{"id":358478,"date":"2025-10-02T07:55:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenvillejournal.com\/?p=358478"},"modified":"2025-10-06T16:58:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T20:58:46","slug":"milestone-greenville-women-giving-celebrates-20th-year-of-philanthropy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenvillejournal.com\/community\/milestone-greenville-women-giving-celebrates-20th-year-of-philanthropy\/","title":{"rendered":"Milestone: Greenville Women Giving celebrates 20th year of philanthropy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greenville Women Giving<\/strong> embodies the idea that women can create a greater impact together than separately.<\/p>\n

The local philanthropic organization<\/a> was established in 2006 to empower women to help improve the lives of those living in Greenville County. Greenville Women Giving accomplishes this goal through collective grant-making.<\/p>\n

Greenville Women Giving recently kicked off its 20th year of providing philanthropic support to the local nonprofit community. Since its inception, the women\u2019s collective-giving organization has distributed more than $9 million to 92 organizations in Greenville County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the hundreds of women who have been our members, we have made a difference in this place we call home,\u201d said Sue Priester, co-founder of Greenville Women Giving.<\/p>\n

The idea<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The inspiration for Greenville Women Giving<\/a> came from Harriet Goldsmith\u2019s \u201cgood idea\u201d file. The folder contained an article about the Washington Women\u2019s Foundation, a women\u2019s philanthropic organization based in Seattle, Washington.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith became interested in creating a similar women\u2019s collective-giving organization in Greenville County. She took her idea to Bob Morris<\/a>, president of the Community Foundation of Greenville, who connected her to Priester and Frances Ellison.<\/p>\n

The three women worked together to establish Greenville Women Giving as a special initiative of the Community Foundation of Greenville<\/a>. Priester said the organizing principle was to create a pool of funding that could be used to do more than what women philanthropists could do alone: provide high-impact grants to local nonprofits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Greenville Women Giving\u2019s three founders were challenged to recruit 50 members during the first year. If they achieved this goal, the Community Foundation of Greenville agreed to donate $50,000 from the Jean Harris Knight Fund. As self-proclaimed overachievers, the women successfully recruited 135 members.<\/p>\n

Members of Greenville Women Giving contribute $1,300 annually to the organization. A thousand dollars from each member contributes to the organization\u2019s grant pool. With the Jean Harris Knight Fund donation, Greenville Women Giving collected $185,000 for grant funding in its first year.<\/p>\n

Two decades later, Greenville Women Giving has grown into one of the largest women\u2019s collective-giving organizations in the country with more than 500 members. Priester said the organization enables members to develop their social capital by connecting with other women who share their motivation to give back to their community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey find out what the needs are in our community and then they very often go out and do things on their own, motivated by what they have learned and seen with Greenville Women Giving,\u201d Priester said. \u201cThey join boards. They become volunteers. They make their own grants. So the ripple effects of this are pretty outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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