The 400+ women of Northeast Florida’s Women’s Giving Alliance (WGA) are proud to host the sixth national forum for women’s collective giving groups March 12-14, 2017 in Atlantic Beach. The women’s collective giving movement began in the 1990’s, and advanced considerably when Colleen Willoughby of Seattle founded the Washington Women’s Fund in 1995. Others soon followed suit, including WGA in 2001.

Colleen Willoughby, the founder of the Washington Women’s Foundation, and thus the Women’s Collective Giving Movement, is one of the coolest women of any age you will ever meet. She is about 6’2”, lanky, impossibly chic—think Seattle’s Helen Lane. Not only did she found the movement in this country, she has taken it to Australia and to China. In fact, there is some possibility that the Melbourne group may come to Atlantic Beach.

Paula Liang, immediate past-president of WGA and co-chair of the WCGN forum, had the privilege of meeting with the WCGN National Board in Chicago this summer, and shared a cab with Colleen to the airport.

“Colleen explained that her last meeting of the day was with someone from the U.S. State Department, who also said she (the U.S. State Department representative) was interested in coming to the Florida conference. Then Colleen dropped what I thought was a bombshell. She said ‘I just found out that the State Department financed most of my trip when I went to Australia to consult with them about collective giving.’ “

Apparently, the power of women’s movements is not lost on the State Department!  Here’s hoping she shows up—the State Department Rep that is.  Colleen is already registered. Are you?

Register for the entire conference.

Learn more about speakers, national and regional, as well as breakout sessions and workshops.

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Blog post Courtesy of Women’s Collective Giving Network