Greetings from the President

Dear TPC Community,

On May 29, TPC awarded a quarter of a million dollars to 10 outstanding non-profits (for the third consecutive year), and then shifted into planning for fall and 2020.

We have designated this year “The Year of Doing,” a theme that will underlie Philanthropy Dialogues. It has been said that the impact of philanthropy is magnified by action, and we have data substantiating this about TPC members. Of those who responded to the member survey,

• 26% have joined a non-profit Board after becoming a member of TPC;

• 53% have made an additional contribution to or volunteered with at least one of our grantees;

• 38% report volunteering more often with non-TPC grantees after joining TPC; and

• 88% feel they are more educated about issues facing underserved and marginalized populations. 

It is so rewarding that after learning about some pressing local challenges, so many members have acted to address them.

The fall is once again chockful of events with even more coming, so please mark these events and dates on your calendars:

New Member Orientations
If you’ve joined TPC within the last year or simply want to learn more about TPC’s history, how we operate, and our grant process, please come and have any and all questions answered.    

September 26, Downtown Crossing, noon to 1:15 pm

September 26, Beacon Hill, 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Connect the Dots (CTD)
Overwhelmingly, the number of new TPC members are referred by existing ones. Do you have a co-worker, daughter, gym buddy, book club pal, or neighbor who might be interested in our model and community? Please invite her to one of these upcoming CTDs, and include her name when you RSVP. And don’t worry if you can’t attend – we’ll take good care of her!

September 24, South End Boston, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Grantee Speaker: FriendshipWorks

October 22, Concord, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Grantee Speaker: The Wily Network

This season’s CTDs are generously supported by TPC’s long-time sponsor, Cambridge Trust Company.

Note: We are always looking for members to host or co-host CTDs, and need venues that can accommodate 25-30 guests.  TPC makes it easy to host! Please contact Caroline Boeckman if you are interested in learning more.

Volunteer Days
September 28, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.  We are organizing a team of TPC members to participate in Citizenship Day in Boston. The largest annual citizenship workshop in New England, it is co-hosted by grantee Project Citizenship and the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement. 

October 18, evening. Details to follow soon, but mark your calendars for Justice at Work’s Salsa for Justice, an evening of food, celebration, and dancing.

The Massachusetts Conference for Women is being held on December 11 and 12 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. TPC will have a booth in the Exhibit Hall, offering the 13,000+ women who attend the opportunity to learn more about us. We will be in touch later this fall with more details for volunteering at this conference.

Philanthropy Dialogues
In “The Year of Doing,” TPC will be educating members about issues and challenges for which their activism and volunteerism are needed.

November 6, Chestnut Hill, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. “Immigration and Activism” with with grantees Justice at Work and Project Citizenship and Carol Rose, ED of the Massachusetts ACLU.

December 5, Cambridge, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. “Homeless and Foster Youth, and Activism” with grantees Y2Y and Massachusetts Adoption and Resource Exchange (MARE), and Shaheer Mustafa, President and CEO of Hopewell, Inc., one of the largest local providers of social services to youth and young adults in crisis.

Our Philanthropy Dialogues are supported by the Center of Women and Wealth at Brown Brothers Harriman, whose generosity allows us to hold these educational events.

Note: If you can host up to 50 guests or have access to a space that does (we can even bring folding chairs!), please contact Sandy Lawrence. 

TPC Special Events:

Lunch and Learn
Please join us on October 8, noon to 1:15 pm for our first Lunch and Learn of the new grant season with Andrew Wolk, founder and CEO of Root Cause, a purpose-driven consulting group that exists to enable more people and families to achieve lifelong success. Andrew’s talk will be about his journey as the founder… “I began to feel more and more as if our work was simply adding bricks in the wall of what might be called the ‘non-profit industrial complex.’ This compelled me to take a step back, to take some time to reimagine Root Cause and our ultimate purpose.” Register today.

Book Discussion 
“Waking Up White” by Debby Irving. October 23, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in Boston. The author, born and raised in Winchester, will share from her powerful book, “Waking Up White,” which opens a rare window on how white Americans are socialized. Irving’s focus on the mechanics of racism operating in just one life – her own – may lead us to reconsider the roots of our own perspectives – and our role in dismantling old myths. Register today.

Grant Review Process
Signing up for a Grant Review Team to help do our most important work starts on October 14, so watch your inbox! Please note that those serving on grant review teams must have paid their 2020 membership by November 11 (this does not apply to monthly payers).

Webinars
TPC is a member of Catalist, a national organization representing more than 60 collective giving groups worldwide. Catalist hosts hour-long webinars conducted by women recognized as pros in the issues facing many giving groups. Feel free to join any of these webinars, which run from noon to 1 pm (EST):

October 8, 2019 – Communications: Telling Your Story in Traditional and Social Media

November 12, 2019 – What Do We Mean by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and How Does it Play a Role in Grantmaking?

January 14, 2020 –  Membership: Growing Your Membership: Advice for Both Small and Large Collective Giving Groups

March 10, 2020 – Governance: Alternative Sources for Funding: Sponsorships, Endowments, Legacies

April 14, 2020 – Grants and Advocacy

May 12, 2020 – Board Governance: Developing Your Leadership Pipeline

If you are interested in attending a webinar or accessing the recording of it, please contact Susan Benford.

Other Important Events:

Catalist is holding its 2020 Conference in Seattle from Feb 23-25, 2020, with host organization the Washington Women’s Foundation. Representatives from collective giving groups across the country will meet to:

Experience how together we are building an inclusive movement in which resources, knowledge and relationships combine to transform our communities across the country.  

Learn the tools to begin – or step up – inclusion work in your organization and community through conversations and evaluations of organizational culture, membership, grantmaking and grantees, governance, finance, language, advocacy, empathy, bias, power dynamics and more.

Stretch and challenge your role as a philanthropist individually and as a member of a collective giving organization, inspiring you to be more, informed and equipped to lead change in your community.

Plenary speakers will include:

• Tricia Raikes, co-founder of the Raikes Foundation;
• Vu Le, Executive Director of Rainier Valley Corps and author of the brilliant blog, Nonprofit AF; and
• Ijeoma Oluo, “internet yeller” and author of the book, “So You Want to Talk about Race?”

More information is available here.

We will again have a Young Philanthropist or two in attendance. Many thanks to Hemenway and Barnes for underwriting the participation of our Young Philanthropists at this Conference!

More exciting events are in the works, and we will be sharing details soon. Until then, here’s to a pleasant, relaxing finish to summer as we head into an action-packed fall for TPC!

Susan Benford
President, and Chair, Development Committee

PS. Want to participate in a national research project by the Collective Giving Research Group? The work will examine how membership in a collective giving group is associated with philanthropic behaviors such as donating time and money.