GWC’s first virtual “Kick Off the Vote!” event was a tremendous success. For the 2020 grant cycle, we are delighted to be able to award upwards of $50,000 this year to nonprofit organizations serving Greenwood County. The completion of our second grant cycle will bring our total grant awards to approximately $100,000. With your continued support, GWC is on track to grant half a million dollars or more into Greenwood County during our first ten years as an organization!

We welcomed around 35 Members to the Zoom meeting, taking some time to chat as we settled in. Margaret Conrad, Jan Puzar, and Mary Woodiwiss (Grants Review & Awards Committee members) developed our “Kick Off the Vote!” program, presenting GWC Grants information with detailed PowerPoint slides and allowing time for questions.

Margaret reviewed the highlights of our 2019 granting cycle: Eight local nonprofits received a total of $47,625 in last year’s cycle with our top ranked organizations receiving their full request. There was a natural break in the data between organizations receiving a higher total of votes and those receiving fewer votes. This break was the deciding factor between those organizations receiving funding and those that did not, and in determining amounts of each grant award.

During the “Sample 2020 Ballot” portion of the meeting, Jan reminded us not to forward the email containing our personal ballot link, to fill out our print worksheets prior to voting for ease in entering our votes electronically, to vote on a desktop or laptop as opposed to a phone, and, of course, to vote prior to Wednesday, October 21^stat 11:59pm. Points will be assigned to organizations based on your ranked votes: Your first ranked nonprofit will receive ten points, the second nine points, down to the tenth selection which will receive one point.

Before and after the ballot discussion, Mary led us through some “FAQs About Nonprofit Funding” to help inform our voting decisions and described “What Happens After You Vote”.

After a quick 30 minutes, with everyone’s questions answered, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00, just as our email ballots arrived in our inboxes. What incredible timing! Thanks again to Mary, Jan, and Margaret for an informative and enjoyable “Kick Off the Vote!” meeting.

If you missed the meeting, you can view it here.

Greenwood Women Care’s first Quarterly Meeting via Zoom was held on Tuesday, August 18^th. We were welcomed and introduced to both the technology and agenda items of our meeting by Laura Bachinski, GWC Co-Chair.

While not all 129 members could be in attendance, those members and guests that were greatly enjoyed the virtual tour afforded us by Chris Thomas, Director of the Benjamin E. Mays Historical Site. Mamie Nicholson welcomed us to the site, and Rhonda Merritt introduced and accompanied Mr. Thomas on the tour. We were treated to forays into Dr. Mays’s boyhood home, a school like the one-room school he attended, and the museum that honors him. It was inspiring to learn that a man of humble beginnings could aspire to and attain such heights of acclaim and influence. Dr. Mays was the sixth president of Morehead University from 1940-67 and was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He is credited with building the foundation of the American civil rights movement and gave the benediction after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 and the eulogy at Dr. King’s funeral in 1968.

At the conclusion of the video, Louise Robinson, Chair of the Programs and Education Committee, thanked Mr. Thomas for his tour and hospitality and GWC members who assisted with the video. Mary Woodiwiss announced GWC’s contribution of the children’s book I Have a Dream to the Greenwood County Public Library in Chris Thomas’s honor. Members are invited to help provide book contributions to honor our speakers and can email gwc@greenwoodcf.org for more information.

Laura Stowe, Co-Chair of the Communications Committee, reminded us about our committee structure of six standing committees and recognized Chairs, including three new Chairs. Approximately 50% of our members are currently engaged in our committees. Laura noted that committee descriptions and members can be found on our webpage and encouraged interested members to contact the Chair of any committee to join or learn more.

Trentsie Williams, Co-Chair of the Grants Review and Awards Committee, presented a PowerPoint on the 2020 granting cycle. On October 19^th, GWC with host a “Kick Off the Vote” virtual social at 5:30 – 6:30 where granting and voting procedures will be highlighted. Online voting will be open October 19^th – October 21^st. GWC is expected to grant upwards of $50,000, as directed by Members’s votes.

Mary Woodiwiss, GWC Co-Chair, gave our closing message, highlighting the many ways that GWC has remained active in these past challenging months.

Please remember to watch your inboxes and mailboxes for more news to come!

The link to the full meeting video, which includes the Benjamin E. Mays virtual tour and important GWC updates, is here. (video lasts ~ 40 minutes)

The link to the Benjamin E. Mays virtual tour is here. (video lasts ~ 15 minutes)

GWC Grants Review & Awards Committee designed and hosted a grant writing workshop, “Grant Writing 101”, on July 23. Thirty community members serving a wide range of local nonprofits attended the virtual meeting which was offered at no charge. Presentations included “Writing Your Grant Proposal” by Kathy Emily, “Grant Assessment” by Donna Foster, and discussion of a pre-workshop writing assignment by Jan Puzar and Mary Woodiwiss.

The workshop concluded with a Funders Forum of local grantmakers: Selynto Anderson, Self Regional Healthcare; Emily Findley, United Way of Greenwood & Abbeville Counties; Mamie Nicholson, Self Family Foundation; Trentsie Williams, on behalf of the GWC Grants Committee; and Mary Woodiwiss, Greenwood County Community Foundation.

We are pleased to have offered this service to our community!

A video of our Grant Writing 101 workshop, via Zoom, may be found here. PLEASE NOTE: Due to recording errors, this video begins within the first informational session of the 2.5-hour long workshop.

In this time of special COVID-19 precautions, Greenwood Women Care (GWC) recognizes that many of our local nonprofits have been impacted by changes in contact with the public, fundraising, and other usual activity. Meanwhile, GWC has, for the time being, suspended our gatherings which allow us to regularly feature local nonprofits in our programming and by holding Quarterly Meetings and Socials in nonprofit venues.

GWC has developed another means of drawing attention to local nonprofits! We invited local nonprofits to let us shoot a very informal video to present their mission and programs. Twenty-three organizations have chosen to participate and we are thankful for their time and attention in such a challenging season as this. (We managed this with proper social distancing, simple filming on a phone, and no cost to GWC ~ please be advised, and patient with the informal results! )

Videos appeared in 5 “sessions” of 4-5 videos each, with a new session added each Thursday, June 11-July 9.

In each line below, there is a hyperlink to the website, Facebook page, or other informational site (click on each organization’s name) and to that organization’s video clip (click on here). We hope this series of videos will not only serve the efforts of these nonprofits but will also help us to stay connected as Members in this time apart and continue in our mission to inform our Members and guests of issues and opportunities in our community.

Session 1 (posted on June 11)

Learn about BLOOM here.

Learn about Greenwood Pathway House here.

Learn about Piedmont Agency on Aging here.

Learn about Cornerstone here.

Learn about The Arts Center of Greenwood here.

Session 2 (posted on June 18)

Learn about The Museum and Railroad Historical Center here.

Learn about Burton Center here.

Learn about Emerald City Rotary Club (sponsors of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library) here.

Learn about Beyond Abuse here.

Session 3 (posted on June 25)

Learn about Greater Greenwood United Ministry here.

Learn about Boys & Girls Club of the Lakelands here.

Learn about Project Hope Foundation here.

Learn about Connie Maxwell Children’s Home here.

Session 4 (posted on July 2)

Learn about Hospice & Palliative Care of the Piedmont here.

Learn about Greenwood Area Habitat for Humanity here.

Learn about United Way of Greenwood and Abbeville Counties here.

Learn about A Place for Us here.

Learn about Greenwood Performing Arts here.

Session 5 (posted on July 9)

Learn about Community Initiatives here.

Learn about Greenwood Community Theatre here.

Learn about Healthy Learners here.

Learn about CrossRoads Pregnancy Center here.

Learn about Cokesbury College here.