Can you believe I have been CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California for nine months already? I guess what they say is true: time flies when you’re having fun!
Over the last nine months I’ve traveled all over the state meeting with many of you—community and foundation leaders, donors, grant partners, staunch supporters and allies. Everywhere I went I asked: How can we improve the lives of women and families in California? I listened and gathered your feedback and ideas.
At the same time, the Foundation went through an intensive period of reflection and evaluation. We asked ourselves important and honest questions such as: What are our true strengths? How do we best support our grant partners at this time? How do we best make a difference in the lives of women and their families?
As a result, we refined our program strategy so that we can continue achieving the greatest possible results as a community foundation. Our core purpose remains unchanged, while two core approaches now guide our work: policy and philanthropy.
Our core purpose remains to fiercely defend women’s right to economic wellbeing, and we’ll achieve it by training and investing in women to advocate for policy change and to fuel social change through philanthropy.
The why of our work has always been increasing women’s equity and economic security but the how has always been women’s leadership. Our new tagline, Leadership in Action, exactly captures our spirit and work and we hope you agree.
And if all that is not enough, we moved! On March 1, the first day of Women’s History Month, we moved to Oakland after almost 20 years of working out of San Francisco. We love our new office and we’ve designed it for collaboration and innovation.
We want you to visit, so please save the date on your calendars for the open house we’re planning on September 17. Also, feel free to send us questions, comments, feedback and love notes.
Here’s to growing and improving—without fail and without fear!