Women's Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation

This is just a portion of what was collected throughout the Bare Essentials campaign and donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh and the Tiny Homes Village.

Thanks again to all who donated; those who are on the receiving end of your gift are so appreciative.🤍

Celebrating freedom🇺🇸
Honoring the sacrifices❤️
Happy 4th of July!🇺🇸

SO GRATEFUL!

Your generous donations of shampoo, deodorant, period products and underwear to our Bare Essentials campaign this past month surpassed our expectations!

Thanks to all those who hosted a collection box at their business or workplace. The recipients at Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh and Oshkosh Kids Foundation, Inc. Tiny House Village appreciate the support and generosity of our community.

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Our 2024 Girls Granting group presenting their $10,000 grant to Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Central Wisconsin at our 2024 Power of the Purse event.

This class of girls’ wisdom, compassion and perspective was deeply inspiring. Stay tuned for what’s next!

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A huge THANK YOU to all who donated items to the Bare Essentials Drive!!

Our counter & our hearts are filled from this generous bare essentials donation from Women Who Care - Greater Oshkosh! Thank you for making a difference in our community!

Bare essentials are being donated to the Tiny Homes of Oshkosh and the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh!

Thanks to the generosity of so many, our $25,000 match grant was MATCHED!

Our work to better the lives of women, girls and families, depends wholly on the support and financial gifts from donors. We’re honored and humbled by your trust in us to make a positive impact in your community.

Thank you 🧡

May may be month but we all recognize the importance of prioritizing mental health at all times. Our own, our children’s, our community’s. Healthy mental wellness is not a “one size fits all” approach or a linear process. It takes awareness and a willingness to prioritize the things that feel most supportive; which can be different for everyone. You deserve, we all deserve to feel more thriving than surviving.

What helps lift you up when you’re feeling stuck?

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Only 3 more days…
to have your donation matched up to $25,000!

Please consider a gift to the Women’s Fund by 5/31 to leverage this generous match! Our work to support women, children and families in our community depends on your support of us.

We have such valuable and impactful work ahead of us in the coming year+.

Your tax-deductible gift can be make online or by stopping into the OACF office. Every dollar matters and we appreciate each and every one.🧡
https://oacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate?sorg_id=1033
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Happy Memorial Day🇺🇸
Gratitude for the men and women who gave their all for our freedoms. Honoring them today and always.

Congratulations to Bethany with Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh and Desiree with Discover Oshkosh — two of our adjunct board members, for graduating in the 2024 Leadership Oshkosh class! (A second congratulations to Desiree for recently becoming a Mother❤️)

We love welcoming participants onto our board. We enjoy learning from them + helping them learn more about the work we do at the Women’s Fund.

All gifts are being MATCHED! Thru 5/31, every donation will be matched up to $25,000 thanks for a generous donor.

Your gift allows us to deepen our research, education, and granting efforts that serve women, children, and families in our community.

Your tax-deductible gift can be make online or by stopping into the OACF office. Every dollar counts and we appreciate each and every one.🧡

https://oacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate?sorg_id=1033

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In partnership with the Oshkosh Herald, we launched a “Bare Essentials” drive last week to collect: shampoo, deodorant, period products, and underwear.

These are items that many women and girls whom we serve, struggle to have enough of. Items that are not luxuries, but necessities. And with your help, we hope to collect a good supply of these products so women and girls in our community, who need them, have access to them!

All items collected will be donated to the Oshkosh Kids Foundation, Inc. Tiny House Villages+ the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Drop off boxes are located at our Oshkosh Area Community Foundation office, as well as 30 other locations in our community. See our link for a complete list of donation box locations.
https://women.oshkoshareacf.org/bare-necessities-drive

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We honor all the women who nurture, love and care for their families, their friends, their communities. May we, as a society better appreciate the visible + invisible contributions of Mothers, EVERY DAY not just one day each May.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the phenomenal women who are “mothers” in many different ways.

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A full house.
Grateful to all those who joined us today for our biannual Power of the Purse. As our sole fundraising event and only held every other year — we literally could not do the work we do without this event.

We have much to share in the coming weeks about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going, along with many take-aways from this memorable event. Stay tuned ✨

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Happy Earth Day 🌎
Let us honor and care for her each and every day.

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Our 2024 Girls Grant Initiative participants gathered a for the first session today. This group of Junior + Senior girls, chosen by the counselors at all four of the local high schools are wise, thoughtful and empowering.

We are already so inspired by the conversations and insights they shared today and very encouraged to see where they lead this grant process✨

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The economic stability of girls and women impacts entire communities.

Effective Philanthropy for Half of Humanity Nonprofits serving women and girls survive on a pittance, so donations have an outsized impact

We recently heard from a past grant recipient about the progress they’re making in their organization and the differences being made in the lives of those they serve.

We’re honored to be a conduit of giving in our community. It’s exciting to see the effort + impact our grant recipients are making.✨

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✨March 8th✨
A day to…
• celebrate the trailblazing women around the world and in our own backyards.
• recognize the equality barriers women have overcome.
• acknowledge the equality barriers that women still face, daily…

Progress has been made; but there is still so much opportunity to accelerate gender equality.

While this is a global-wide initiative…change happens locally, within our own homes & circles of influence.

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Celebrating all the women of our past & present whose: contributions, perseverance, bravery, wisdom, compassion, and courage…has impacted the world and our history, for the better.

We encourage you to recognize the women in our community and women in your own lives - who’ve helped make an impact, who’ve helped pave paths forward, who’ve left a positive mark.

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- an initiative we facilitate every two years with 15-20 girls from local high schools. This is an opportunity for teenage girls to combine their voices + uniquely qualified perspectives with donor dollars for the good of the community.

Over the course of multiple sessions, the girls gather to discuss: needs they see in their daily lives + brainstorm ideas they think could make an impact. They’re then granted 10K to use towards the efforts they think aligns best with their vision.

After more than 20 years and hundreds of girls participating, this continues to be one of our most successful and most anticipated efforts. We’re looking forward to what this year’s class of girls will have to share with the community.✨

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This past Fall we hosted a “Substance Abuse and Mental Health” panel that brought together local recovery resources, doctors, and nonprofits to share tough facts, answer tough questions and begin tough conversations. As difficult as it was to hear what these experts had to say; there was also hope that came from their messages. We are working learn how we make an impact locally, and continued to listen to those who know this unfortunate but essential work best. We hope to have more info to share on what we, the community, can do to support and educate each other, parents + teens.

Thanks to all who joined this difficult yet event.

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Joyfulness and hope can feel like a reach when so much chaos and crisis has our attention. For all the challenges that exist, there is still an abundance of: goodness, generosity and compassion. We see it everyday in our community.

There is much on the horizon that the Women’s Fund is looking forward to in the coming year.

Planning for our bi-annual Power of the Purse is in full-force and we can’t wait to announce details in January!

SAVE THE DATE: MAY 9TH, 2024

We also have powerful work happening behind the scenes: creating a community mental health campaign, as well as work on fentanyl education + awareness. We’ll share more about these new efforts the coming months. Our parenting support initiative continues, along with research and our Fund’s grant work, which is as important as ever.

By supporting the Women’s Fund, you make all of this and MORE possible. To donate follow the link: https://oacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/list?sorg_id=1033

Your donation dollars will have ripple effects into the future. If you’ve given to the Women’s Fund, thank you. Your gift is appreciated more than you can know. If you are considering a gift to our Fund, know that any + every gift makes a difference.

Thank you for your support. It matters.
And isn’t that what we all want & deserve…to matter, to belong?

Wishing you a New Year full of hope, peace, and joy.
🧡 the Women’s fund team

Human nature is wired for connection.
For belonging. For many though, feeling connected + supported comes with so many barriers.

The work of the Women’s Fund is to help those we serve navigate the barriers + to build connections that create a sense of belonging. Because belonging isn’t a luxury — it is a necessity. As is the Women’s Fund.

Your support this season allows us to continue this work of necessity, of support, of belonging.
https://oacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate?sorg_id=1033

Everyone deserves to feel they belong✨

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Tomorrow is our community discussion around Substance Use & Mental Health. Our guest panel includes Erin Rachael of and Dr. Eric Smiltneek — swipe to read their bios.

We hope you can join us, if not please share with someone who could benefit from hearing what these experts have to share.

Tues. 11/7, 7:45-9am
Best Western Ballroom, Downtown Oshkosh

This event is free and open to the public. Kindly register via our Facebook event or email Karlene, [email protected]

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Substance use is an ever growing concern in our community. Join us for a honest conversation on the subject. Please feel free to share this invite, the more we can reach with this information the better.

This event is free and open to the public. Kindly register via our Facebook event or email Karlene, [email protected]

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Some days are heavier and harder than others. Know that you are not alone.💚

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Estate planning isn’t just for the 1%ers. You’d be surprised to know how important planned or legacy gifting is to nonprofits. And also how far the gifted dollars ripple out into future generations.

We will all leave a legacy. Curious how making a meaningful difference can be your legacy thru the Women’s Fund?

Visit our profile link, call or email us to learn how easy becoming a legacy donor can be. 💛

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