FALL 2009

Greetings to friends of women in philanthropy

Please enjoy reading about the exciting endeavors of WIP during the first six months of 2009. We are working on our communication venues as we keep you updated. We are happy to launch this e-newsletter. In the future we will redesign our WIP website, ohio.edu/development/women, so please continue to check this link to learn about future events, meetings and gatherings and to contribute to WIP. You may be interested in a regional tea, a golf outing and/or a forthcoming leadership workshop.

We are eager to hear your comments, which you may send to us via schey@ohio.edu. With your help, we continue to move forward with our Women in Philanthropy mission of creating a powerful tradition of giving to Ohio University while training future generations to give back. As a bonus, we have fun in the process.

Take care and enjoy the rest of fall,

The Women in Philanthropy Executive Committee
Barbara Strom Thompson, chair
Charlotte Eufinger, vice chair
Sheila McHale, treasurer
Dorothy Schey, secretary

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Leveraging Leadership Giving Circle

With the collaborative effort and generosity of enthusiastic supporters, we are closing in on our $250,000 goal for the Division of Student Affairs. Only $24,232 is left to leverage as we are so close to the finish line of our first fundraising goal. We help our students in perpetuity as the contributions to the following endowments will continue to earn money for future generations of students.

• Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center Endowment/WIP: Provides for training, development and resources to grow strong Ohio University leaders.
• Leona Hughes LeaderShape Endowment: WIP supports a student for a week long, life-changing leadership training.
• Baker University Center Programming Endowment: We reached our $100,000 goal to help students initiate their ideas.
• Center for Community Service Endowment: Supports the student-run SCORE grant program for Student Service Organizations.

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1/29/09 College Bookstore makes Donation to WIP

Andrew Stout of College Bookstore, uptown Athens, presented a check for $712. to the Women in Philanthropy endowment to support the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center. The proceeds from sales of the “Shed the Red” T-shirts sold at the bookstore will help with resources, programming and training for our Ohio University students.

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2/5/09 WIP luncheon at Mrs. McDavis’s home

On a sunny day near Valentine’s Day, 32 women gathered for a delicious luncheon at the home of Ohio University First Lady Deborah McDavis. Mrs. McDavis is very supportive of our WIP work and was so gracious to host such a wonderful, classy event. We heard Professor Mark Halliday recite his entertaining poems, WIP Chair Barbara Strom Thompson shared about WIP’s progress in her enthusiastic way, and all while catching up with one another and making new friends.

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3/12/09 WIP Financial Literacy Seminar

Natalie Chieffe, our WIP Financial Literacy Chair, led a panel of experts who shared their top ten tips for financial success. The 4^th WIP Financial Literacy Seminar was held in Baker University Center’s Multipurpose Room where 35 students, faculty and community members gathered to listen to the panel’s advice as well as to learn about Ohio University Engineering Professor, Dr. Chang Liu’s, new financial responsibility virtual game. It was an interactive session for students to use provided laptops while navigating through real life situations. The participants picked a character in Second Life (similar to The Simms game) to make decisions about buying a home, car, saving their money, etc., and learned the positive or negative consequences of their actions.

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4/12/09 - 4/14/09 WIP Conference

By Tiffany Hill-Smith, WIP Programming Chair

On April 12-15 at the OHIO Baker University Center, WIP presented its second Ohio Women Making a Difference Conference. Participants were able to choose from many informative sessions throughout the morning, including Women in Academia, Job Transitions, Women in Business, Women's Health Issues, Creative Ways to Give Back, Transition from Warrior to Peacetime Civilian, How to Survive in A Traditionally Male Dominated Field, Planning for the Future, How to Balance it All and The Road to Becoming an Author, to name several.

Approximately 75 men and women attended the luncheon, which was highlighted by First Lady Deborah McDavis capturing the legacies of Leona Hughes, Jody Galbreath Phillips, Dolores Russ and Elizabeth Stocker. A discussion of philanthropic issues followed in the form of a talk show, complete with commercial breaks and door prizes!

Dinner garnered around 60 attendees who had the opportunity to participate in a Power of the Purse silent auction to benefit WIP. After dinner was an amazing lecture by Kennedy Lecture Series speaker Dr. Sandra Steingraber, biologist, author and cancer survivor. We concluded the conference with breakfast the following morning and a discussion about the importance of mentoring.

Many thanks to everyone whose contributions made this year's conference such a success!

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WIP Member LauncheS women's athletics Giving Circle

Businesswoman, philanthropist, and WIP Founder’s Circle member Stacia Taylor combined her desire to give back to Ohio University Athletics and gather women leaders to help Women Athletes through the WIP Jody Galbreath Phillips Giving Circle to Support Women’s Athletics. We are over half way to our $50,000 goal -- only $22,000 to go.

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