what is so exciting for me about the Leadership Luncheon.  Because giving together is at the heart of our work every day, all the time, but the luncheon is the opportunity to see it, to feel it, and to experience it all at once, in one room, at one time.  To truly understand the power of real people to come together to show one another—whether a CEO at a high-powered corporation or a woman on the journey to change her life—that, acting together, we can do anything.

That’s a true power lunch.

Phyllis Caldwell is president of The Women’s Foundation.

Tags: Phyllis Caldwell, Madame C.J. Walker, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Girl Scout Camp CEO, Leadership Luncheon

Don’t they ever.

The article focuses on women’s philanthropy in Utah, but illustrates the general and growing power of women’s philanthropy everywhere.  What is true in Utah is certainly true here, where our Leadership Luncheon just broke a record breaking attendance goal of 1,500 and a fundraising goal of $1 million.

The lesson we learned?  Never doubt the power of women’s philanthropy.

And it’s not just here.

In her piece, the author explains how women’s roles in philanthropy have shifted dramatically, from stamp lickers to the social change agents making the decisions and writing the checks.

The article states: "Women’s philanthropy is a rising trend. You’re seeing women have access to financial resources as never before," said Kathy LeMay, a professional "social change fund-raiser" and president and CEO of Raising Change.  "Always, women have been combining their time, their talent and their treasure to make a difference," she said. "This is the time for women to have the greatest impact for women in history. Hands down."

The article discusses some of the fundamental differences between men in philanthropy and the way women do it.

"More so than men, women tend to become more involved in a cause than simply donating money on a regular basis, LeMay said. They also tend to better leverage their donor dollars by invoking what she calls the "three Cs" of philanthropy: connection, collaboration and community.  Philanthropy is one of the vehicles where women can affect change … it’s a place where a lot of women find their voice," she said.

I couldn’t help but wonder if LeMay had been hanging around these halls when I read that, and taking a glance in at our committee meetings, at our board’s tremendous involvement, at a Leadership Awards deliberation meeting, at our site visits–where women are participating, every day, and lending their voice to our work, to their community.

Finally, the article ends on the note that women must live their values with their money.  "Write checks where your heart lives," she added.  "The possibilities are available to every single woman in that room.  Together we’re stronger. Don’t try to go it alone."

These words sound like a page out of our Leadership Luncheon, where Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Executive Vice President of Community Relations, Freddie Mac and Chairman of the Freddie Mac Foundation, reminded us of the proverb, "To go fast, go alone.  To go far, go with others."

Or out of African American Women’s Giving Circle member Claudia Thorne’s thoughts in this blog, and in her Washington Post op-ed, on all she has gained from giving together, on the importance of giving with the heart.

Today, this spirit is catching, particularly among women, whether they’re giving their time, their talent or their treasure.  Whether they’re giving $10 or $10,000.   Whether they’re giving in Salt Lake City or Washington, D.C. 

Together, women are looking to give together, to give smarter, to give where they are, in their own backyard, to build better communities by supporting other women.

The Power of Giving Together.  It knows no bounds.

To step up to find out how you can join the powerful wave that is women’s philanthropy in your backyard, click here if you’re in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. 

If not, visit the Women’s Funding Network to find a women’s fund or foundation near you.

Last year we thought we were pretty great to raise $670,000.  A goal of $1 million for 2007? No way!

But WE DID IT.  Amazing!

Last year, we thought we were pretty great to have 1,225 people at the luncheon.  But this year, we had just over 1,500 there (give or take those who showed up with guests unexpectedly and those who didn’t show).

An amazing increase!

The Omni Shoreham ballroom was bursting at the seams.  Not just with people, but with excitement, enthusiasm, good will and dedication to a worthy cause.

Only superlatives can be used to describe every aspect of the luncheon – the video, the program, the WAWIT participants, the panel, all the materials – even the food.

It happened because of the wonderful network of committed board members, staff and Leadership Luncheon Committee members who worked all summer long to make this luncheon so very special and very successful. I had the honor of being the chair of the Leadership Luncheon Committee and am awed by the effort of our 33 members to expand our network thoughtfully, thoroughly and productively.

I think I should quit while I’m ahead.  I can’t imagine a more successful luncheon in the future!

But there will be.  Stay tuned.

We’re brainstorming about it already.

Marion Ballard chaired the 2007 Leadership Luncheon Committee, and has played an instrumental role in every Leadership Luncheon The Women’s Foundation has held.  She is a former board member and a tremendous supporter of The Women’s Foundation.  She truly epitomizes all of the ways that you can give back and be a part of The Women’s Foundation and changing women’s lives.  Learn more about how you can become part of The Power of Giving Together.

Tags: Leadership Luncheon 2007