When Women Thrive
We are proud to announce the Vermont Women’s Fund’s When Women Thrive campaign—a capital raise of $3 million—to double the endowment and advance our commitment to gender equity and justice for women and girls in Vermont.
The original launch date was early 2020 and we had all the pieces in place. We had the full support of a tremendous statewide endowment campaign committee with Mary Powell and Win Smith as Honorary Co-Chairs. We had settled on the theme of When Women Thrive because it is well documented that when women succeed economically, their communities thrive.
Then the pandemic hit. We paused, worried that the timing was now all wrong. But it didn’t take long to see that the pandemic put women at the epicenter of economic risk in Vermont and across the country. This endowment campaign was no longer an option; it was an imperative to increase our capacity to help women and girls in Vermont.
Thanks to the incredible support of our campaign committee, and the enthusiasm of key supporters, we forged ahead with greater conviction than ever before—and we’ve never looked back! Today, we have pledges and gifts for the campaign that have put us 75% of the way to our $3 million goal. Now it is time we to ask you, all of our supporters and friends, to help us get to the finish line.
With your help, we will reach our goal of $3 million—to double our endowment—and double our impact!
Today, we have an opportunity to drive real change in our state. We need to transform the systems that affect women’s lives in Vermont including child care, wage equity, and career advancement across all businesses. Addressing systemic change is at the heart of the Vermont Women’s Fund and this is where every dollar counts.
Women’s Economic Potential
Through our research and work with Change The Story, we learned that women’s economic potential is clearly undervalued and largely untapped. We also learned what key data was missing, for example, we do not know how many women own and operate businesses in Vermont. This proved to be costly when Protection Payment Plan (PPP) dollars and recovery grants were specifically earmarked for ‘womenand minority-owned’ businesses. In Vermont, there was no way to find them. The Women’s Fund set out to change that.
That is where philanthropy can move the needle faster and why the Vermont Women’s Fund launched This Way UP: there’s power in our numbers. This Way UP is an initiative to identify women entrepreneurs and ask what they need to grow their businesses in our rural state. And, because of the past two years, women are re-imagining their futures and entrepreneurship is on the rise. Let’s help these women grow their businesses to their full potential!
Women’s Philanthropic Capacity
The Vermont Women’s Fund was founded as a way for women to support other women, and to promote financial giving among women. That’s as essential today as it was when the Women’s Fund began. Every donation—from $10 to $1000—moves us closer to our goal.
We also know that women hold the majority of wealth in the United States, and that trend will continue. More and more, women are wielding their philanthropic power to fund the causes and issues important to them. We’ve witnessed the success of women-led philanthropy in our work with Change The Story, and now with This Way UP. We also see how philanthropy empowers the success of the nonprofits we give grants to—and it all starts with you.
Join us and help create a stronger, more equitable future for women and girls! When women thrive, Vermont wins.
