Florida AAUW Educational Foundation

FLORIDA AAUW EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

AAUW EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

SPECIAL 75TH ANNIVERSARY FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN
By Sally Bailey and Leslie Henderson, Co-Presidents

Plans are already underway for our 75th Anniversary celebration in 2004 (see article, “FL AAUW is Turning 75”). In addition to the anniversary festivities, we would like to honor 75 years of commitment to our mission. To this end your board has decided to fund an Educational Foundation Research and Projects Grant, called the Florida AAUW 75th Anniversary Grant. In addition, this grant will hold a stipulation that, when possible, the grant monies should be awarded to Florida candidates. This particular grant was chosen for the following reasons:

(1) These grants have been sadly under-funded in the last few years;
(2) R&P Grants include Career Development grants for women who hold bachelor’s degrees to prepare to advance their careers, change careers, or re-enter the work force. This works well into the branches’ programming (both Transitions programs and Displaced Homemaker’s scholarship programs);
(3) R&P Grants are the funding source for Community Action Grants that provide seed money to individual women, AAUW branches and states, and community-based non-profit organizations for innovative programs that promote education and equity for women and girls. In recent years grants have been awarded to the Miami, Sarasota and Sun City Center branches, as well as to FL AAUW for their Financial Independence for Girls project. This year one was awarded to the Girl Scout Gulf Coast Council in Sarasota;
(4) Both Career Development Grants and Community Action Grants afford great visibility for AAUW, and the money is much more likely to return to Florida in the form of grants helping women. These will provide not only great name recognition, but provide speakers for our branch and state events.

Please note that this anniversary grant is not meant to divert donations going to finish branch fellowships and grants that have not yet reached the stipend-bearing level, or from donations to the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund. Instead we are hoping to raise $100,000 separate from what we normally raise in Florida.

This is a big project, and we hope you are all as excited as we are! Won’t it be wonderful to say that Florida AAUW contributions to an Educational Foundation Research and Projects grant regularly provide funding for an innovative program that promotes education and equity for women and girls? And won’t it feel good to know that we help women with bachelor’s degrees advance or change careers in order to become more successful?

Year’s end approaches, so please ask those members who have not yet contributed to the Foundation this year to consider making a contribution to the 75th Anniversary Grant Fund. Checks should be sent to Sally Bailey, made payable to the AAUW Educational Foundation, at 140 Ocean Pines Terrace, Jupiter, FL 33477. She will put the proper fund documentation on them, make sure that all contributions are credited to the correct branch, and send them on to Washington before the end of December.

AAUW EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

The Educational Foundation, formed in 1958, is the world’s largest source of funding exclusively for graduate women. The Foundation’s endowed funds - the American Fellowships, International Fellowships, Selected Professions Fellowships, Career Development Grants – provide women with financial support for individual research and formal academic pursuits beyond a Bachelor’s degree. American Fellowships are one- year research fellowships in the arts and sciences for dissertations, post-doctoral research and to prepare completed research for publication. International Fellowships are for women graduate students from countries outside the U.S. with emphasis given to studies related to changing the lives of women and girls. Selected professions Fellowships are for one year in the fields of Architecture, Engineering, Computer and Information Sciences and Mathematics.

Career Development Grants are available to support course work for a Master’s degree or second Bachelor’s degree or to attend an academically based professional institute. These women are preparing to advance their careers, change careers or re-enter the work force. Community Action Grants provide seed money to individual women, AAUW branches, AAUW state organizations, and community-based nonprofit organizations for innovative programs or non-degree research projects that promote education and equity for women and girls.

Once again six Florida women have been awarded Educational Foundation Fellowships and Grants. Phyllis J. Henderson and Jessica Strate, both at the University of Florida were awarded Selected Professions Fellowships, Kibiby Mtenga, University of Florida and Rashi Bahari, Florida State University, received International Fellowships, Andrea Beane, University of Florida (St Petersburg), was awarded a Career Development Grant, and Kathleen O’Leary, Youth Development Director of the Gulfcoast Girl Scout Council, was awarded a Community Action Grant.

The Foundation’s Eleanor Roosevelt Fund, started in 1988, provides women public school teachers grades K-12 with professional development opportunities and supports projects targeting areas of high need for girls and teachers. Teachers working with underserved girls or communities, technology education, and programs that stimulate interest in math, science, and technology are the primary focus of the fellowships. A five-day teacher institute is held annually for teachers who have been awarded Professional Development Fellowships

The number of Eleanor Roosevelt Fund fellowships and grants awarded each year is dependent on the amount of money given to during the previous year. Since 1992 the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund has supported the research funded and published by the Educational Foundation. Walk Runs are being held throughout the country to increase awareness of the fund and boost the amount of money raised for the Eleanor Roosevelt Fund from members of the local communities and from AAUW members.

For applications visit the fellowships, grants and awards section of the AAUW website at www.aauw.org or write to AAUW Educational Foundation, c/o Customer Service Center, 2201 N. Dodge St, Dept 177, Iowa City, IA 52243-4030

Last Updated Nov 2002