Dear friends,
From the Clinton Global Initaitive (CGI) conference to the C-Suite conference, a recurring theme was one of empathy. As the leader of this philanthropic network, this strikes near and dear to my heart. The global conversation begun by the adoption of the Sustainable Develoment Goals at the end of 2015, has aligned the corporate world with a desire to do good, and this has propelled our work forward. I was pleased to participate in so many conversations about this global agenda for peace and prosperity, specifically Goal #5: achieve gender equality for every woman and girl in the world by 2030. This has long been the focus of Women's Funding Network, which, along with each of our members, advances this goal every day. To do this we collected more and better data. We took that data and created two digital tools meant to showcase the great spread and reach of this network. Our storytelling platform married the best in technogloy with design to provide greater visibiity of the impact of our members, while our interative funding map depicts the location and types of grants made by our members. We produced two Women's Economic Security Summits which brought together experts from within our network and other sector leaders. Participants discussed programs that have high social impact for women and girls and made future plans for collaboration. It doesn't get much better than gathering with a group of like-minded, inspiring women leaders, and besides our own summits, we were thrilled to secure invitations for each of our members to the United State of Women (USOW) Summit, where we heard from President Obama and the First Lady. You will find other highlights of the year in the following pages. We are privileged to do this work, and thank you for walking alongside us. Women’s Funding Network welcomed 4 new board members in 2016. Elizabeth Barajas Roman, Chief Executive Officer, Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts; Francoise Girard, President, International Women’s Health Coalition; Suzanne Peters, President, Fund for Women and Girls - Fairfield County Community Foundation; and Mary Stutts, Vice President of Communications Comcast NBC Universal. We wish to sincerely thank outgoing board members Jane Sloane, Vice President of Programs, Global Fund for Women; Sharmila Thakkar, Executive Director, Siragusa Foundation; and Riki Wilkins, Executive Director, True Child for their contributions to our continued success. Thank you for bringing your passion, intellect, insight, experience and resources to the table.