WORDS & PICTURES: Gabrielle Versmessen
The needs of local women, children, and families are being radically changed for the better, thanks to The Lake Club Women’s Giving Circle. Based out of Lakewood Ranch, the Circle is comprised of philanthropic women who are residents of The Lake Club community.
Barbara Najmy founded The Lake Club (TLC) Women’s Giving Circle in 2014 after having the vision to create a women-only donor-advised philanthropic fund within her home’s community. Thirty women gathered and bonded over friendship and the shared interest of wanting to do more for those in need. Now with 127 members, Barbara credits the significant growth that’s happened in the last four years to the excellent leadership team they have in place.
TLC Women’s Giving Circle’s mission is to support organizations that address the physical, emotional, and educational needs of women, children, and families across Manatee and Sarasota counties. Some of the local organizations that the Women’s Giving Circle has given grants to are Mothers Helping Mothers, The Twig, Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC), Take Stock in Children Manatee, Still Point Mission, and more. They ensure that all donations remain in the local area.
But what exactly is a “giving circle”? It’s a group of people with shared values who come together to make a difference. The members pool their time and money and decide how it should be allocated. This allows the members to give with intentionality and thought to organizations that mean the most to them and have the most significant impact.
Barbara states: “We take the interest of women and direct and execute their passions to make a difference.”
Today, TLC Women’s Giving Circle is a Founder’s 50 member of the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund in conjunction with the Manatee Community Foundation. They are building an Endowment Fund in perpetuity to ensure a continued ability to support the community and leave a lasting legacy. The fund currently has over $100,000 and is growing.
These women don’t just support the Circle monetarily but also with hands-on involvement with the organizations through personal outreach. For example, Julie Swan, Social and Fundraising Chair, volunteers a couple of days a month at The Twig, a store in which foster children can come and shop for clothing for free once each month they are in the care of a supervising agency. Each child can pick seven items and a pair of shoes. For Christmas, the children were also able to pick out a toy.
Julie says: “It’s their day and time, so they can pick out whatever they want. During Christmas, they had the toys on display. To see the kids that walked in and watch their faces light up when they saw this pile of toys was just awesome.”
Over the past summer, TLC Women’s Giving Circle held a Sneaker Drive at The Twig. They were able to collect 320 pairs of sneakers, but it was one pair of shoes in particular that truly made all the difference. The Twig reached out to the women to tell them about how a child had come in to shop with large feet and badly needed a pair of sneakers, but they didn’t have any in his size. Just as he was getting ready to leave, the Amazon truck came with the delivery of the shoes the Circle was able to contribute. In that shipment was the perfect pair of black, size 13 sneakers.
“This kid left thinking, ‘My day is complete.’ It’s that perhaps small but hopefully meaningful interactions and impact that we have,” Julie explains.
Lauren Hirsch, Treasurer, says: “We have a responsibility to pay it forward. It’s not just about giving our money but about giving our time as well. Those who are very involved and passionate with the group feel it’s a perfect way to do both.”
TLC Women’s Giving Circle aims to do two major fundraising events per year and an additional one or two smaller ones. They held their Third Annual Lake Club Turkey Trot this year on Thanksgiving Day. The Trot was done in connection with three race directors in their community: David Ahrens and Jeff and Elizabeth Waddle. With over 200 registrants, nearly 170 crossed the finish line, and $17,500 was raised for The Food Bank of Manatee. The Steven and Natalee Herrig Foundation matched this dollar amount to bring the total to $35,000, translating to 50,000 meals provided for local families.
They ended the year granting $41,330 with matches equaling $40,030. Their total impact was $81,360, reaching 19 organizations. This money comes from personal collection efforts, individual donors, and partners. Head of the Grant Committee, Nancy Lepain, has been responsible for seeing through her scope to ensure that nearly every dollar that comes in is matched.
Embracing Our Differences (EOD) was another organization touched by the Women’s Giving Circle. Based in Sarasota, the organization “uses the power of art and education to expand consciousness and open the heart to celebrate the diversity of the human family” through an annual large-scale art exhibition and a series of educational initiatives, programs, and resources designed for teachers and students.
Diane Cohen, a TLC Women’s Giving Circle member, is directly involved with EOD and was instrumental in organizing the book drive and the upcoming EOD art exhibit tour and luncheon. In August, the women got together to label nearly 3,000 books for EOD that were delivered to elementary school students. The two books were titled “Bucket Filling From A to Z” and “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” On November 15th, National Reading Day, the books were read to over 400 classrooms throughout Manatee and Sarasota counties.
By helping these locally based organizations, the women of the Giving Circle truly feel that the breadth and depth of what they can do can maximize their impact. Deborah Callahan-Stratton, Chair of the Outreach Committee, says that their strength as a group comes from being able to support organizations that are helping a specific sector very well.
“Fundraising is obviously going to support the outreach programs, but there’s a difference between a handout and a helping hand. We’re so blessed that not only can we help one person or family at a time, but we can also help one organization at a time. Whether that’s The Twig, Hope for Children, where they’re giving families a safe place to stay and feeding them, the food banks, or Embracing Our Differences,” Deborah says.
Julie talks about why helping whole organizations is essential to the Giving Circle: “We’re not going to pretend to do it better than they do it. Their missions are their focus and passion, and we want to support them in doing that. We tend to support agencies that aren’t huge because our grants aren’t huge, but they make a difference to the groups we give to.”
Jennifer Alokeh is the Board Vice Chair and was brought on earlier last year, and since then, their infrastructure “just fell into play,” Barbara describes it.
“She’s our succession, our next generation.”
Barbara and Jennifer’s responsibilities as Chair and Vice Chair for The Lake Club Women’s Giving Circle are extensive. They are the leaders of the board and steer committee chairs, as well as are responsible for the composition development of the organization through strategic planning. They provide information to the board and conduct board meetings that involve and facilitate all chairs.
As the Chair, Barbara mentors Jennifer in her Vice Chair position. They conduct periodic meetings with steering committee chairs to advise and ensure that chairs feel empowered and have the tools to execute their tasks seamlessly. They attend philanthropy-focused and business luncheons and meet with Manatee Community Foundation for ongoing mentorship. Their strong direction and leadership are integral keys to TLC Women’s Giving Circle’s success.
Barbara says: “Every single one of these women is a strong leader and well respected in our community. We are linked to one another and have only made each other stronger throughout the growth of the organization. We are not paid and do this out of the goodness of our hearts, and the number of hours we have spent putting this organization together is immeasurable.”
