LI Fund for Women & Girls
A Million Dollar Milestone in Giving

Story by Maureen Traxler

Thanks a Million! - a common phrase for many of us. Yet, it has significant meaning for the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls. Just a dozen years since it awarded its first grant of $20,000, the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls will mark the distribution of a million dollars in grant funding to Nassau and Suffolk County organizations that reach out to women and girls at its November 9 "Women Achievers Against the Odds" breakfast at the Crest Hollow Country Club. The nonprofit's 11th annual event will be an opportunity to thank the Fund's founding supporters and dedicated donors, as well as award $150,000 in new grants Ð recognizing the million-dollar milestone.

"Approaching the million-dollar mark is pivotal in our history," says the Long Island Fund's Executive Director Diane Cohen, adding that the Fund "has a broad giving agenda."

Four cents of every dollar

In the early 1990s, only 4 cents of every philanthropic dollar went to address women's issues, notes Cohen, and women's programs were the last funded and first cut. The idea for the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls began with four women, Suzy Sonenberg, Barbara Strongin, Betty Schlein and Emily Berkowitz, who heard that a women and girls fund was being established in New York City. The women started holding focus groups to discuss and identify major issues facing Long Island women, and at one meeting they passed around a basket and raised enough money to start a "fund." The group was originally part of the Long Island Community Foundation but branched out as an independent nonprofit organization in 1995.

"I feel like a mom whose child has grown up, moved out, and occasionally comes back looking for money," says Sonenberg, who's not only a founding Women and Girls Fund member, but also the executive director of the Long Island Community Foundation. And like a mom, she's "very proud" of the Foundation's offspring. "I'm warmed and delighted when the Foundation is looking to make grants to organizations that report they got their first grant from the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls. The Fund has that ability to reach out and support nascent organizations."

Successes over the years

"Most of our grant making is about activism for women and communities," Cohen says, "and we believe that women who live within communities can do that best." In a recent interview with Networking magazine, Cohen and Development Director Lynn Drucker reflected on a few small grants that are having a lasting impact.

The Fund awarded one of the first grants that ensured the establishment of Herstory, a writers' workshop for women who have experienced trauma. Today, Herstory extends its reach to help immigrant women and women who are incarcerated express feelings about their experiences.

Drucker recalled grants that helped Madonna Heights develop an art therapy program. "It was wonderful to see how good the women and girls felt creating something of beauty, because they didn't have much beauty in the lives they came from," remarked Cohen. "Art opened them up to the possibilities of creating different lives for themselves."

Grant funds made it possible for the Henry Viscardi National Center for Disabilities to offer opportunities for its young clients to "shadow" employees at Brookhaven National Laboratory, helping to dispel myths that careers in science and math are not open to women. St. Brigid's Casa Johanna works with Latina mothers, providing access to resources and offering group support. Sista Girls Fit to Play offers girls the opportunity to get involved in athletics and learn good health care habits as a way to help them make positive choices. The Fund has helped organizations that work with women on the verge of eviction, women with health issues like heart disease and diabetes, and provided funds for a pamphlet on the birthing process for women who are low literate.

Grantee organizations have funded programs on dating violence. A small grant to the New York State Coalition of Domestic Violence Agencies helped fund a conference in which police officers, social workers and professionals in the field of domestic violence shared ideas, discussed new laws and focused on overcoming the difficulties posed by separate adult and child protective services.

The Fund granted seed money for Women at the Well, a program that sharply reduced the recidivism rate of women inmates by connecting them to women who mentored them back into the community. A reading group strengthens relationships between moms and daughters by using book discussions as a springboard to talks about a wide range of topics.

"Within each project, it's rewarding to hear what is able to take place," says Cohen. "It's amazing," adds Drucker, "to see that our grantees can do so much with so little."

The Fund, an example

Tucked away in a small suite of rooms just off the cafeteria at Briarcliffe College in Bethpage, the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls is a fine example of doing much with little. Office manager Sandy Frank says that the donated space is "a great financial help, reducing overhead costs." She adds, "Our work study students are an added resource, keeping us current with the younger generation of women." One of only four Fund employees, Frank confesses, "I'm often the first contact callers have with the Fund and I cherish this responsibility Ð being the 'first ambassador.' The camaraderie and commitment that exists within the office make it a special place to work."

Ongoing initiatives

Now in its fifth year, the Fund's Women's Expo, held at the Middle Country Public Library, attracts over 70 vendors, from artisans and artists to importers and designers, who represent the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds on Long Island, including African-American, Latin, Asian and Islamic women.

"Expo empowers women economically and encourages women's entrepreneurship," says Cohen. As part of Expo, women vendors attend a workshop where they learn how to set up sales tables and participate in trade shows. "Just being in the room with other women encourages them to talk about their fears" as they try to make it in business, says Drucker. "It's a very supportive situation."

Gender Equity has been an initiative since 1998, when the Fund conducted a study of Long Island public schools to assess gender equity programs. The study showed few had such programs and there was little collaboration among those that did. To support existing programs and foster new ones, the Fund's annual Gender Equity Conference for adults and students at Stony Brook University serves as a blueprint for sharing ideas and best practices. This year's topic, "Mean Girls," addresses the problems of aggressive and destructive behavior. The Fund encourages schools to conduct a "gender audit," which offers opportunities to pinpoint areas where additional work is needed to establish gender equitable learning environments.

Women's philanthropy

The Fund's founders recognized, too, the need to develop women's philanthropy. "The theory was," Cohen says, "that if women are more involved in controlling the donations, then the donations will go to causes that women care about. The Fund encourages women to become philanthropists and to understand they don't have to be a person of great wealth to be philanthropic."

\ "Women don't use the power of their checkbook," notes Karen Lutz, Citibank's Manager of Eastern Divisions and one of the Fund's first annual breakfast honorees. Many Long Island Fund grants go to organizations run by women who, in turn, use the funds to better the lives of others. Lutz says that her work on the Fund board for nine years gave her the extraordinary experience of "coming into contact with these organizations that do unbelievable things."

Funding and being funded

"The heart and soul of the Fund is the grant giving," says Lutz, who has co-chaired the granting committee. She adds, "It is how the Fund's vision is achieved. Fulfillment of that vision requires investing funds in programs that move us to more equal standing."

\ The bulk of grant donations comes from individuals, and, Drucker notes, the Fund has "a dedicated constituent base" providing 85% of funding, with 15% coming from government and corporate contributions. In the future, the Fund wants to diversify its giving program to include planned giving and major gifts.

\ The Fund has developed "an information intensive website," www.lifwg.org, mentions Fund Development Associate Sylvia Claase, "to promote and communicate its vision, and celebrate its sponsors and volunteers. Our site has been enhanced to allow for easy navigation, up to the minute news, and the ability to accept online donations."

Celebrating women and girls

At its November breakfast, the Fund will honor four women of exemplary achievement: Manzar Ashtari, Ph.D., director of the Functional Brain Imaging Laboratory and associate professor of Radiology and Psychiatry at Long Island Jewish Medical Center; Helen Martin, director of the Bellport, Hagerman, East Patchogue Alliance, Inc.; Virginia E. Maurer, M.D., breast surgeon and founder of The Maurer Foundation for Breast Health Education; and Leah Munnelly from Garden City High School, the Fund's Young Woman Achiever for Excellence in Fundraising. Of this year's grants, one-third will go to quality early child care and education initiatives that affect women and their families.

The Long Island Fund for Women and Girls is a member of the Women's Funding Network, an international organization established in 1985 to improve the status of women and girls locally, nationally and globally. Drucker notes that the Network provides "an exchange of ideas and a way to find out from mature funds about their successes."

Changing the mindset

Today, 6 cents of every philanthropic dollar benefits women's and girls' issues. Still small and unacceptable by some standards, yet progress is being made. Asked if a change in societal mindset is necessary for the advancement of women and girls to take root, Cohen suggests the possibility of broadening the definition of success as a way to accomplish this goal. "Do we define success in male terms or human terms?" she queries, adding that perceptions about women will change when "women's ways and men's ways are equally valued."