LATEST NEWS  |  WOMEN OF INFLUENCE ESTABLISHES GIVING CIRCLE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota announced today that Women of Influence Inc. has established the Women of Influence Giving Circle (WIN Giving Circle) at the Foundation. Founded in 2001, Twin Cities’-based WIN Inc. is a nonprofit networking group of some 450 women committed to using their collective power to create positive, sustainable change in the lives of women and children in the community. The WIN Giving Circle is a fund of the Women’s Foundation.

Nationally, the popularity of Giving Circles is on the rise as emphasis on women’s philanthropy grows. A Giving Circle is initiated by a group of individual women who pool their gifts to fund projects that improve the quality of life in their communities. Women’s Giving Circles also inspire, educate, and encourage women to become better philanthropists.

“The WIN Giving Circle is a network of women with a shared passion: we want to make a difference, we want to give back, and we want to create real change around issues that affect the quality of life for women and girls in Minnesota,” said Gayle Hayhurst, board president of WIN Inc. “Our WIN network will pool the charitable gifts of our members into the WIN Giving Circle fund, leveraging the power of every dollar to create real and sustainable change by funding nonprofits that address issues of safety, health, and equality for women and girls in Minnesota.”

“We are thrilled to welcome the WIN Giving Circle,” said Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of the Women’s Foundation. “Giving Circles are one way we partner with women in the community to unleash women’s philanthropy across the state. As women become more economically secure themselves, it’s exciting to see them give back to help build the economic security of all Minnesota’s women. And since women nationally make up over half the workforce, direct 85 percent of all consumer spending decisions, and control 56 percent of our economy, the WIN Giving Circle will help leverage our economic power as women to invest in the future of women and girls.”

More information about WIN Inc. and the WIN Giving Circle can be found at www.womenofinfluenceinc.org.

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