Photography by Dilip Vishwanat
Although it was more than two years ago, Susan Block remembers the phone call well. “I need someone who’s busy,” her friend Shelby Schagrin told her.
“Shelby said she had a fabulous idea,” recalls Mrs. Block, and she wanted to involve busy women because “they know how to get things done.”
It wasn’t long before Mrs. Schagrin and Mrs. Block were sitting at Starbucks and, stoked by caffeine, began brainstorming, strategizing and turning Shelby Schagrin’s idea into reality. With informal chats—a kaffeeklatsch here, a potluck there—the two enlisted more and more women interested in Mrs. Schagrin’s idea.
That initial idea blossomed into a group of 116 women, the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund, which last May gave $125,000 to nine selected local charities. Today, SOS numbers 124. The organization is modeled on similar groups in Seattle and San Diego. In fact, Mrs. Schagrin was inspired by her sister, who belongs to the San Diego organization: “She told me, ‘This is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.’”
The premise behind the women’s fund is deceptively simple—but powerful. “Together we can do more than we can do apart,” explains Mrs. Schagrin.
Each member promises to give $1,200 a year for five years. Ninety percent goes to the charities; 10 percent to overhead. For some women, that’s an easy commitment, and for others it’s a challenge. But that equality of giving is essential to the group’s success, Mrs. Shagrin says. “Each woman pays the same, which makes it totally democratic.”
The members can get as involved as they want, but they have only two obligations, says Mrs. Block, owner of the Designing Block: “Pay your money and vote” on who gets it.
Deciding who gets the money is just as important as giving it. “I’m giving $10 a month to nine organizations, and I can see how it’s making a difference,” Mrs. Block says. Those decisions bond the group together and keep their social investments from becoming distant and impersonal.
Last year, the fund’s first, about 300 groups submitted applications. A committee reviewed the proposals, visited applicants and put together the final ballot of candidates. Nine were selected.
One of them, Gateway to Hope, received $20,000 for outreach to women with breast cancer who can’t afford medical treatment. Cindy Frank, the executive director, says, “Five women came to our office. They were so intelligent, so well-prepared, asking great questions. We were really impressed with them.”
It turned out that the feeling was mutual. “They put their money in a place where it could really make a difference—and it did,” Ms. Frank says. With the grant money, Gateway to Hope has placed ads on Metro buses, run a booth at the Black Expo and been able to get into churches. So far this year, they have arranged medical treatment for 13 impoverished women with breast cancer.
According to the SOS members, Gateway to Hope’s impact is just proof positive of money extremely well invested.
The upshot
In its first year, the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund awarded $125,000 in grants. The beneficiaries were Angels’ Arms, to help pay down the mortgage on the group’s newest home in North St. Louis; Gateway to Hope; George Washington Carver House, for the Grandparents as Parents program; La Clinica, for the prenatal Healthy Baby Program; Lydia’s House, for the group’s Transitional Housing and Support Services; Mildred and Rena Martin Charitable Eye Foundation, to provide glasses and vision aids to 500 people; Redevelopment Opportunities for Women, for their Economic Action Program; Voices for Children, for the salary and benefits of a child welfare specialist attorney for the Aging Out initiative, focusing on foster children who are turning 18; and Women in Charge, for its GED/literacy program.
For more information, visit soswomensfund.org.
