| Member Impact: TPC at the WCGN Conference in October
Five TPC Members (Susan Benford, Ruth Isaacs, and Sandy Lawrence and Young Philanthropists Cassandra Trujillo and Leigh Chandler) recently traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Conference of the Women’s Collective Giving Grant-makers Network (recently renamed “Catalist”).
Our members were panelists or leaders of four breakout sessions, and attended numerous workshops to glean best practices from collective giving groups throughout the country. Cassandra Trujillo expressed this well when she wrote, “Very little is written about women’s collective giving groups, and what we do publish tends to be about the social challenges we’re addressing, and not the organizational decisions that enable the model to work, so there aren’t really other ways to get the benefits of the conference.” TPC is grateful to Hemenway & Barnes for its support of the Young Philanthropist Initiative so that Cassandra and Leigh could attend the Conference.
All 60+ collective giving groups in Catalist were invited to submit nominations for grants that were transformative to the grantee, to the community it serves, and to the giving group itself. TPC is very proud to announce that Catie’s Closet (CC) was chosen as a Spotlight Award Grantee, one of three in the U.S. (The other two non-profits honored are Girls Matter: Giving Girls Voice by the Women’s Giving Alliance and Live Fresh by Impact100 Palm Beach).
TPC’s 2016 grant funded expansion of CC’s distribution center and development of a comprehensive marketing plan. Just prior to receiving TPC funding, CC was in 25 schools serving 13,000 students; one year later:
- Eight new Closets had opened.
- 10,000 additional students had been served.
- Over $100,000 had been raised.
- Phase 2 – to scale the program throughout Massachusetts – had kicked off.
Today, CC is in 54 schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, serves 32,000 students, and has a waitlist of over two dozen states wanting Closets in their schools.
We are pleased to say that TPC was honored with a national Spotlight Award acknowledging its transformative grant made to Catie’s Closet.
The impact on TPC has been equally impressive: CC’s liaisons are still actively involved; one liaison introduced CC to the Boston Public Schools administration, which enthusiastically embraced the model; a TPC member funded a Closet, while others have become major donors and gala attendees; one bride-to-be dedicated her bridal shower to collecting personal products for CC’s students; members continue to donate clothing and toiletries; and TPC members volunteered in the distribution center, helping staff sort donated goods and providing the impetus for our Volunteer Days. Indeed, this was a transformative grant all around!
Read a summary of each breakout session and speech from the Conference. |
The topic of our inaugural Lunch and Learn, a new educational initiative in response to TPC members’ requests, was “Diversity in the Non-profit Arena…or Lack Thereof.” Hosted on October 29 at the offices of our long-term sponsor, Cambridge Trust, the featured speaker was Jennifer Aronson, Senior VP at the Boston Foundation. She shared some startling statistics with us:
ACS operates the juvenile court clinics for Middlesex County, providing comprehensive and emergency diagnostic evaluations for court-involved children and their families. In addition, ACS offers individual and group treatment at no cost to families, as well as education and advocacy services throughout the course of our involvement.
