Introducing The Women and Girls Fund

of The Cape Cod Foundation

Will Rogers was an American actor, humorist, social commentator, and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1933-1944. During the early days of World War I, another congressman asked him how we should solve the U-boat problem. The Germans had them; we didn’t. 

Rogers paused, then replied, “Well, I think we should boil the ocean. When the water becomes unbearably hot, the submarines will come to the surface, and we can capture them!”



The congressman challenged, “And how are we supposed to boil the ocean?”

Without missing a beat, Rogers quipped, “Listen, I’ve come up with the solution. I’ll leave it to you to work out the details.”

Rogers’ humor reminds us that we can’t solve complex problems with simplistic solutions. Not surprisingly, “boiling the ocean” eventually entered our business lexicon, but with a slightly different meaning. It refers to initiatives that are so broad and complicated they simply cannot succeed.

At our fifth virtual community forum, “Women and Girls Across Cape Cod,” we announced a new initiative: The Women and Girls Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation. It’s neither a simplistic or overly ambitious approach to a very complex problem. It’s a strategic and proven way to have an immediate and long-term impact on the lives of women and girls in our community. And, unlike Will Rogers, we’ve worked out the details.

Please take time to watch the forum, review the data, and hear from several members of our community [links below]. While the statistics about women and girls across Cape Cod are staggering, they’re not surprising. And there is something we can do. We’ve done it before. We’ve used the collective giving model to raise funds for unmet needs and invest in community-based organizations and projects many times. In recent years, Vision 2020 raised more than $1 million in flexible resources for youth development and nonprofit capacity building initiatives. We also raised over $3.5 million for regional pandemic relief and rebuilding efforts through our Strategic Emergency Response Fund.

Currently, our community needs more resources and a convening agent to support women and girls across Cape Cod. We’re now actively building a community of support to drive systemic change in this area.

• We’ve created a vehicle. The Fund for Women and Girls is a vehicle for collective giving around a common vision to magnify our impact. FUND INFO
• We’ve started fundraising. We seed-funded grantmaking with $10,000 in discretionary funds and are raising $40,000 from other funders to distribute $50,000 in grants in our first year. Our long-term goal is to raise $1 million over the next five years to build an endowment fund that will support annual grantmaking in perpetuity. DONATE
• We’ve created a team. In addition to Foundation staff, we’ve assembled an Advisory and Grants Committee of community leaders. 
• We’ve conducted research and 10 focus groups. This data will inform and shape our work.
• We’ve identified four key findings and made initial recommendations and priorities for our first grants. DATA

Like other Foundation initiatives, our efforts will not duplicate the successful work of others. It will elevate and amplify existing projects and programs or help fuel new opportunities. And, like other Foundation initiatives, our support is not just financial. We are a convening force, partnering with other funders, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and individual donors to share information and implement solutions that will expand our impact and transform our community. This is what community foundations are designed to do. And while we can’t boil an ocean, we can certainly heat up the water around our shores. I hope you will be part of this wave of change.

Kristin O'Malley

komalley@capecodfoundation.org

508.790.3040

The Women and Girls Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation

Our mission is to build resources to support women and girls on Cape Cod. Our goal is to raise $200,000 by Year 2 and $1 Million by Year 5 to strategically support and enhance work focused on impacting the lives of women and girls across Cape Cod every year. Together, we can build a community of support and deepen our investment in the women and girls in our community. With our collective power and collective resources, we can fund broad-scale initiatives that lead to regional, systemic change. Together, we can change herstory.

COMMUNITY FORUM VIDEOS & RESOURCES

WOMEN AND GIRLS FUND

INITIATIVES & ACHIEVEMENTS

SARA LOU SHERMAN JOINS

CAPE COD FOUNDATION BOARD

We’d like to welcome Sara Lou Sherman to The Cape Cod Foundation Board. Sara has a strong legal background and is an accomplished financial services executive with expertise in organizational strategy, governance, diversity and inclusion, public relations, and communications. In 2021, she retired from Wellington Management Company, LLP, in Boston after 27 years, where she served as a Senior Vice President and Partner. She also served as Wellington’s Director of Partnership & Special Projects from 2011-2021, its Senior Counsel from 1994-2011, and the Chair of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee from 2007-2018.  Prior to joining the firm, Sara was Counsel at Palmer & Dodge, LLP, where she was responsible for general corporate, securities law and corporate finance matters. Sara earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College and Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law. She is currently dividing her time between her homes in Harwich and Boston.

CAPE COD FOUNDATION RECEIVES AWARD FROM WE CAN

WE CAN recently chose The Cape Cod Foundation as its Exceptional Community Partner for 2022. Dara Gannon, our Director of Programs and Donor Services, accepted the award at WE CAN's October 6 Community Breakfast, which brings participants, volunteers, community partners, and supporters together to recognize those who have helped women achieve and advance throughout the year. 

Beth Bowman, Assistant Director of WE CAN, said this award honors a community partner who has helped the organization expand its outreach to women across the Cape. 

In 2021, The Foundation awarded WE CAN and seven other nonprofit organizations inaugural grants from our Targeted Capacity Building Grants Program which includes a unique peer learning cohort. Beth said, "The Cape Cod Foundation has transformed its grantmaking approach and engagement as a partner in achieving community impact...As a grantee, we were able to engage with our colleagues in a productive dialogue facilitated by the Foundation to help us all reach our next level of operational, programmatic, financial, or organizational maturity."

Beth said the organization also wanted to recognize the Foundation for its deep involvement and leadership in other areas of community life, citing the creation of our Strategic Emergency Response Fund to provide pandemic relief and support local rebuilding efforts and the creation of The Women and Girls Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation.

"The Cape Cod Foundation exemplifies a nonprofit organization that leads with intention, grace and cooperation-- and models what successful community partnership looks like. We are thrilled to recognize them with the 2022 Exceptional Community Partner recognition," Beth added.

Many thanks to the WE CAN team for this honor...and their incredible contribution to the community.

Shown Above: Beth Bowman, WE CAN Assistant Director ; Dara Gannon, The Cape Cod Foundation's Director of Programs and Donor Services; and Kimberly Hamblin, WE CAN Participant Engagement Coordinator