At the beginning of 2022, the Park City Community Foundation’s Women’s Giving Fund said it wanted to increase its membership to 2,022 members. This would mean bringing in 338 new members to the group.
That goal was achieved.
Dalia Gonzalez is chair of the Women’s Giving Fund Grant Committee. She said increased membership will allow the organization to grant $100,000 to a non-profit, which is more than double what it granted last year.
"All nonprofits are eligible, those of the Park City area in Summit County," Gonzalez said. "And it is open to nonprofits that have not applied previously or were awarded previously. But those that have been out for three years can now apply for the grant this year.”
The way the fund works is each woman donates at least $1,000 to become a member for life. Donations grow in the fund that is endowed by Park City Community Foundation. Grants are made to local nonprofits from the fund’s earnings in perpetuity.
Kristi Cumming sits on the board of the Park City Community Foundation. She said there is a new goal for 2023.
“We're going to add 100 new women, that's our goal for this year," Cumming said. "But we're adding a twist. So we've heard from our membership, that we want more money to go into our community. And so what we're going to do is that for those $1,000 gifts, half of that will go into the endowment and the other half will go into current use, into that gift, into that grant for the coming year.”
Cumming said almost half of the new members were sponsored or gifted the membership by other members.
“Almost half of those are people who work in our service industry who might not be able to, or schoolteachers or whoever might not be able to access that membership,” she said. “And I think what we're so proud about is that those members, you know, it is important to have women plus members who are experiencing the needs, whatever needs they are in the community, they have better access, more knowledge about the nonprofits and how they're serving our community.”
Since 2014 the fund has grown to over $2.2 million and eight local grants have been made totaling $283,000. According to Cumming, support has gone to medical services for women and children, early childhood education programs, transitional housing for women recovering from domestic violence, youth mentorship programs, caregivers to older adults and more.
