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GIVING CIRCLE MONTHLY

NEWSLETTER

September, 2024

Dear Giving Circle Community and Friends,


Being part of the Giving Circle is a great opportunity to learn about difficult issues and the best ways collective giving can help improve the lives of women and children in Philadelphia. Learning can expand our world beyond what is familiar or easy. It was long ago, but I can pinpoint the day that my world got a little bigger than the comfortable and generally homogeneous middle-class suburban neighborhood where I grew up outside Cincinnati. It was November 6, 1967. I was twelve-years old and had just gotten home from school. That day my mother and I watched the first broadcast of the “Phil Donahue Show.” Taped in nearby Dayton, Ohio, it was clear that the “Phil Donahue Show” was going to be different. Madeline Murray O’Hair, the feisty atheist behind the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibiting prayer in public schools, was the first guest. For an hour Donahue asked questions and invited viewers watching at home to call in. The phones blew up! O’Hair was obnoxious, but she also made me think. Donahue treated his guests, even the most controversial ones, with respect. He also treated his audience, mostly housewives like my mother, as intelligent and willing to learn.

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Kris Lindenmeyer

Despite its modest start, Donahue’s daytime show became very popular, was eventually syndicated, moved to Chicago in 1974, then New York City in 1985. In between, Phil Donahue divorced his first wife and married a celebrity, TV’s “That Girl” Marlo Thomas. My mother’s and my life dramatically changed too. Still, for 29 years, Phil, his guests, and his audience continued to be something my mother and I shared and debated (thanks to VCRs and long-distance phone calls).

 

Some shows were just silly, but no serious topic was too controversial: the Vietnam War, AIDS, sex, LGBTQ issues, abortion, birth control, marriage, divorce, free love, education, religion, racism, civil rights, immigration, women’s rights, politics, poverty, and on and on. One standout for me was seeing Ryan White, a teenager with hemophilia kicked out of his school in Kokomo, Indiana after he was infected with HIV/AIDS. Phil Donahue was a pallbearer at White’s funeral in 1990. I could give so many examples. Nevertheless, even the best things come to an end, especially on TV. The last Donahue show aired in 1996. His commitment never wavered. He was upfront about his liberal politics, but open to contrary and often outragious opinions expressed by guests and members of the audience. Other talk show hosts followed, but Phil Donahue was the first. President Biden recognized Donahue’s pioneering role with the Presidential Medal of Freedom last May.

 

In many ways, the Giving Circle is an extension of what I learned from watching Donahue. Our donors are committed to learning about the challenging issues that face too many women and children in Philadelphia. Many topics are unfamiliar, difficult, or both. After receiving input from the spring survey of Giving Circle donors and doing research on nonprofit organizations working on a variety of the issues reflected in your responses, the Executive Committee chose juvenile justice as the focus area for this year’s campaign.

 

As we learned from our programs and grant review process last year, the pandemic intensified the challenges facing many children and their families. Sandi Slap and Ellan Bernstein are working on programs to inform us about the many aspects of juvenile justice and how your generous gifts to our collective giving grants can help nonprofit organizations working with pre-teens, adolescents, and their families touched by the judicial system. We are also lucky that our co-chair Phyllis Bookspan has a professional background in this area. Look for Phyllis’s article on the topic of juvenile justice in the October newsletter.

 

My world has expanded far beyond anything I could have imagined when I was 12. There have been so many influential people who helped me grow into the person I am today. Learning about the recent death of Phil Donahue at age 88 on August 18 makes me especially grateful to him and my mother for teaching me the importance of listening and learning about the lives of others in order to discover the best ways I might help to make the world a better place. Please give generously to this year’s Giving Circle campaign and we hope you will participate in our educational programs to learn more about the best ways to help.

 

Together in Giving,

Kris Lindenmeyer, co-chair


Join us for a Panel Discussion co-sponsored by the

Giving Circles of Women’s Connection and the Cosmopolitan Club


Might Women's Leadership Change Non-Profit Boards         

October 23, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Free Happy Hour to Follow


Cosmopolitan Club

1616 Latimer Street

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All are welcome!!!


National and local news have highlighted the current high stakes environment of non-profit board governance. Hospitals and art schools have closed abruptly. University presidents, many of them women, have resigned amidst roiling tensions on campus and diminished trustee confidence. Non-profit leaders work for boards, but the structure and accountability system of boards often is not well understood. Who manages the governance structure of our large non-profits and who serves on the boards who ultimately are accountable for these crises?


Traditionally women are under-represented on large non-profit boards. Do nonprofit boards fully represent their institutions’ stakeholders? Do board members have the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience required to make good decisions for both the organization and those whose well- being is impacted? How might decision-making change if more women served on boards?


Please join us on October 23rd at 3:00 p.m. for a panel discussion co-sponsored by The Giving Circle of Women’s Connection, Philadelphia and the Giving Circle of the Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia. The panel will feature Carolyn Adams and Vicki Kramer, co- authors of Increasing Gender Diversity on the Boards of Nonprofit Eds and Meds: Why and How to Do It and members of the Women's Nonprofit Leadership Initiative.  Hear and ask questions about their case for why we need to increase the representation and diversity of women on boards and expand their influence.


The presentation will be at the Cosmopolitan Club 1616 Latimer Street, with a Happy Hour to follow.  For now, just save the date and look for the registration link coming soon. Both the event and the happy hour are FREE and all are welcome!



Come be part of this wonderful community of like-minded women, trying to make a difference in Philadelphia through philanthropy.


Save the date for our annual

Gather for Giving Event

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Tuesday, October 29th

5:00 to 7:00pm


More details to follow, but for now . . . just Save the Date!




COFFEE AND OUTREACH RETURNS THIS FALL . . .

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Potential donors,  newer donors,  friends of our Giving Circle....



We got such a positive response last Spring, that the Giving Circle of Women’s Connection is delighted to bring back our intimate coffee outreach events.   These gatherings in the homes of our donors are opportunities for potential as well as new Giving Circle members to get to know us better.  Current Giving Circle donors open their home to invitees for an informal get-together where we enjoy light treats and have the opportunity to learn about the Giving Circle, ask questions, meet new people and maybe make new friends. Invitees are encouraged to bring a friend.  

We hope to have these casual get-togethers throughout the year, Preliminary dates and locations for our outreach this Fall are:


  • Tuesday, Sept. 24. . . . . .4:30 to 6pm . . . . . . Main Line area
  • Thursday, Nov. 7. . . . . . .4:30 to 6 pm . . . . . Washington Square area
  • Thursday, Nov.7 . . . . . . .4:30 to 6 pm . . . . . Fitler Square area
  • Friday, Nov. 15 . . . . . . . . .4:30 to 6 pm . . . . . Center City area
  • Friday, Dec. 6 . . . . . . . . 4:30 to 6 pm . . . . . .The Philadelphian

If you are a new Giving Circle member and would like to attend one of our coffees, or if you know someone you think would like to be part of our mission, please contact Mary Klein.   And let Mary know if you would like to host as get-together, as well.


GOOD NEWS ABOUT MORE FUNDING FOR LIBRARIES IN PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS . . .


In Philly, school librarians are an endangered species. But the district could soon help lead a renaissance.

The number of Philadelphia School District certified librarians has dwindled to two over the past several decades, but supporters hope - and now have funding to become a leader in a renaissance. To read the article, click here.

Article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2024

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