As a personal stylist for women, I am fortunate to be surrounded by an always evolving collection of inspiring, complex and fascinating women. Yes! My clients are a really incredible, diverse array of women with different style goals and lifestyles. And that’s only the beginning of the female energy I have around me.

In the past two years, the Washington Women’s Foundation has become an increasingly important part of my life. As you may know, my past life was in philanthropy and since day one, Poplin has been giving back to the community beyond our work with individual clients. As someone who worked in nonprofits both as an employee and volunteer as well as public service and more, the foundation’s approach to philanthropy is fresh, thoughtful and gives me so much hope for the future of philanthropy.

Why?

Here are the Top 5 Reasons I Adore the Washington Women’s Foundation

The Washington Women’s Foundation is a membership organization with a collective giving model. Each member donates between $900 and $5,000 annually and then members work together to grant the funds to nonprofit organizations in Washington State. The Philanthropy First approach conserves valuable resources for nonprofits and empowers the organization to give meaningful grants to create change throughout the state. You can learn more here. If you’ve spent any time with me in the last couple of years, I’ve probably told you all about it. As we head into my Member 2 Member Event, it seems appropriate that I pare it down to my top 5 reasons I’ve chosen this as my primary way of giving back. Off we go!

1. It’s bold.

   I am all about intention and action. Let’s identify where we want to go and go there. Be bold. Set a trend. Be authentic to who you are. You get me. And so does the foundation. One of the first things I learned about WaWF was the Rest and Repair Awards. Five black women who “have made our state a better place to live, often without much acknowledgment or support,” received grants of $100,000 each. That’s right. The money didn’t go to the nonprofit organizations they run. The money went to each woman. I told you the foundation is bold. Reading about these women and the approach will change everything.

   
   

2. It listens to the nonprofit community.

   The WaWF understands that funders can inadvertently take valuable resources from the folks that nonprofits are working to serve. How many times do prospective donors ask for tours, information and other resources that then force the nonprofit to shift from providing services to clients to instead devoting valuable time and energy to the organizations who are potentially funding the organization? The foundation’s commitment to Trust Based Philanthropy puts the onus on the foundation’s members to research rather than the nonprofit to coalesce and share information.

   
   

3. It recognizes its shortcomings and works to change.

   Wouldn’t we all like to be better at this? Admitting when you are wrong, or were just less than right, is hard. For an organization to do this is nearly impossible. It’s true. I’ve only been a member for two years and yet even in that time I see the extraordinary progress in this area. You can see so many examples of this quality with the nimble funding during COVID, the work by members to be more inclusive and most importantly, the consistent efforts to learn more about, well everything. From increasing understanding around racism, sexism and privilege to always working to streamline the grantee process for nonprofits and foundation members, the progress is undeniable.

   
   

4. It’s a give-back-guilt-free community.

   When is the last time you were involved with a community that invited you to participate at the level that works for you right now? Seriously. Want to donate and take a pass on everything else? Sure! Prefer to dive deep into multiple committees and attend events? Okay! Looking for something in between? We’ve got you. I don’t know a woman who is in search of one more thing to feel guilty about. This “commit to what you can and skip what isn’t a fit right now” approach is truly life-changing. Having the flexibility to choose what appeals to me actually gets me to more events and definitely improves the quality of the relationships I’ve developed with other members.

   That’s right. It’s a place to actually make friends! It’s a pool of women who care about the community enough to make space in their lives to give back. Every conversation is different. There’s no networking, no asks, no sales pitches. It’s just a collection of opportunities to learn, to give back, to meet new people and to feel better when I leave than when I arrived. Now that’s a win.

   
   

5. As a member, you continue to learn everyday.

   I don’t know about you, but I’m an obsessive podcast listener. If you, like me, love to learn, this is an incredible place to do it. I’m a big fan of Brene Brown, Throughline, Armchair Expert and so many other sources that expand my understanding of the world. Even better than a podcast, I’m learning directly from women of all ages that live in my state. Woah. What’s old is new again.

   Here’s how it happened. An old friend of mine invited me to join the foundation. She was running the Grantee Engagement Team and asked me to join. This entire role of this team (all member volunteers), is to reach out to the nonprofits who have received grants from the foundation. Then, just ask a simple question, “outside of monetary support, how else can we help?” Answers range from sharing of information to attending events, connecting nonprofits with other similar organizations and so on. I’ve been fortunate to work with Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and Idaho and have learned SO much about the unique challenges of offering reproductive health services on the boarder of a state that no longer offers abortion services.

   This is just one of the ways to get involved that is rethinking the role of philanthropy in our community. Join a committee, attend events, read the newsletter, it’s all fascinating and regardless of your background, will undoubtedly give you new insight.

So there you have it. Welcome to my Lovefest with the WaWF. Intrigued?

Come see me at a live Q&A at the

WaWF Foundation

2100 24th Ave S Suite 330, Seattle, WA 98144

Monday, August 5th, 2024

3:30PM-5PM

It’s free and it’s fascinating.

Come on In!

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