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The Utah Women’s Giving Circle, a grassroots membership group formed in 2011 awarded its eleventh round of grants for women and girls in Utah.

Utah women invest more than $195,000 into grants for women and girls

Salt Lake City — The Utah Women’s Giving Circle, a grassroots membership group formed in 2011 to change the statistics for women and girls in Utah, awarded its eleventh round of grants, having invested more than $195,000 through a total of 56 high impact nonprofit projects. 

Members voted on March 16, 2022 to award their collective pool of $15,000 across four initiatives, targeting essential services and women returning to the workforce in the wake of the Covid pandemic:

$4,000 Grant: Your Community Connection Family Crisis Center
Flexible funding to support domestic violence victims in becoming self-sufficient, such as fees for birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and bank accounts.

$4,000 Grant: Family Support Center
Supporting reduced-cost mental health services to women and families who are uninsured, as low as $10 per visit.

$4,000 Grant: Fight Against Domestic Violence
Providing immediate, one-time help for domestic violence victims facing financial emergencies, such as help paying off utility bills or attorney costs for divorce proceedings.

$3,000 Grant: Project Read
Supporting tutoring and small group instruction, helping women improve their ability to read, write, compute, and use technology to improve their opportunities in life.

Referencing recent news headlines announcing that Utah is the second-worst state in the country for its gender wage gap, Safia Keller remarked, “It has been an honor to be the chair of this organization and to recognize the impactful work of the nonprofits who pitched tonight. It is always striking to me just how small an amount of money can make such an enormous difference in an individual’s life, especially as we see women’s statistics in Utah sliding backward. As more women join the Giving Circle, we will be able to fund more of these grassroots, community-based projects that are moving the needle.” According to the March 2022 business.org study, Utah women earn an average of 30.9 percent less than men. 

Membership to the Utah Women’s Giving Circle is open to Utah women of all ages and incomes and 100 percent of annual membership contributions are invested back into the community through these annual grant awards. “Witnessing the legacy of the Giving Circle across 11 years has been an important thread of meaning across four generations of women in my own family,” shared one of the founding members, Kim Paulding, Executive Director of the Utah Bar Foundation.

After pitching their project live to the membership and receiving one of the awards, Shauna Brown, Executive Director of Project Read, reflected, “We are so appreciative of the generosity of the Utah Women’s Giving Circle and the passion for lifting women and girls in the community.”

Women looking for a way to support their communities can join the Utah Women’s Giving Circle through a $250 annual donation or a $50 annual donation for women under 25. Women can become Lifetime Members through a one-time gift of $1,000. Public and corporate donations are welcome, as is event sponsorship. For more information, visit www.utahwomensgivingcircle.com or email [email protected]

The Utah Women’s Giving Circle is fiscally sponsored by the Community Foundation of Utah (CFU), Utah’s partner in philanthropy. CFU is a hub where donors and mission-driven organizations build a thriving community, together. Whatever your contribution, CFU helps maximize the impact. Whatever your mission, CFU connects you to the tools, resources, and networks to achieve it. More information can be found at utahcf.org.