Membership is comprised of women who make a tax-deductible gift of $1,100 per year. As a group, members learn about the needs in our community, and then decide where to make grants that help make positive changes in the community. Every member has a voice and a vote in deciding how grants are made.

During the summer of 2006, an interested group of members studied the community and its needs. At our fall membership educational meeting, our membership heard their report and voted on our focus areas for the spring 2007 grant round. The results showed a clear pattern of interest and our chosen focus areas are:

• Violence Against Women
• Women's Health
• Teen Health
• Child Abuse

Throughout the winter and spring the Grant Review Committee is using a portfolio grantmaking model to review and study requests for proposals from various nonprofits which address the focus areas.

This process begins with portfolio criteria describing the funding focus, in our case, Violence Against Women, Women's Health, Teen Health and Child Abuse. Nonprofit organizations then collaborate to submit applications in response to the RFP that address the issues described in the portfolio. Typically there are organizations that are addressing some of the issues identified on their own but in collaborating with other nonprofits would be able to make more of a difference.

In this setting, grants are usually awarded as a single grant to fund collaboration that addresses portfolio focus, in our case, the four issues. Or alternatively as a group of grants to fund individual nonprofit organizations that can work collaboratively to address one or more of our four issues.

The membership voted on the grants recommended by the Grants Review committee in April 2007.

On May 23, 2007 the 100 plus women and friends of “100 Women Strong” celebrated the second annual “Power of the Purse” event by awarding grants in excess of $100,000 to two local organizations, the Health Council of East Central Florida and SafeHouse of Seminole.  The Health Council of East Central Florida was awarded $70,000 to design and implement a coordinated and sustainable system of care for uninsured pregnant women in Orange County.  SafeHouse of Seminole received a grant for $33,400 to fund court advocates for victims of domestic violence.  In addition to these program grants, $2,500 was awarded to each organization to fund social marketing for the projects.  

This past year, the 100 plus women philanthropists who joined to form the 100 Women Strong giving circle pooled their money, time and talents to benefit maternal and child health issues and domestic violence/spousal and child abuse in Central Florida.  

“The response to 100 Women Strong has been overwhelming,” said co-founder Sydney Green.  “We are gratified beyond words by the generosity of Central Florida’s women and the causes our group has chosen to support.”

The 2nd Annual “Power of the Purse” event was the springboard for the announcement of 100 Women Strong’s first grants. 

The 3rd Annual “Power of the Purse” event will be hosted on May 21, 2008 with the awarding of 100 Women Strong’s second grants.

Membership is open to any woman interested in pooling her dollars to have a more significant impact on our community.

For more information, please contact 100 Women Strong at the Community Foundation of Central Florida at 407-540-1140.