To learn more about Women for Social Innovation and the Turning Point Prize, visit WOMEN’S WAY’s website, or contact Terri Moffa, Member, Women for Social Innovation, at tmoffa@aol.com or 215-378-0073. WOMEN’S WAY has been serving the region since 1977. Its mission is to fight for and achieve women’s equality, safety, self-sufficiency and reproductive freedom through women-centered funding, advocacy and education. WOMEN’S WAY and Women for Social Innovation, a recentlyformed Philadelphia area giving circle, have just announced a creative new approach to tackling our region’s most pressing problems while cultivating young leaders. Women for Social Innovation members have teamed up with WOMEN’S WAY, the nation’s oldest and largest women’s funding federation, to pool their philanthropic dollars strategically and invest them in a novel approach designed to improve the lives of women, girls and families -- the Turning Point Prize.
Funded through a donor-advised fund at WOMEN’S WAY, the prize was established and is advised by Women for Social Innovation. The prize will be awarded annually to a project presented by an emerging social innovator: a student (or group of students) -- enrolled in a Philadelphia area higher education institution in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pa., and Camden, Burlington, or Gloucester counties in N.J. -- offering a fresh and feasible solution to an emerging issue or time-worn problem. The prize recipient will work with a sponsoring area non-profit organization that will receive funding to see the project through. Importantly, the prize recipient also will receive mentoring from Women for Social Innovation members. The first call for applications for the Turning Point Prize will go out in early Fall 2008.
“Our goal is to cultivate the next generation of social change agents,” says Women for Social Innovation Chair Nancy Moses. “We believe the award can make a transformational difference in the local community by nurturing and celebrating the new ideas, methods and approaches of these bold and visionary young leaders.”
“When Women for Social Innovation approached WOMEN’S WAY to participate in this initiative, we jumped at the opportunity,” says WOMEN’S WAY Executive Director Melissa Weiler Gerber. “This was a good fit, as WOMEN’S WAY’s goal is to identify issues impacting women, girls and families in the region and respond with creative solutions to meet their needs, all while encouraging philanthropy among women.”
The founding members of Women for Social Innovation are seeking additional members who will have the opportunity to invest in the work of the Turning Point Prize winners – social innovators who are inventive, resourceful and results-oriented. The group is intergenerational, and its members seek both to teach each other and learn from each other as they take a roll-up-your-sleeves approach to their philanthropy. A briefing meeting will be held in Center City on June 12.
