Utah Women’s Giving Circle members voted to award $20,000 in our sixth round of investments in Utah women and girls!

Following the Women’s March at the State Capitol, pitches from nonprofit projects targeted gender bias, the 2016 annual focus of the Giving Circle, and members voted to award $20,000 across a record seven nonprofit organizations:

$6,000 grant to Girls on the Run Utah, a transformational life skills program tackling gender stereotypes for 8 to 13-year-old girls, to fund 25-50 participation scholarships for low-income girls across the state.

• $5,000 grant to KRCL Radio to fund a 12-part on-air series called Blindspot on RadioACTive, sharing stories that bring gender bias and efforts to change these social constructs into focus.
• $3,000 grant to the Utah Women’s Coalition, the first grant ever awarded to this new nonprofit founded in 2015 that has already put seven bills in front of the state legislature, successfully passing four, resulting in Utah rising from an ‘F’ to a ‘C-’ grade in a progress report prepared by the National Partnership for Women and Families.
• $2,500 grant to Spy Hop to support their multi-year Move the Dial initiative, a student-driven gender equity program facilitating youth-produced media to foster dialogue regarding gender inequality and identity.
• $2,000 grant to Utah Valley University’s Women & Leadership Project to fund Utah Women Stats Snapshots, summarizing essential data around gender bias in our state to support awareness and action.
• $1,000 grant to Salty Cricket Composers Collective to provide funding support for El Sistema@Salty Cricket, a free intensive afterschool music program hosted at Jackson Elementary empowering young women through music.
• $500 grant to Women of Water, a local industry association for women, to fund a 3-part implicit bias and salary negotiation lecture series open to women from any field.

“The Giving Circle is an invitation to be a changemaker; to take action to improve your community, regardless of politics. Our model of collective giving makes philanthropy accessible and tangible,” noted Safia Keller, Chair of the Utah Women’s Giving Circle.

Stephanie Pitcher, founder of the Utah Women’s Coalition, started her advocacy efforts after personally experiencing the lack of protections for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. “This is the first grant that our organization has received, and I’m honored that it came from this grassroots women’s group. It’s a natural partnership.”

Members of the Utah Women’s Giving Circle have collectively invested more than $113,000 in high impact nonprofit projects empowering Utah women and girls since its inception in January 2011.

Membership is inclusive for women of all ages and incomes through a $250 annual donation or a $50 annual donation for girls under 18. Women can become Lifetime Members through a one-time gift of $1,000 to the endowment fund. Public and corporate donations are welcome. For more information, visit www.utahwomensgivingcircle.com or email wgc @ utahcf.org.