National NOW Times >> Fall 2006 >> Article

Endowment Will Secure Financial Future of Feminism

By Liz Gilchrist
Director of Major Gifts & Planned Giving

NOW kicked off its year-long celebration of 40 years of feminist activism in style at the 2006 National Conference in Albany, where we saluted our founders and past presidents. In the midst of an inspirational session, filled with balloons, birthday cake, and fond reminiscences of the past, NOW President Kim Gandy challenged us to not just look back, but to look forward. She announced the start of an unprecedented campaign leading up to the 50th anniversary in 2016, to provide NOW with the financial resources to grow in size, power, and influence.

Forward Feminism is a comprehensive, long-term fund raising campaign which offers a range of giving opportunities to both NOW and NOW Foundation. Its goals are: 1) build an endowment; 2) purchase a permanent home for the National Action Center; and 3) enhance our ability to undertake national issue-based campaigns that will create significant change for women and girls.

One of the keys to our success in this capacity-building campaign is the establishment of a permanent endowment. Gifts to an endowment are not used to pay current expenses, but are aggregated together and wisely invested to produce a reliable stream of income for the organization –reducing our dependency on the vagaries of political fundraising and changes in the nation's economy.

As the amount of money in the endowment grows, so does the income generated by the endowment. If we succeed in our goal of growing the endowment to $10 million by the time of NOW's 50th anniversary, we can expect an additional $500,000 or so annually to enhance the ongoing fight for women's equality.
Organizing for our Future is the name of NOW Foundation's newly-established endowment fund. Anyone who cares about the future of NOW and women's rights can make a tax deductible gift to the fund in a wide variety of ways: gifts of cash, stock and other securities; a bequest in your will or living trust; and other planned gifts.

If you are thinking about supporting the endowment fund, please contact Liz Gilchrist, Gift Planning Director. You can also talk to Liz for more information about a tax-deductible gift or bequest to our capital campaign fund, whose goal is to buy a permanent home for the Action Center in Washington, DC, equip the space with the appropriate technology (especially for our training and media work), and endow a permanent maintenance fund for the building.

Liz Gilchrist can be reached by phone at 202-628-8669, extension 112, by email, or by writing to her at NOW, 1100 H Street NW, Third floor, Washington, DC 20005.