Published: September 01. 2010 2:00AM

By Kondria Woods
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As Greenville Women Giving celebrates its fifth anniversary, it’s a good time to look at the ingredients of the organization’s success.

Take one great idea about giving. Add three interested and determined women, and sauté for five years. Grow the membership to 350 women; return more than $1.25 million dollars to the community and impact more than 30 community organizations and initiatives. Feel tremendous satisfaction about making a real difference in Greenville.

It was 13 years ago when Harriet Goldsmith read an article about a group of women in Seattle, Wash., who created a collective philanthropic effort.

“It really sparked my imagination,” she said. “I saw that what I couldn’t do by myself, I could do with a great group of women. When I went on the Community Foundation’s board, I really felt like this was the vehicle. I approached the Community Foundation’s president, Bob Morris, and he said the time was right for an organization like this.”

Morris recommended she discuss the idea with Frances Ellison and Sue Priester, who were immediately sold on the concept. Then came a challenge from the Community Foundation: gain 50 members and raise $50,000 by the end of 2006 in order to receive a $50,000 grant from the donor-advised fund of Jean Harris Knight.

“I liked the general idea of women getting together and giving away money,” Ellison said. “It was just fascinating, and it made real good basic sense to me. Why didn’t anybody think of this sooner?”

Priester added, “We immediately set out asking, ‘Who do we know?’ We compiled lists, talked to other women and asked if they found the idea interesting. By talking to people we knew, we came up with 135 women. Now it is so gratifying to see that our organization has grown to 350 women, and there are bunches of people we don’t know and we are all learning together.”

And the group is making a measurable, quantifiable impact on organizations that serve Greenville and its citizens. Greenville Women Giving members sign on for a three-year commitment to the organization and agree to give $1,000 each year — all of which is awarded as grant funding to local organizations that meet Greenville Women Giving’s grant guidelines.

“At the end of our first three-year commitment, we retained between 85 percent and 87 percent of our first-year members,” Priester said. “The average for similar organizations is 70 percent. We’ll keep assessing everything we’re doing and continue to recruit other women. The economy has had some impact, but the most notable observation we’ve made is that our local nonprofit organizations need more assistance to provide more services.”

As one of the first organizations to receive a Greenville Women Giving grant, the Conestee Foundation realized a significant and lasting achievement.

“Thanks to the Greenville Women Giving grant, we were able to leverage what we received to get assistance from the South Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation and funding from the state hospitality tax to build the pedestrian bridge over the Reedy River,” said Dr. Jeffery Beacham, executive director for the Conestee Foundation. “It connects trails on both sides — one mile of trails on the east side and four miles of trails on the other side. It was great to get one of the first grants, and it’s a great kind of partnership that allowed us to provide a new asset to the community.”

Greenville Women Giving considers high-impact grant requests between $40,000 and $100,000 in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health, and human services. Priester said the number of grant requests has held steady at 90 submitted applications.

“With our minimum grant amount, we are going for a major collective impact,” she said. “Many of our members give individually and we don’t want to get in the way of that.”

Every member has the opportunity to vote on each submitted grant request. That means everyone also receives as much information and education as is necessary to make clear, informed decisions.

“It’s thrilling to me to watch groups of women, some who have experience in philanthropy and some who don’t,” Ellison said. “It has been a huge pleasure watching a group of women learn and understand Greenville’s unique challenges and opportunities, and I’ve enjoyed working with and getting to know women we wouldn’t have known.”

Goldsmith agreed. “The education component is very strong. The success is that we’re not just writing checks. I’m amazed at the talent and professionalism of these women. I hope we continue to grow, as the community’s needs are growing, especially during these past two years. I hope for an improved economy, and I hope we’ll continue our level of giving. I’d like more people to see what you can do with collective giving.”