Mission

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund (SOS) strengthens the St. Louis community through informed, focused grantmaking by educating and inspiring women to engage in significant giving.

Purpose

• Create a powerful organization of women devoted to improving the community.
• Be a force for significant social change through collective grantmaking.
• Provide financial support to community organizations dedicated to improving life in the Greater St. Louis area.
• Educate and inspire current and potential women donors.

Founded

Shelby Schagrin brought the idea of women’s collective giving to St. Louis in 2006. The idea was simple; to bring together women’s equal contributions so that together we can make a bigger contribution to our community than individually.  Each member would make an equal contribution and using a one-woman, one-vote process, provide high-impact funding to nonprofits that were improving life in the St. Louis metro region.  Shelby enlisted Susan Block and together they created the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund. One-by-one, woman-by-woman, the spirit grew.

What We Do

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund is the premier women’s collective giving grant-making organization in the metropolitan area, with over 200 active members. Since 2007, SOS has invested more than $3.1 million in the St. Louis region, benefiting 95 agencies. All members give the same dues, and these dues are how our grants are funded. After a thorough vetting process, all members vote equally on how our grants are distributed. Grants are given to smaller nonprofits where a $5000 to $25,000 grant will make a difference.

Nonprofit Status

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund is a donor fund of the St. Louis Community Foundation, which holds our 501 (c) (3) status.

Governed By

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund, as a donor fund of the community foundation, has an approximately 25 member board. The SOS board is governed by an operating agreement.

Staff & Volunteers

Wendy Witte is our administrative assistant with the St. Louis Community Foundation. All other committees and members of SOS are dues paying members of our fund. Contact information for Wendy: wwitte@stlgives.org or by telephone 314.588.8200 ext. 110.