President’s Farewell Message

As I transition out of my role as Board President, I am aware of a variety of emotions, but mostly it is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for having had the opportunity to lead such an amazing organization with so many smart, caring, and giving women who have made a significant difference through their collective investment in our community’s small, but mighty nonprofits. I am eternally grateful for the tireless work these nonprofits are doing in our community to help those in most need and influencing systemic change to make their communities better and safer places to live, especially during the challenges they have had to endure over the last 18 months.

At our annual Spirit Awards in May, we invested over $217,000 in 10 wonderful nonprofits, making this the third-highest grant award year since our founding in 2006. SOS women’s fund currently has invested more than $2.9 million dollars in over 94 small nonprofits in the Greater St. Louis community.

The Spirit of St. Louis new 2021-2022 board of directors begins their work on July 1, 2021. Part of that work will be implementing the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan and with it will come exciting opportunities for the entire organization.

Thank you, Katy Dowd, our incoming Board President, and our new board members for your commitment to lead over the next two years.

I personally want to thank my SOS sisters and our community’s small, but mighty nonprofits for their passion and endless love for our community and especially their endurance over the past two years. It’s been an incredible learning experience leading this amazing organization (especially over the last 18 months) and to witness first-hand, the impact these small nonprofits are making in our community.

Warmest regards, 

Amy Garrison

Save the Date
Saturday, July 10 at 9 am

Ferguson Farmers Market

Learn more about the market: https://fergusonfarmersmarket.com/

(Please be prepared to respect and adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines of the venue.)

Noteworthy

Congratulations to SOS members

 Gwen Wesley & Amy Inman.

Respectively they will serve as Chair and member of the Philanos’ FY22 Governance Committee.

The Philanos Governance Committee is chartered to make recommendations to the board regarding its due diligence function related to the fiduciary responsibilities, strategic planning, succession planning, development and operation of the board, its committees and task forces, and performance of both individual board members and the board as a whole.

Learn more about Philanos here https://philanos.org.

Reminders & Housekeeping

Coming Soon!

YOU make a difference in the nonprofits that our members invest in.

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Be on the lookout for details to sign up for 2021-2022 LOI and Site Visit Teams!

Ways to Donate – Part 1

As an SOS member and participant, you’re already giving your time, talent, and treasure to the community.

But maybe you would like to consider these other ways to donate:

IRA – you can have multiple beneficiaries, including loved ones and favorite charities. If you have multiple IRAs – say regular, Roth IRA, Simple IRA, you could consider dividing beneficiaries between them.

401K/403B retirement plans – you can designate multiple beneficiaries.

Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution Plans – you can have multiple beneficiaries.

Life Insurance – you can have more than one beneficiary here as well. This applies to all types of life insurance.

ESOP (Employee Stock Options) or Deferred Compensation – you can usually have charity beneficiaries. It may take a few steps, but is possible with many employers.

Systematic Donations – monthly donations to nonprofits provide more stability and sustainability for their budgets. Not always promoted but frequently available if you ask.

Bequests – in your will, you can designate charities in different ways:

• By dollar amount
• By percent of your estate (recommended)
• You can gift the balance or residue of your estate.

New Member Site

We will launch our new Members-Only website on July 1st 

Our public website: https://spiritstlwomensfund.org/ will continue to support our members, contacts, grantees, and larger community.

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The Members-Only website includes: 

• “Join Us” on-line application for new members
• “Directory” searchable file of members
• “Grant Resources” includes instructions, templates and other documents needed to support LOIs and Site Visits
• “My Profile” where you can update your personal information, add a photo and your interests in serving on LOI and Site Visit teams.

The new Member’s only website affords greater flexibility to provide information to our members, reduces costs, and makes it easier for new members to join SOS.

On July 1st look for an email with instructions for how to access new and improved site. 

Notes from the Editor

I don’t usually add my two cents but on this one I couldn’t resist. For the last 16 months I have put out newsletters with not one picture of SOS members meeting and socializing as a group. This month that ends! I am so thrilled to be able to publish this newsletter and end it with two images.

Both groups of SOS members who gathered together with all of their beautiful noses and mouths in full view.

The first image is a group of SOS members who met in Tower Grove Park on Saturday June 5th to do some Yoga and to socialize at the farmers market.

The second, SOS members met at Laumeier Sculpture Park on Wednesday June 16th to socialize and support the work of our multiyear grantee Story Stitchers.

Looking forward to having lots more meet ups and lots more pictures!

-Gretta Forrester-Gaffney