Women in Southern Arizona who need affordable health care or a loan to start a business are about to receive a little more help.
The Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona announced a $500,000 donation this week that is destined to help local women and girls overcome obstacles and become more economically self-sufficient.
The funds came from Melody Robidoux, a co-founder and longtime financial supporter of the foundation. The organization is the only one in the region “dedicated to fostering equity and opportunity for women and girls,” said CEO Dawne Bell.
“I felt like I really wanted to give them a vote of confidence,” Robidoux said. “The WFSA is at the point where it’s really dynamic, and I’m excited about it.”
Former CEO Laura Penny, who left the position in January after a decade at the helm, did an “amazing job,” and Robidoux said she is committed to helping Bell run the organization.
The “landmark donation” is the largest in the organization’s 24-year history and will affect thousands of women, Bell said. “This gift directly advances social change for women and girls here in Southern Arizona.”
Among the nonprofits supported by the foundation is Clinica Amistad, which offers an evening walk-in clinic geared toward providing health care for low-income, working mothers, she said.
Accion is a micro-lending endeavor that helps women entrepreneurs, while the Emerge! program supports women who are victims of domestic violence and engages men as part of the solution, Bell said.
All of those programs will see additional funding as a result of Robidoux’s gift, she said.
The $500,000 donation is a donor advised fund (DAF) that acts much like an endowment, Robidoux said. The principal will be preserved, but the interest will pay about $25,000 each year into the group’s operating budget.
The annual operating budget is about $900,000, Bell said, adding the foundation is “small but mighty.”
One of the debates in the philanthropic world is whether to fund an organization’s operating budget or specific programs, Robidoux said. She chose to directly fund the foundation, which she trusts to put the money to “good use.”
Donations that serve as endowments are a “prudent use” of funds, said Jacky Alling, chief philanthropic services officer at the Arizona Community Foundation. In some cases, donors offer large sums for specific programs, which puts foundations in danger of overextending themselves as they cater to the donor’s wishes.
DAFs are an increasingly popular philanthropic tool that allows donors to receive tax benefits and make recommendations as to which nonprofits receive their funds.
The foundation started receiving DAFs in 2013, Bell said, and Robidoux’s donation more than doubled the total dollar amount of DAFs it has received. Other DAFs funded campus sexual-assault prevention, the Public Voices Fellowship and other local causes.
“DAFs have seen significant growth in the last few years,” said Keith Curtis, chair of the foundation board at Giving USA, a national nonprofit that has tracked philanthropic donations for 60 years.
Last year, donors gave $358 billion nationwide, of which about 4 percent were in the form of DAFs, which he said are “a small piece, but a growing piece.”
Robidoux, a University of Arizona graduate and former businesswoman, left Southern Arizona 19 years ago. She said she has never stopped supporting the foundation financially, even after moving to the Seattle area.
The poverty rate for women in Southern Arizona is “disturbing” and Seattle has far more donors, which means funds go farther in Southern Arizona.
