About the Women & Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore

The Women & Girls Fund is an endowed fund that channels the pooled resources of individuals into a powerful and permanent legacy serving the needs of women and girls in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties, Maryland. It is our mission to use the power of pooled resources to improve the lives of women and girls on Maryland ’s Mid-Shore.
Our goals are:

• To understand the needs of women & girls throughout the Mid-Shore and to raise awareness of these needs in our communities
• To support under-funded programs and initiatives that aid women and girls
• To facilitate collaborative efforts among existing agencies and programs and to encourage public/private partnerships
• To engage the philanthropic instincts of all women by providing venues in which their resources of money, time, and talent can be used
• To educate the next generation and cultivate a tradition of philanthropy for future generations.

The Fund started in 2002 as the grassroots effort of a group of women looking for an effective way to address significant local problems.  The first donation was received that year and—after working with the United Fund and Mid-Shore Community Foundation to learn about the region’s needs—our first grants were given in April of 2003.

The Endowment

Funds in the endowment grow through the continuing support of individual donors and through careful investment and management.  The value of the endowment is in its permanence, which ensures that funds will always exist to address the problems faced by local women and girls.

Management:

The Fund elected to have its endowment managed by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation (MSCF).  Association with the MSCF allows us to invest the endowment along with the monies from the other local funds managed by the Foundation, thereby maximizing the potential for investment growth and minimizing costs.
The MSCF is responsible for investment decisions, filing necessary tax returns, and providing the necessary IRS documentation for donations received.  It also provides low-cost professional administration and management for the Fund, including accounting, auditing, and tax services.  This frees the board of the Women & Girls Fund to concentrate on its mission and allows it to function economically.  Without the services of the MSCF, the costs of running a separate foundation would be too expensive to make the Fund viable at this point.

Additional information about the Mid-Shore Community Foundation can be found by visiting its website at www.mscf.org.