Network of women making a difference in the community

Bonnie Culverhouse

The importance of education – especially in Caddo Parish – is the catalyst behind an organization called The Women’s Philanthropy Network.

WPN is comprised of women aged 16 and older who pool their annual dues to make high-impact gifts in the community.

“We are a fund at the Community Foundation,” Jennifer Steadman, director of external relations for the Community Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, said. “These members pay their dues, and a portion of it goes into an endowment fund and that money is there permanently. Another portion is granted back out.”

Steadman said what makes the group unique is the members get to choose the organization that receives the grant.

“They focus on education, so the grants have gone to different schools in Caddo Parish,” she said. “We call it a ‘giving circle’ at the foundation. It’s just a group of women that want to help change the education system and outcome for the children of our community.”

Founded in 2005, WPN was the dream of Janie Richardson, a Shreveport native who said the idea may have begun with her but implementation was a team effort.

“I was with a friend from Pensacola, Fla. and she told me about a women’s group they had started to do this same thing and how successful it had been,” Richardson said. “I thought something like that would be great for Shreveport.”

Richardson went to Paula Hickman who was already thinking about a group. Together, they went to the late Carolyn Nelson.

“We all had lunch and talked about how the group would work – making our own rules and all,” she said. “We invited more women to come to the table to help us make the plans and design our own group.”

Steadman said the group was started as a way to increase high school graduation rates.

“It’s kind of morphed into any age group children,” she said. “Most recently, the grants have been in the elementary age range.”

Richardson said the focus has always been education because “That’s where there is the greatest need,” she said. “Susan Beaird came up with that idea, and she said we need to focus on education for as many years as we need to.”

“If we get enough membership, we are hoping it will push us over the one-million dollar mark in grants.”

Coincidentally, after the group’s first gift, graduation rates began to increase.

Grant funds have been awarded to the Bio Medical Research Foundation with partnerships with Southwood High School, Caddo Parish School Board for a South Highlands and Arthur Circle STEAM Partnership and Caddo Parish Transformation Zone in an effort to send all of the teachers and administrators in the Zone to the Ron Clark Academy for a site visit and professional development, just to name a few.

Other past recipients are on the group’s website, www.cfnla.org/create-impact/ womens-philanthropy-network.

Steadman said there are different committees within WPN, one of which is the grant committee.

“Members can sign up to be on that committee and they do a request for proposals and vet the organizations, look at their outcomes and then from all the proposals they receive, they narrow it down to usually three opportunities,” she said. “At the annual meeting in May, the members get to vote on who they would like to give the money to, so the funds are awarded annually.”

The idea is rooted in the “strength in numbers” theory, Richardson said.

“If you get a large number of women together, you can make a big gift,” she said. “And when you do make that gift, you have strengthened independent thinking.”

The amount awarded varies each year, depending on membership.

Currently, there are around 100 members, however, that number also varies.

“If we get enough membership, we are hoping will push us over the one-million dollar mark in grants,” Steadman said. “The more members we have, the more dollars we have to give.”

In May 2016, the group will award their tenth grant.

“In the beginning, grants were around $100,000 each year,” Steadman said. “Usually, it’s between $75,000 and $100,000.”

The group is currently in the middle of a membership drive, and there is no cap on the number of members the organization will accept.

Most importantly, members have the satisfaction of knowing their dues are supporting children and education, but they also receive something else in return.

“Throughout the year, we have Lunch and Learns,” Steadman said.

“They can learn more about new things happening in the community or different facets of education. We have taken tours of facilities such as the Magnolia Charter School. We’ve had guest speakers on innovative things being used in the classroom.”

Want to join?

Dues may be paid online.

Membership is comprised of women who make a tax-deductible gift of at least $500 annually.