| Community Service Project
 The club’s founders shared a commitment to improve their community – a young city experiencing many changes. They identified several causes where their collective efforts could make a difference: schools for teaching cooking, nursing and other practical arts to enable new immigrants to enter the work force; educational improvements for children; and child care assistance for impoverished families.
Their efforts achieved extraordinary results. One example of their vision was the founding of Milwaukee’s vacation school program in the summer of 1899, which provided supervised recreation for school children during summer recess. The project received national press attention, and by its sixth year, became part of the Milwaukee Public School System.
Periodically the club has embarked on large community projects, most often in response to an unmet need in the greater Milwaukee area. Like the vacation school project described above, these collaborative projects were meant to bring leaders in the community, who are knowledgeable on a particular issue, together to create change. In 1908, concerned that school playgrounds did not have adequate play equipment, the club donated the funds needed to outfit a playground at the Sixth District School . They hoped their gesture would spark the city to install equipment at other schools. Within five years a permanent fund existed to equip all Milwaukee schools.
Recent service projects include support for the Bottomless Closet, an organization that provides professional clothing, job readiness, post-employment training and coaching services to women re-entering the work force. Each year members volunteer at the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse to benefit the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Cancer Center .
Community Service Project
The Community Project Committee's main focus is keeping urban, adolescent girls in school. The committee is developing a long-term, large scale project to encourage urban girls to continue their education to a succesful conclusion.
To read more about the WCW Community Project, click on link below:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=403200
Foundation
The Woman’s Club of Wisconsin Foundation was officially incorporated in 1965. Its mission is to support philanthropic, education and cultural programs and to ensure, through our expanding endowment, that the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin’s historic commitment to community service endures and flourishes.
Each year, the club’s Foundation Committee oversees an appeal to members for tax-deductible donations. The Committee also sponsors special fundraising events to benefit the Endowment Fund. Thanks to these efforts, the Foundation’s assets have quadrupled since 1995, and the club’s annual contributions to community projects have grown accordingly. The Foundation encourages gifts in a variety of forms, including cash, securities, memorials, trust and bequests.
The Martha Mitchell Society is made up of club members whose cumulative contributions to the Endowment Fund exceed $5,000. This includes Planned Giving arrangements that name the endowment fund as beneficiary. In 2003, the club further recognized the most generous donors to the WCW Foundation, listing their names according to a new scale of giving levels:
| Amethyst |
$5,000 |
| Pearl |
$10,000 |
| Sapphire |
$20,000 |
| Ruby |
$30,000 |
| Emerald |
$40,000 |
| Diamond |
$50,000 |
Each year, the club’s Grant Allocation Committee seeks requests for funding from non-profit organizations throughout the Greater Milwaukee area. Area non-profit organizations are invited to complete the grant application and mail it and additional information requested to the club offices. A club member will contact your organization and schedule a site visit and make a recommendation to the committee. The committee evaluates applications received by the October deadline for grants paid the following spring. Grant recipients and the club members who sponsor them are honored at the annual Foundation Day Luncheon in early April.
Today, the Foundation gives tens of thousands of dollars each year to organizations throughout the greater Milwaukee area. Recipients include educational institutions, health and social service organizations and the performing arts.
Back to top of page
Grant Recipients 1991-2007
Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin
Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Milwaukee
American Heart Association
American Lung Association
Aids Resource Center Milwaukee
ARCW
Artists Working in Education
Artist Series at the Pabst
Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin
Benedict Center
Boerner Botanical Gardens, Friends of
Bottomless Closet
Boys and Girls Club
Bruce-Guadalupe Community School
The Cathedral Center
Center for Deaf-Blind Persons
Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Charles Allis / Villa Terrace Art Museums
Children’s Health Education Center
Children’s Hospital Foundation
Children’s Outing Association
Children’s Service Society
Choristers of St. Cecelia
Civic Music Association
Colonial Dames
Creative Sharp Presentation, Inc.
Danceworks
Dominican Center for Women, Inc.
Easter Seals
Florentine Opera Company
Girls Scouts of Milwaukee
Grand Avenue Club
Harambee Community School
Highland Community School
Holton Youth Center
Interchange
Joy House
Ko Thi Dance Company
Literacy Services of Wisconsin
Lutheran Special School and Education Service
Marion Center
Medical College of Wisconsin
Meta House
Milwaukee Achiever Program
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra
Milwaukee Children’s Choir
Milwaukee County Historical Society
Milwaukee Inner City Arts Council
Milwaukee Opera Theatre
Milwaukee Police Athletic League
Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Public Museum
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Milwaukee Tennis and Education Foundation
Milwaukee Youth Symphony
Mount Mary College
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Milwaukee
Nativity Jesuit Middle School
Neighborhood House of Milwaukee
Notre Dame Middle School
Our Next Generation
Our Space
Parenting Network
Park People of Milwaukee
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art
Pearls for Teen Girls
Penfield Children’s Center
Piano Arts of Wisconsin
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin
Present Music
Renaissance Theatreworks
Riverside Urban Environment Center
St. Catherine Residence
St. Francis Children’s Center
St. Joan Antida
Second Harvest of Wisconsin
S.E.T. Ministry
Skylight Opera Theatre
Sojourner Truth House
Special Needs Adoption Network
String Academy of Wisconsin
Task Force on Family Violence
Ten Chimneys
The Open Gate
The Red Bus
Transitional living Services
Urban Day School
Urban Ecology Center
Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum
VNA of Wisconsin
Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
Woodland Pattern
YMCA, Parklawn Branch
African American Children’s Theater
Artists Working in Education, Inc.
Arts at Large
Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin
Benedict Center
Bottomless Closet
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee
Casa Romero
Cathedral Center, Inc.
Center for Deaf-Blind Persons, Inc.
Center for Teaching Entrepreneurship
Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin
Christ Child Society
CORE/El Centro, Inc.
Creative SHARP Presentations, Inc.
Dominican Center for Women, Inc.
Father Gene’s HELP Center
Florentine Opera Company
Grand Avenue Club
Interfaith Caregivers of Ozaukee County
Journey House
Joy House/Milwaukee Rescue Mission
Lad Lake, Inc.
Literacy Services of Wisconsin
Marquette Clinic for Women and Children
Medical College of Wisconsin
Meta House, Inc.
Milwaukee Achiever Literacy Services, Inc.
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee Ballet Company
Milwaukee Children’s Choir
Milwaukee Education Center Middle School
Milwaukee Opera Theatre
Milwaukee Public Museum
Milwaukee Tennis and Education Foundation
My Home, Your Home
NAMI Greater Milwaukee
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Milwaukee
Nehemiah Project
New Hope Project
Next Door Foundation, Inc.
Notre Dame Middle School
Our Space
Park People of Milwaukee
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art
Piano Arts of Wisconsin
Present Music
Next Door Foundation, Inc.
Red Bus Corp.
Renaissance Theatreworks
St. Ben’s Community Meal Program
St. Catherine Residence
St. George Melkite Greek Catholic Church
St. Joan Antida High School
Silver Spring Neighborhood Center
Skylight Opera Theatre
Sojourner Truth House, Inc.
Transitional Living Services, Inc.
United Cerebral Palsy of S.E. Wisconsin
Urban Ecology Center
Villa Terrace Art Museum
Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
Woodland Pattern
Back to top of page
|
