Dynamic Duo: Meet WGSD members and Mother-Daughter team, Merle and Courtney Brodie

Mother: Merle Brodie

Occupation: Gift Planning Officer, Girl Scouts; Instructor, at UCSD extension certificate in fundraising and development program

Notable achievement: Association of Fundraising Professional Development Executive of the Year 1994

Daughter: Courtney Brodie

Occupation: Leasing Manager for Centro Properties Group

Notable achievement: Girl Scouts Gold Award for developing a youth chapter of the Lions Club at the Braille Institute.

Merle Brodie lives in Scripps Ranch and her daughter, Courtney, lives in Pacific Beach. Merle moved to San Diego in 1979, got married and started a new career and a wonderful family. Merle and her husband have two daughters, Courtney, 24 and Blake, 20.

One of the Brodie family values Merle, 57, taught both daughters is volunteering together. This has opened Courtney’s eyes to the value of community work and created a unique bond between this mother-daughter team.

Merle began volunteering with her daughters when they were quite young. As members of the National Charity League, Merle and Courtney completed community service projects and were introduced to numerous causes throughout San Diego. Their activities ranged from making centerpieces for Rady Children’s Hospital events to serving as judges for the Special Olympics as well as helping students at the Braille Institute with art classes. They continue the tradition of volunteering together to this day.

Merle states:

“I feel fortunate to have been able to share my values and perspectives about life with my daughters. It is a source of happiness to have raised two strong and independent women who see community service as an important part of their lives.”

When Courtney graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in business, she decided to move back to San Diego. Her mother is thrilled about this unexpected outcome. “My goal is to spend quality time with Courtney…not just shopping and going out to dinner, but to continue to find volunteer opportunities and help those in needs throughout the community”, Merle stated recently.

Because Merle and Courtney wanted to spend time volunteering together, they are very excited to belong to Women Give San Diego. It offers them a unique opportunity to be involved through both financial contributions and ‘hands-on’ volunteering.

WGSD teaches women of all ages how to be effective philanthropists. Thanks to a tiered membership structure, WGSD allows mother-daughter teams like Merle and Courtney to be involved together. Courtney says, “The low financial threshold to join make participation more accessible to younger women just starting their careers. We would miss many great opportunities if we had to wait till we were 50 years old and could afford joining donor circles.”

Merle adds, “I think we’re both happy to share this new experience in Women Give San Diego. It adds another positive dimension to our adult relationship.”

They both feel that it is important to join groups like Women Give, where they are with other like-minded women who share their values. Merle’s past work in the nonprofit sector and local community make her very well suited for her active work on the Grants Committee and as the new liaison to the community and grantees on behalf of the organization.

Courtney recently joined the membership committee and hopes to recruit many more young people. In addition, she has stepped up to volunteer with one of WGSD’s 2010 grantees, Dress for Success. At this past January membership meeting, Silvia McKinney, executive director at Dress for Success, spoke about their work teaching disadvantaged women how to get back in the work force. Her talk struck a chord with Courtney who has signed up to help. She’s being matched with a woman client and will help her find job interview outfits at the Dress for Success Boutique and later will mentor her through the job interview process and during the rest of her career.

Courtney understands how important a professional appearance is for interviews. Just a few years ago, Merle took her shopping for her first suit. “The suit really made me feel good and it conveyed the right image” Courtney said. “A suit boosts your confidence level and gets your career started on the right note.”

This dynamic team is a strong model for how to be actively involved in the community as a family and as women. Merle is leading by example, grooming her daughters to be next generation of women philanthropists.

Renee Herrell, M.A., CFRE is a WGSD member and writes a popular nonprofit blog: reneeherrell.wordpress.com

Foster Youth: Thoughts from Amy Gunderson

Last week KPBS has showcased a vulnerable population that is near and dear to San Diego Women Give, Foster Youth. Recognizing the great unmet need, and an excellent opportunity to assist young foster women as they age out of the Foster Care system, San Diego Women Give partnered with Just in Time Foster Youth for two years as they pilot the “Career Horizons for Young Women Program.”

The two part series ran April 6^th and 7^th with articles: “Many Penniless Former Foster Kids Call the Streets Home,” and “San Diego County Seizing Foster Kids’ Assets to Pay for Care.”

The stories speak to some of the grim realities San Diego Women Give Members are well aware of, and some information that was new- to me.

I was unaware of the Childrens' Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego, a group working to bring research and awareness regarding the situation foster youth are facing here in our community.

Other statistics that struck me from the articles:

· Former foster children have overtaken war veterans as the single largest population in California’s homeless shelters.

· Foster Youth who are entitled to Social Security money from an estranged parent do not receive that income as it is absorbed by San Diego County for “administrative costs” in operating the foster care system.

Many times such difficult stories remain just that to me, sad news. Often I fail to understand- to feel, how I directly contribute to the problem. However, Kriste Draper of the Children’s Advocacy Institute said something in her interview that made me keenly aware of my role.

“As a state we have decided that a foster child’s parents are not good enough to be their parents," Draper said. "Each one of us through our tax dollars has said we can be better parents. And if we are going to accept that responsibility, then we need to make sure that we are better than the homes we have taken them from. And right now, I think that we fail at that.”

To read both stories in their entirety:

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/apr/06/many-penniless-former-foster-kids-make-call-street/

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/apr/06/san-diego-county-seizing-foster-kids-assets-pay-ca/

Amy Gunderson is a WGSD member and Program Assistant for the Gary and Mary West Foundation

Conversation with former State Senator Dede Alpert and Nikki Clay

On April 4, the Women Give San Diego membership was counseled by two influential San Diego policy makers. Dede Alpert, long time State Senator and advocate for public education and women's issues, along with Nikki Clay, a specialist in government relations and strategic legislative advocacy, presented at the group's recent meeting. During this dynamic presentation, members were advised on how to effectively advocate for the needs of women and girls to legislative leaders.

With years of experience under their respective belts, Alpert and Clay emphasized the importance of reaching out to city, county, and state officials thoughtfully and strategically. As the budget crisis at all levels of government makes legislative advocacy especially challenging this year, effective planning is crucial. Alpert and Clay recommend the following in order to maximize results from advocacy efforts:

1) Make a personal connection with legislators as this is much more effective than mass faxes or e-mails. Don't ask for money or support immediately - simply familiarize him or her with the issues at hand and explain why they are important. If at all possible link your cause to the legislators own experience or record. Legislators who are sensitive to the issues of women and girls will likely champion such causes in the political arena. Identifying these key individuals can be especially effective for your cause.

2) Make a personal connection with legislators' staff members. In some ways, building a relationship with staffers can be more important than building a relationship with legislators themselves. Staff members are more likely to read advocacy material thoroughly and are, in some cases, more likely to enjoy longevity in their positions than legislators.

3) Once you have secured a meeting with a legislator and his or her staff member, plan your presentation carefully. Ensure the presenting group is in agreement about what should be discussed and who should be responsible for highlighting particular aspects of your presentation. Be sure to stay on topic and focused in the course of the meeting, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of your "face time."

4) As the current budget crisis makes asking for "new" money next to impossible, advocacy efforts this year should be focused on "free" ideas, making existing programs more effective, and advocating for existing programs that are in danger of elimination.

The recommendations by Alpert and Clay are especially important as Women Give San Diego seeks to develop it's advocacy efforts with the creation of an Advocacy Committee. The committee is currently discussing possible women and girl-related issues around which to mobilize. Committee members are also planning to join Women's Foundation of California "Legislative Action Day" May 3 & 4 in Sacramento to plug into the foundation's lobbying efforts. The issues targeted at the day of lobbying have been selected by fellows of the Women's Foundation of California's Women's Policy Institute: a year long program of training retreats, to teach women activists and grassroots organizations how to successfully negotiate the labyrinth of Sacramento.

Women Give San Diego Member, Johanna Schiavoni comments:

“I will be attending the Legislative Action Day to sharpen my skills through hands on training and real world practice. There is no better way to learn to be an advocate than to be directly involved with legislatures and decision makers. I am excited to do this with the Women’s Foundation of California, an organization whose values and goals align with mine and Women Give San Diego.”

We will hear more from her and other WGSD members who attend the Legislative Action Day.

If you are interested in joining the WGSD advocacy committee or would like more information about Legislative Action Day, please contact Jennifer Dryer at jennifer@tamayoconsulting.com.

Jennifer Levitt is a WGSD member and blog contributor.

WGSD member promotions

Our Women Give San Diego members are incredibly talented women who are doing amazing work in San Diego. Here are two recent member promotions!

Women Give San Diego member Johanna S. Schiavoni, Esq. has recently joined Jacobs Schlesinger & Sheppard LLP as a partner. Johanna is an attorney specializing in state and federal court appellate litigation, including business litigation, criminal and white-collar cases, and immigration appeals. She brings more than six years of experience at Latham & Watkins LLP, an AmLaw 100 firm, and two years of experience as a law clerk to the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Hon. Christina A. Snyder on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Johanna received her J.D. in 2002 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her B.A. in 1998 from Washington University in St. Louis. Johanna also volunteers with many local organizations in addition to Women Give, including serving as the Programs Chair for the Appellate Court Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association and as a member of the boards of directors of the La Jolla Music Society and the Lawyers Club of San Diego.

Jacobs Schlesinger & Sheppard LLP is a boutique law firm specializing in both immigration and nationality law and appellate litigation. The firm's Immigration and Nationality Law Practice Group represents clients, including large and small companies and individuals, in all areas of immigration-related cases, including applications before the USCIS, consular processing, and removal defense. The firm's Appellate Practice Group provides a full range of legal services to clients and trial counsel, including strategic counseling, research, and drafting in pre-trial, trial, and post-trial proceedings, and representation in appeal and post-appeal matters in state and federal courts.

Women Give San Diego member Debi Spindelman was recently accepted to Duke's Sanford School and Center for International Development, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and Columbia's School of International Policy Administration to pursue her Masters in Public Administration in sustainable development practice this fall.

She is currently the Project Director at Outside the Lens. Through her work, she traveled to the Daraja Academy of Kenya, the first free all-girls secondary school in East Africa, where she taught a media literacy program to 52 students, including digital camera skills, visual training strategies, self-portraiture, elements of design, and self-reflective poetry.

She has chosen to study public policy as a means to share the visions and viewpoints of girls like the Daraja students-- recipients of international development program funds- with a broader audience. Her long-term goal is to return to San Diego after graduation to perform analysis and advisory work to philanthropic funds working in global development as it affects women, children, and other vulnerable populations.

You can see the Daraja’s student’s artwork as part of a traveling exhibition that will be unveiled at the University of San Diego in May.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun: Engaging the younger generations of women in philanthropy

One of the unique attributes of Women Give San Diego is that we make grants to help low-income women by engaging local women of all ages to contribute. The organization recognizes the importance of engaging the younger generations of women in philanthropy now. By offering tiered membership prices, our organization allows women of all ages to be involved with philanthropy. Members in their 20s are asked for a minimum gift of $250 a year; members in their 30s, $500 a year; and founding members $1,000 to $25,000 a year. As a result, nearly 40 percent of WGSD members are under the age of 40.

Co-Founders, Jan, Gayle and Linda – all Baby Boomers – have been actively engaged in philanthropy for over three decades, with a particular focus on women and girls. Their philosophy is that families and communities thrive when women and girls thrive as fully contributing members of the community. From the start, they intended Women Give’s membership to be diverse through age, race and social standing. Tuttleman says: “We didn't want to start another organization with our own peers.” Katz adds: “As leaders in philanthropy, we must continue to grow and engage young female philanthropists.” The three founders take this responsibility very seriously and are committed to modeling and nurturing the next generation of female philanthropists.

Gen X member, Katie Collins, feels that Women Give San Diego gives her a unique and affordable way to make an impact in my community. Jan, Linda, and Gayle serve as role models for the next generation of philanthropists and have inspired her to do what she can to help make a difference.

Women Give San Diego offers younger women the opportunity to be philanthropists by contributing their own funds and participating in the grant making process. The younger generations (Gen X and Y) do not have the wealth of the older generation (Baby Boomers and Traditionalists) donors. Many are repaying school loan debt, struggling with unemployment, buying their first homes, and starting their own families. Despite the lack of wealth, the younger generations are important to engage now so they can learn to become lifelong donors. The great benefit of Women Give San Diego members is that members of all ages receive the same benefits for their donations, despite the difference in amounts.

Another Gen X member who joined Women Give San Diego because she was excited to support, through her time and resources, efforts to help women living in a variety of challenging situations to succeed in their professional and personal lives. Her participation in this group is exciting because “our group includes women of all ages, and in all stages of their careers who work together with those who have established themselves as savvy, successful business women, and with those who are striving to take on new opportunities and sectors.”

In order for Women Give to thrive, we value and need the opinions and points of view of a wide variety of women, each from differing backgrounds, cultures and professions. If we are going to make a significant difference in our community, it is imperative that our giving circle reflect our region to our best ability.

Tuttleman: “I feel that once younger women get involved, they are the ones to be the champion of this cause in the future. They will be the ones to carry forth the mission of our organization in the future and raise awareness in our community.” Women Give San Diego honors all of its members through an age-based fee structure, acknowledging that, while the financial resources among us may differ, the perspectives each of us brings to the table is equally as important in effectively achieving our mission.

Katz sums it up: “Did I mention, that it's just more fun to work with women that are younger and smarter than us?” We absolutely agree with you, Linda.

Blog post written by Women Give San Diego member, Renee Herrell, M.A., CFRE who writes a popular profit on nonprofit topics: reneeherrell.wordpress.com

How can Philanthropy and Policy intersect to create more impact for Women, Children and Communities?

Friday was our Women Give San Diego lunch with Judy Patrick the CEO of the Women's Foundation of California. As background, the Women's Foundation of California has spent 30 years on the ground supporting, training and fueling the fiercest women leaders, fanning the winds of change for women and girls throughout California. Women Give San Diego is a unique and powerful donor circle of the Women’s Foundation of California. The topic of discussion at our lunch was how philanthropic efforts and policy can intersect to create a greater impact for women and children in California. Judy gave us some background on why the Women's Foundation of California was founded and what we as a donor's circle could do to create this synergy for greater impact. 31+ years ago when the foundation began less than 1% of philanthropy dollars went to women and children. Today there are at least 140 funds that are focused on women and children.

Judy also addressed the goals of the Foundation.

1. The first goal is to add resources into communities to increase support for women who are on the ground creating change.
2. Second, to create a place where women can learn to be philanthropists.

Their overall mission is for everyone in communities to be safe, economically secure and healthy. With this theme and these goals in mind, Judy addressed how to create greater impact through policy advocacy and philanthropy. These two categories are already intersecting and areas we can continue to enhance:

• Through their Women's Policy Institute, the foundation trains leaders to be agents of change for policies that impact the lives of women of all ages, their families and their communities.
• They have advocated for legislation for safer cosmetics, increased measures addressing violence in the workplace and an expansion of protections for noncitizen victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other serious crimes. The foundation calls these efforts “movement building work,” where unlikely parties come together to advocate for the bigger picture.

If we are to create change we must start by engaging in conversation with our local officials. Judy encouraged us to meet with our elected officials to speak from our experiences and about areas important to us. It is well known that elected officials are constantly contacted by lobbyists and rarely by constituents.

Judy clarified whether non-profits could advocate on policy: Non-profit organizations can engage in advocacy policy as long as there isn’t a bill number associated with it, which would then categorize as lobbying.

To partner philanthropy and policy, Judy suggested that we look to define priorities for funding through a policy-advocacy lens by:

• Encourage organizations applying for grants to apply for a general operating grant allowing the organization to use funds at their discretion;
• Supporting groups that focus on advocacy and outlining a plan with a sequence of outcomes on the road to achieving a larger goal such as the passing of a bill.

With California at its current state, Judy couldn’t emphasize enough the importance of evidence-based research to help support advocacy efforts. Data can often be the best tool to support advocates in their efforts. With legislative day coming up in early May, Judy encouraged us to consider traveling to Sacramento and playing a role in advocacy policy. The Women’s Policy Institute will be forming teams for various bills and there is no better way to learn and help then to engage in the process. As a group we know that women are phenomenal at making connections and building relationships. The task at hand now is to leverage our relationships, knowledge, and philanthropic efforts to advocate for better policy in order to create a safe, economically secure, and healthy environment for communities in California and across the world.

Sasha Clines is a WGSD member who creates and implements marketing and communication strategies for start-up businesses and writes a popular blog: http://betterinheels.blog.com

Luncheon with Judy Patrick: "Where Philanthropy and Political Action Meet"

Women Give San Diego is proud to host Judy Patrick, President/CEO, Women's Foundation of California for a luncheon on Friday, March 18th, NOON-1:30 p.m. at the Alliance Healthcare Foundation Conference Room.

Judy Patrick is President and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California. Prior to her appointment in 2008, Judy held the post of Executive Vice President of Programs for nine years where she led the Foundation’s advocacy and policy change work, including the development of the groundbreaking Women’s Policy Institute. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Judy directed the work of several nonprofits. Including the San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic, Girls Count in Colorado, and Mi Casa Resource Center for Women in Denver organization. She has served on the faculty of the University of Colorado at Denver and Regis University, where she taught program development and evaluation. She serves on numerous boards of directors.

Ms. Patrick will be speaking on "Where Philanthropy and Political Action Meet." She will discuss the California state budget cuts and the threat it poses to women and families as well as how women philanthropists, like Women Give San Diego members, can take action.

As we know, the “Great Recession” has depressed revenue collections, while increasing demands on the California state budget. As a result, California’s families have turned to public programs to help make ends meet during the recession. The Governor is proposing to cut CalWORKs, a cash assistance for low-income families with children, by 15.7 percent, reducing the maximum monthly grant for a family of three from $694 to $585. This impending cut would leave a lot of low-income women in California unable to support their families.

Ms. Patrick will discuss how philanthropy and advocacy can successfully work together. Recently, a donor circle at the Women’s Foundation of CA along with additional funds from the Foundation, supported a portion of the research of The California Research Project 2010 that examined the effects of California state budget cuts on women. Ms. Patrick will be sharing the results of this research study to help us better understand how women can be negatively effected with these budget cuts.

Ms. Patrick will also clarify what the law says about how nonprofits can advocate so that we can understand how to support women’s needs at the political level. If you want to engage more deeply in the advocacy process, she will provide opportunities and ideas.

At this luncheon, you will gain a deeper understanding of the state budget and this year’s proposed cuts, some potential options for ways you (as a philanthropist) can engage more deeply in advocacy work, and an opportunity to test your own ideas during the Q&A and discussion.

What: "Where Philanthropy and Political Action Meet" Luncheon

Who: Judy Patrick, President/CEO, Women's Foundation of California

When: Friday, March 18th, NOON-1:30 p.m.

Where: Alliance Healthcare Foundation Conference Room, San Diego Grantmakers Offices, 5060 Shoreham Place, Suite 350, San Diego, CA 92122,

Why: To learn how advocacy and philanthropy can successfully work together

How: RSVP to Linda Katz at lindalouisekatz@me.com or (619) 840-6462; cost is $12 and limited to 20 attendees.

Blog post written by Women Give San Diego member, Renee Herrell, M.A., CFRE who writes a popular profit on nonprofit topics: reneeherrell.wordpress.com