RESOURCES:
Ann Arbor Women for Good on Facebook
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and I'm David Fair. The nature of philanthropy is changing. It's evolving from traditional, often one-off donations to a more strategic, impact-focused approach with greater emphasis on transparency, measurable results, and long-term sustainability. Modern philanthropists are increasingly interested in understanding how their contributions drive meaningful change, and they demand more accountability from the organizations they support. Now, that falls right in line with the philosophy of Grapevine. It encourages people to gather like-minded people to donate to a common cause and make local community impact through the model of giving circles. In Ann Arbor, that's led to formation of Ann Arbor Women for Good, and our guest this morning is among the leaders of the group. Lisa Pasbjerg is also a credentialed leadership and executive coach and owner of the Ann Arbor-based business, Focused Coaching, LLC. Thanks so much for the time today, Lisa! I appreciate it!
Lisa Pasbjerg: It's great to be here, David!
David Fair: I think before we dive into Ann Arbor Women for Good, let's take a look and better understand Grapevine and its philosophy of giving circles. Grapevine is fully national at this point and in the process of going global in its creation of philanthropic communities. What is the belief system and mission of Grapevine?
Lisa Pasbjerg: The belief system and mission of Grapevine is to work in a collective way to connect people to grow the greater good. One of the things that struck me when I first became involved was what a tiny proportion of funding--charitable funding--actually goes to smaller organizations and local organizations. In fact, 88%, which I think is shocking, go to the top five really well-known nonprofits. And it's even worse for organizations that are led by women and girls. That's 1% of philanthropic dollars that go to them. And people of color and Latinos only receive 8%. So, it's really spread out poorly, in terms of where the need is. So, that's what Grapevine does is take that to the people. And one of the things I love about this model, Dave, is that we don't try to tell organizations what to do with the money. We give it to them unlike traditional philanthropy.
David Fair: It's non-stipulated. Yeah.
Lisa Pasbjerg: Yeah, yeah! We literally shift the power into the hands of the leaders on the ground that know the work, so they can decide how to best use the money. And I love that about it!
David Fair: And has that been central to the conversations in Ann Arbor Women for Good, as you've been working together for, what, over two years now?
Lisa Pasbjerg: Yes, yes. A little over two-and-a-half years. We started early in February 2023, gathering the leaders together. And then, we had our first gathering grant in October of that year. Yeah, it's been central! We look for smaller organizations. We look for organizations that are doing great work locally. And we don't mean that just in Ann Arbor. We mean around this greater Ann Arbor area, so, of course, Ypsi and outside of this area. And we look for organizations that don't have giant budgets. We don't want organizations that have huge development departments that are already doing that work. We want those that often it's the executive director. In fact, some of them have been even organizations where there's no paid staff. And yet, they're doing really, really important work around here.
David Fair: We're talking philanthropy and a bit of philosophy with Lisa Pasbjerg on 89.1 WEMU. Lisa is leadership of the group. Ann Arbor Women for Good. How does the membership go about the business of raising money to then allocate to these various organizations?
Lisa Pasbjerg: That's an excellent question! What we do is, as members, we bring forward recommendations--organizations that we think warrant giving funding to. And so, it really comes from the members and what they know about the community. Many times, it's the member that has volunteered or is volunteering in the organization. And they present it to the group. The group then votes on the list of nominated options for nonprofits. And we have the top three narrowed down, and we vote on those. And the winner then gets the funding, which is all the money that we've collected from all the membership on a quarterly basis. So then, we let the group know and tell them that they've received the funding, and that it's no strings attached—that it is undesignated funds for them to use where they need it the most.
David Fair: And is 100% of the money involved reaching its destination, or are there administrative or services that require you to capture a percentage for expenses? We've heard about some charitable organizations that less than 10% of them on that they collect goes to the charity they're supporting.
Lisa Pasbjerg: Yes! And that's an excellent question! And again, another thing I love about the model is 100% of the money that our members contribute goes specifically to the organization. And we don't have any administrative budget. It's all things that are donated and us giving out of our own pocket. We don't have any paid staff. There's essentially no overhead, so it goes directly to them, and that feels good to people to be basically maximizing their input.
David Fair: Again, the group is called Ann Arbor Women for Good, and, as a group, you've established priorities in areas like equity and equality, girls and women, social and human services, and advocacy and social justice. There are certainly plenty of nonprofits and organizations working to improve the situation on those matters. So, when groups are nominated, it has to be a painful process to eliminate some.
Lisa Pasbjerg: There are always good choices, especially in that top three. And what we encourage people to do is vote for the best one in their mind. But those members that have nominated a particular organization that may be a wonderful organization, it just lost by a small number of votes, are perfectly able to renominate at a later time. So, if the organization has gotten funding, then they can re-nominate in a year. But if the organization has not been funded, they can re-nominate again in the next quarter. So, that allows us to really bring forward organizations without having to eliminate them.
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and our guest this morning is owner of Ann Arbor-based Focus Coaching LLC. She's a credentialed leadership and executive coach. Lisa Pasbjerg is with us in her capacity as a member of the leadership group of Ann Arbor Women for Good. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you recently had your quarterly meeting. So, what did you decide?
Lisa Pasbjerg: We decided to give funding to The Scrap Box, and they have a new name, which I'm not coming up with right now, but they've been The Scrap Box for years. And what they do is they gather all kinds of interesting articles: buttons and supplies and Styrofoam and fabric and all kinds of things, sewing machines that people have donated. And they give them to organizations that are working with children, to camps, to other nonprofits that are using materials that they need for their group's senior programs, just all kinds of things. So, they're doing a lot of good stuff in the community and also recycling these materials that might otherwise not be used.
David Fair: Yeah, an environmental component to it as well! Ann Arbor Women for Good continues to grow. I believe membership is approaching about 100 now or close to it anyway. What do you hope and envision for the future when it comes to growing not only the membership numbers, but the amount of money that you can raise and then ultimately distribute to worthy organizations?
Lisa Pasbjerg: Of course, we want to grow the membership. And at the same time, we want to develop community--that sense of belonging. And I think that, as we grow the membership, of course, the funding then increases because people contribute on a quarterly basis. But I think especially that sense of belonging and getting people together and the sense of community of our group is so important, especially right now. I think we need more kindness, and we need more community in the country, in the world, and locally. And it's a way to do that to bring like-minded people together who can know that they have similar hearts, and they care about this and to maximize their impact.
David Fair: Well, Lisa, thank you so much for the conversation and the peek into the philosophies and works of Ann Arbor Women for Good!
Lisa Pasbjerg: You are very welcome! It was my pleasure!
David Fair: That is Lisa Pasbjerg, who is among the leaders of the philanthropic group Ann Arbor Women for Good, also owner and operator of Ann Arbor-based Focused Coaching, LLC. For more information on Ann Arbor Women for Good, on Lisa, and Grapevine, head over to our website at WEMU.org when you have a minute or two. And we'll get you everywhere you need to go. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
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