DONOR PROFILE | Community Advocate Gives a Gift to Inspire

When donor, Polly Grose, learned that 57 of Minnesota’s 87 counties did not have a subsidized family planning clinic, she was determined to do something about it.

In a strategic move with a strong message, Grose made a $57,000 gift to the Women’s Foundation — $1,000 for each county in Minnesota where women were struggling to find affordable, comprehensive family planning care. Her gift — one of several generous contributions that launched the Foundation’s four-year, $15 million Fund>>Forward endowment campaign in 2005 — continues to inspire others today.

Women’s health and reproductive rights has been a cornerstone in Polly’s advocacy work. In the 1950's, as a newly elected member to the Planned Parenthood of Minneapolis board of directors, Grose began to truly understand the barriers women face.

“I remember so vividly a woman who came by train from Grand Forks to get a diaphragm — she already had 11 children. [At that time], I thought about how much progress we had made, but how far we had to go,” recalled Polly. “So when I learned that 57 counties in Minnesota still have no subsidized family planning care, I knew that was where I wanted to make an impact.”

With family planning dollars restored by the Legislature this session to its highest levels in 10 years, women's health care services have taken a positive turn. Grose's leadership gift to the Women's Foundation adds and fortifies this positive sea change.

Impacting women’s lives is really second nature for this advocate. Grose was the first woman to chair the Guthrie Theater Foundation board in the early 1970’s, and was then recruited as the first woman outside ("non-employee") board member at St. Paul Companies.

“I was flattered [by the St. Paul Companies' invitation], but wondered what I could do to contribute. When I learned that over 60 percent of the employees were women, I began meeting with groups of women employees to identify barriers to success, such as flexibility in work schedules,” said Grose.

“One woman had a child with chronic allergies and needed time during the day for medical appointments. It confirmed for me that a woman should be given every opportunity to reach her full potential and that working conditions mattered. As it turned out, the changes put into place also helped the men, too.”