Giving Circles pledge to honor, sustain, expand

By Juliette Coulter

The Village Giving Circle at Dallas Women’s Foundation has officially debuted and joins two other giving circles hosted at Dallas Women’s Foundation: HERitage Giving Circle and Orchid Giving Circle.

On April 29, The Village Giving Circle launch reception was held at the home of Shonn Brown, and raised more than $106,000, from more than 40 founding members. Brown serves as chair of The Village, and Lisa Montgomery serves as co-chair. Additional founding officers include Cheryl Alston, Christa Brown-Sanford, Annika Cail, Frances Cudjoe-Waters, Vera Ingram and Diane Reeves. Brown, Montgomery, Alston and Reeves are members of the Dallas Women’s Foundation’s board of directors.

The mission of The Village Giving Circle is to honor, sustain and expand the legacy of African American women’s philanthropy by funding organizations and initiatives that benefit African-American women, men and children in North Texas.

Brown welcomed the guests, told them about the formation of the giving circle and expressed how, together, they could make a larger impact with their collective gifts: “Through The Village, we empower our members to combine resources so that we are able to award larger, more impactful grants to benefit African American women, men, girls and boys, and our communities overall.”

Montgomery added: “In addition to providing financial support to selected organizations, The Village members will seek to elevate awareness of issues, initiatives, and efforts that affect or support African-Americans living and working in North Texas. When we can identify what those issues are, we are better equipped to help and to make an impact.”

Shawn Wills, Dallas Women’s Foundation senior vice president – development, said: “Dallas Women’s Foundation is proud to welcome The Village Giving Circle to our Foundation’s family of giving circles. A key part of our mission is to advance women’s philanthropy, and we see giving circles as powerful vehicles for women of shared cultures and interests to come together to raise and distribute funds to organizations that are positively contributing to the betterment of our communities.”

For more information about The Village Giving Circle, visit dallaswomensfdn.org/2016/get-involved/village-giving-circle or email [email protected].

Dallas Women’s Foundation is the largest regional women’s fund in the world. It is a trusted leader in positive social and economic change for women and girls.