Power of the Purse gives back to families
By DAN FELDNER, Staff Writer, dfeldner@minotdailynews.comArticle Photos
A group of area women have pooled their time and resources to create a new affiliate group of the Minot Area Community Foundation that will be helping deserving organizations for years to come.
Power of the Purse began in August of last year with eight founding members who became the group's first board of directors, according to a press release.
Linda Hildahl, one of those founding members, said there are currently 21 members in the all-woman group and they will be increasing that number to 25. Each member pledges to stay with the group for three years and donate $1,000 per year to a fund that is used to give grants to deserving organizations in the area.
"What we want to do is we want to focus our gifts and our time toward women and children's commitments in the community," Hildahl said.
Hildahl said the idea was originally suggested to Ken Kitzman, MACF president, and Shari Larson, MACF program director, which is how Power of the Purse became affiliated with the MACF.
Power of the Purse is part of a growing trend known as "giving circles." These groups are comprised of individuals who pool their resources in order to make a positive difference in their community.
"The appeal of giving circles is that anyone can start one or join one, and you don't have to be wealthy," Hildahl said in a press release. "All you need is the desire to give and a passion to make the world a better place."
In October, five groups each gave 30-minute presentations to Power of the Purse to make their bid for part of the grant money. Hildahl said the decision was extremely difficult, and all five groups were deserving of some assistance. However, with only $18,000 to work with, they were forced to winnow the applicants down to three.
"We had a lot of discussions. The night they did their presentations - each group was allowed a half-hour - and I bet we were there a good two hours after the presentations were done," Hildahl said. "Because it's hard, you know? Every group is important for what they do."
Those receiving grants are the YWCA, Domestic Violence Crisis Center and 2nd Story, a social club for adults with developmental disabilities.
The YWCA was awarded $11,000 for its Florence Anderson Center of Hope project, which is an emergency shelter facility.
The Domestic Violence Crisis Center received $6,000, of which $5,000 will go toward the purchase of a new van, with the remaining $1,000 to be used for gas.
The final $1,000 went to 2nd Story, which will use it to purchase a Nintendo Wii video game console for its "Empowerment through Exercise" project.
The three groups received their checks at a presentation ceremony in Michael's Restaurant Monday evening that allowed the members of Power of the Purse to mingle with representatives of the three organizations receiving grants.
Hildahl said they want to cap the active membership at 25 until they have things running smoothly. She noted that down the road they might increase the active membership, but for right now they want to keep it at its current level.
"We have 25 active members, but we can have unlimited honorary members. And what we'd like from them, if they want to donate $1,000, they can be on the honorary list and then when a spot opens up they'd be the first ones asked to join," she said. "But the 25 are the ones that have voting privileges. That's the only thing - that's the only difference."
The group will only meet four times per year - once each for the grant interviews and presentations, and twice more for socials, because the purpose is not only to help the community, but to have fun as well.
"It's a great bunch of gals," Hildahl said. "I think we're going to see some great things happen because of this group. ... Everybody's committed to Minot. This is our home."
"It's an honor to be able to do something for our community, and that we are able to give back to our community," added Linda Christianson, a member of the group.
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concerned
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12-03-08 12:12 AM
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I think the power of the purse should also look at giving money to young couples who choose to refurnish run down houses and want to stay in Minot.
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