Honoring achievement, encouraging philanthropy and learning from fearless leadership

I am so excited about all of the events honoring women’s achievement and philanthropy this November in the Triangle, many of which the NCCF is directly involved in and all of which we support. Just a brief run down of what I know about; I’m sure there are many others:

Nov. 3 is the Triangle YWCA’s Academy of Women, a wonderful annual event to honor “fearless” leadership and achievement. I love how they used that adjective, don’t you?

Nov. 8: The Wake County Women’s Giving Network holds our annual grantee luncheon, where we’ll award $130,000 to member-selected nonprofits that serve women and/or children. This is one of our signature programs at the NCCF and among eight women’s giving circles we sponsor throughout the state. I’m proud to be a member of this giving circle. After this year, only our fourth, we’ll have awarded an amazing $424,000 in grants to Wake County agencies. (Shameless plug: luncheon tickets, $50, are still available! Email jlawson@nccommunityfoundation.org to register.) UPDATE: Our planned keynote, Helen LaKelly Hunt, has just cancelled due to a health issue. We will keep you updated on our new speaker. The real stars of this show are our GRANTEES, however.

Later that same day, another women’s giving circle, The Art of Giving (or TAG), which NCCF is proud to co-sponsor with the Triangle Community Foundation, meets in the evening for drinks and networking before joining another group for a Dutch-treat dinner to discuss statewide women’s giving issues. TAG is a new group created for those women interested in a regional approach to giving. We believe this may be the only (or at least among the first) women’s giving circle co-created and co-sponsored by two community foundations. Collaboration is a wonderful thing!

The discussion of the growth and direction of women’s giving throughout North Carolina over dinner on Nov. 8 is being sponsored by the mother of women’s giving in our area: Beth Briggs. Her group is called the Network of Women’s Givers, boasts membership from giving circles throughout North Carolina, and has the pulse on what is going on across the state. (She’d be glad to have you join the conversation; just let her know at bbriggs@aol.com.)

Beth’s scheduling is no accident, but designed to take advantage of all of the women who will be descending on Raleigh for the North Carolina Governor’s Conference for Women, an annual event that’s been held in Charlotte for years and makes its debut in Raleigh on Nov. 9! This day-long conference boasts some heavy-weights in thought-leadership, management, philanthropy and the list goes on. More than 1,500 women from across NC will be in attendance; seats are still available.

Elsewhere in our footprint: The Women Givers of Northeast North Carolina sponsors the Power of the Purse Nov. 18 in Camden County, and the Currituck-Dare Women’s Fund meets Nov. 11 at Keefer’s Grille in Powell’s Point to sponsor a discussion on women’s health and access issues. (Contact pbirk@nccommunityfoundation.org for more information on both of these NCCF-sponsored programs.)

You get the idea. I suspect we can fill-in-the-blank-community and do a similar run-down across the state.

What strikes us is both the sheer number of these events for and about women this year, and also the expansive themes and meaningful reasons for holding them. We are talking about big issues. We are meeting thought leaders with statewide, national and even global influence in some instances. We have finally moved on from those patronizing women’s program agendas about juggling and guilt and dealing with stress.

After all, we’re fearless in our approach to leading and accomplishment – and giving back!