June 2019 Newsletter
A FAREWELL NOTE FROM OUR OUTGOING PRESIDENT
The last few weeks have been exciting at The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund.
At our annual Spirit Awards, we invested over $224,000 in 13 wonderful nonprofits and met many women who are excited to join our collective giving circle.
In our 13 th year, we have now invested over $2.5 million into our community and inspired women to get more deeply involved in St. Louis.
The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund is also transitioning to our new 2019/20 board of directors. One of the many strengths of our collective fund is that we are passionate about leadership rotation.
Fresh perspectives by new board members create space for innovation and healthy growth. Thank you to Amy Garrison, our upcoming Board President, and all our new board members for their willingness to lead. We know you will bring great things to our organization.
The past two years, as President, I have had the opportunity to listen to area teens share their gun violence stories, cry with women who have lost children to suicide, see the destruction of addiction, fight to keep siblings together in foster care, learn coding programs with immigrant women, plant trees to replace the devastation of the Ash Borer and pack lunches for the homeless.
Through our micro-nonprofits and my “spirit sisters”, we have given voice to the voiceless. Thank you for the opportunity to learn about St. Louis and fall in love with her over and over again.
All the best,
Amy Inman
SOS Invests More Than $224K In The Community!
There are many words that could describe the women of the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund: Compassionate, Committed, Competent ,Collaborative .
But there is a phrase that has drawn all of us together: Collective Giving. We are like-minded women who come together to support shared causes.
We pool our resources and decide collectively where, when and how to award grants. Giving as a group, we are able to achieve a greater impact than we might do on our own.
The Spirit Awards is our way to celebrate collective giving. This event only happens once a year, but the lasting impact of this night inspires us throughout the year.
Since the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund was founded in 2006, its members have invested $2.5 million in the Greater St. Louis community.
In order to select our newest grant recipients, more than 120 SOS members reviewed 106 Letters of Inquiry and invited 39 organizations to submit full grant proposals.
Twenty-one organizations were chosen for the SOS Final Ballot. SOS members selected 13 organizations to be funded this year including 6 nonprofits new to us as well as 7 organizations that we have previously funded.
And . . . this year, SOS is investing more than $224,000 in the St. Louis community! It is definitely a time for celebration!
-Berta James, SOS Grant Chair
Announcing Our 2019-2020 Grantees












