Discover how Women Giving Together grew from eight women to a million-dollar giving circle supporting Delaware County (OH) nonprofits.

Are you curious how local communities are transforming philanthropy and addressing urgent nonprofit needs, even with limited resources? This episode brings you face-to-face with Sue Mahler, co-founder of Women Giving Together, to reveal the step-by-step strategies that turned a small group of passionate women into a million-dollar force for good.

Sue shares her journey from school advocacy to nonprofit leadership, how Women Giving Together launched and scaled, and why focusing flexible resources on community needs can catalyze change far beyond what’s possible alone.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The origins and explosive growth of Women Giving Together, from 8 to 65+ women and $1 million in grants
• How giving circles operate, evaluate grant applications, and maintain transparency and focus as they grow
• The importance of strategic partnerships like the Delaware County Foundation for financial management and community connections
• Tips for starting your own giving circle or joining an existing one, including alternative models and easy entry points
• Real-world impact stories, like how one site visit led to a $100,000+ capital campaign for a local free store

Looking to amplify your marketing with powerful community stories, or searching for sustainable fundraising ideas? Listen now and get inspired to lead change in your own backyard.

Ready to learn, give, or launch your own impact circle?

Connect with Women Giving Together by emailing [email protected] or find them on Facebook.

5 Frequently Asked Questions about Women Giving Together

1. What is Women Giving Together? Women Giving Together is a collective giving circle in Delaware County, Ohio, comprised of 65+ women who pool annual donations to fund grants for local nonprofits.
2. How do the group’s grantmaking and review process work? Members meet annually to decide focus areas, review nonprofit applications, conduct site visits, and use an objective evaluation system to award funds.
3. How is Women Giving Together structured financially? The circle operates as a donor-advised fund with the Delaware County Foundation, ensuring financial protection, investment, and efficient grant disbursement without needing their own nonprofit status.
4. Can anyone join Women Giving Together or attend events? Anyone with a kind, giving heart can apply for membership by emailing the group. There’s no pressure—members can participate as much or as little as they wish, and prospective members are invited to attend meetings and events.
5. What advice does Women Giving Together offer to others wanting to start a giving circle? Find and learn from existing giving circles before starting your own—there are multiple models, and connecting with experienced groups saves time and strengthens success.

If you like this episode, please let us know. We appreciate the feed back, and your support of offset costs of producing the podcast!

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The views and opinions expressed by the experts interviewed on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast hosts or any affiliated organizations. The information provided in these interviews is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals for specific advice or information related to their individual circumstances. The podcast host and producers do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided by the experts interviewed. Listener discretion is advised.

Copyright 2026 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson

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Listener Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the experts interviewed on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast hosts or any affiliated organizations. The information provided in these interviews is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals for specific advice or information related to their individual circumstances. The podcast host and producers do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided by the experts interviewed. Listener discretion is advised.

This episode was recorded at Brick House Blue Brick House Blue at TruePointe in Hilliard

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Brick House Blue Hilliard

We are looking forward our way. Hi, this is Brett. Nonprofit

agencies, the safety nets of communities, are experiencing critical funding

cuts and lack of staff, while at the same time experiencing a

dramatic increase in need. 15 years ago, a group of women in Delaware

County, Ohio saw the need in their neighborhoods and have been making a

significant difference. We welcome, we welcome

Sue Mahler, co-founder of Women Giving Together. WGT

is a giving circle that is amplifying their impact to meet community

community needs by pooling their resources, ideas, and funds.

Sue, thanks for joining us. Thank you both so much for having us. The

story of Women Giving Together, it is

amazing. I saw it in the newspaper, which is what brought it to my

attention. But you started with 8 members? Yes.

And provided around $6,500 to

local nonprofits in Delaware County. in the beginning.

Yes. The group is now over 60 strong.

I think 65, I heard somewhere around there. And you

recently hit $1 million in total

grant awards, which is absolutely phenomenal.

So congratulations to you and all of the

WGT members for this incredible work.

I know our viewers want to hear more about our guest. So before we get

into the details of the organization, tell us about the

experiences that shaped your leadership in

service to your community. Well, thank you.

Actually, it started when I was a child. My mother was

very active. She would— when she would see a need, she would

just do it.

what they call the civic association back then, which is now an HOA.

And so she just created one. And even bigger than

that, she realized that she was actually finding it annoying how far she'd have to

drive to get to a library. And she started a library. Oh my

gosh. And it's a big library now. Where is this at? This was in

Allentown, Pennsylvania. Okay. And right outside of Allentown. So

yeah, she got the people together. She did all the research. So I

I saw how if you see a need, you do something about it.

So that's how it started. And then about

28 years ago, my family, we moved from

Connecticut to Ohio, and it was very important to

me that the kids, my kids, I have 2 kids, have a good education.

That to me is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children. And

so I spent a lot of time researching where I wanted my kids to go

to school. So we chose Olentangy. This was way,

you know, back 28 years ago. With just one high school at that point. They,

they just had one high school. One high school. That's right. We're on 5 now.

That's right. And I think there were 4 elementary schools and one middle

school. And within 2 weeks of moving in, a

levy failed. Oh. And I didn't know what a levy was. I

didn't know anything about how schools were funded in Ohio.

And there were a group of parents that got together and said, We

can't let this happen. We've got to do something about this. So I

became part of that group and ultimately led that group for

several years and learned a lot about school funding,

participated a lot with Olentangy Schools in sharing their finance committee,

PTO president for a short stint. So very involved

in public education. And

After my kids graduated, that's when we decided to start Women Giving

Together. That is amazing. And

so often you see across the country where

political careers begin are things like working in

the local school board, doing some kind of a community activity.

You didn't go the political way. You went sort of the nonprofit

way. Yes. What I found was that we could all come

from very different political views, right? And very

different backgrounds and different

kinds of families. But if you find one passion that you all can

agree on, and the rest doesn't matter at all, right, you can accomplish anything.

Exactly. That's what I enjoy. Wonderful. Thank you. Yeah.

So giving circles or crowdfunding and other group shared

fundraising efforts aren't just on Facebook. There are several such organizations in Ohio, for

men and women. I'd like to hear the story of developing

Women Giving Together. I mean, how all of you realized the value of working

together to support Delaware County agencies, pooling money and

resources. Sure. What happened was

a woman named Jane Martin, who was very involved with the

schools, as I was, she came to me

and said, you know, I'm now on the board of the Delaware County Foundation.

And the president of the foundation at the time, Marlene Cassini,

and Jane Martin had been talking about maybe we should start a women's

group of some kind. So Jane came to me and

said, okay, your kids have graduated, my kids have graduated,

let's talk about this as our next mission. So

she said, think about it, read about it. And what was embarrassing was that when

she first brought it to my attention, I said, Delaware County is the

wealthiest county in the state. What on earth could they

possibly need? And I— she educated me.

So I found out that I was quite ignorant about the needs. I had been

very focused on my children and the schools and my own little bubble.

And so she helped me understand the

needs in Delaware County. So from there, I did all kinds of

research on giving circles. fundraising.

And with Jane, she and I kind of came up with how we wanted this

to look. And we were so involved with schools and fun and

with our kids always coming to us with some kind of thing that they were

selling and fundraising. And we thought, we're not doing that again.

Yeah. So we decided we would have annual

dues, which for Women Giving Together is $1,100 minimum. A year.

And that way it's funded and there's no,

you know, requesting our members to participate in any

more giving than that if they don't want to. So it was

really just then we contacted our own friends and that's how we got 8 of

us together. And just about

everyone who joins, when they go through one grant

cycle, They will come and say, I had no

idea what the needs were in Delaware County. So it's,

and I would assume that's in a lot of different counties that you, you

get into your own lane and you might not look what's really

going on and you could find out that there, there are people in

need and wonderful people who are doing something about it.

And we just love the fact that Women Giving Together, we can support those people

who are. You know, for our audience that is not

in central Ohio or not in Ohio at all, Delaware County is

kind of an enigma. I grew up in Franklin County,

which is where Columbus is based, and Delaware is directly north.

Franklin County is a very diverse area, lots

of little pockets of small suburbs that are

affluent, but the city of Columbus itself is very diverse.

And we all thought Delaware County was nothing but a bunch of

farmland. And up until the late

'70s into the '80s, and then a huge

boom in the '90s, that's Delaware County really

was, mostly farmland. Well, now it has exploded

in terms of population. As I mentioned, just Olentangy

itself went from 1 high school to 5 in the past

25 years? Yes. The other school

systems have all grown dramatically. And so

it is a very hard

county to describe because there are pockets that are

still the older farming community areas.

And then there's the whole southern part of the county,

which is Polaris Parkway area, is

mostly younger families, small children,

huge neighborhoods. It is just, it's amazing.

But going back to you don't know what you don't know in an

area, I, as a nonprofit

executive director, thought I knew all the nonprofits. Well, needless to

say, I have had some incredible lessons learned

by going to your meetings. That's wonderful to hear. It has completely

opened my eyes because when I first heard about it, like, how much—

everybody gives money to SourcePoint, which is the aging agency in

the county. What else is there? And here,

it's huge. It is huge. So yeah, congratulations to all the

members who are pretty devoted. Yes. The members

that you started with, are they still involved? Yes, we've had one that's

moved away. Maybe 2, 1 or 2 that have moved away.

But yes, they've, they've stayed involved. And it's amazing. That's,

that's great. So you've got, you've

got the organization together. You found a home with the Delaware

County Foundation. Tell us more about this partnership. This is a, this is a little

different model of a partnership. How does it support your mission

as well as provide that financial protection and stability? Because

you're talking about a lot of money. Yes. Delaware County Foundation has been

incredible to work with. Again, the president at the

time we, we were created was Marlene

Cassini, and she was fabulous in helping us learn about

the nonprofits and how to approach the whole grant process.

About, I want to say, 6 or 7 years ago, she retired

and Chris Baker became the president, and he's been fabulous.

Because he's very supportive of our growth. Jane

and I have been very interested in growing

Women Giving Together because the more women you have, the more good

you can do. For example, as you said, we gave

approximately $6,500 our first year. This year

we're going to be pushing $300,000 just in

2026. And that's because we have more women. More members and

more passion, and have have created more awareness.

So Delaware County Foundation, what they do is they help us connect with

the nonprofits. We meet Women Giving Together

meets each January, and we're very into having

flexibility with our group. And we decide every January what our

focus is going to be, and if we want to tweak that at all. Once

we settled on that. We go to Delaware County Foundation, we

share that focus with them, and they put it out there to all the

nonprofits. The nonprofits— Women Giving Together has their own

grant application. They then, if somebody's interested in

applying and it fits our focus, they apply,

and then Delaware County Foundation shares all of those with us.

The other thing is that because of them, we are a fund. of the Delaware

County Foundation. So we don't have to have our own

501. They're the 501. Right. They have a

fabulous group of people working there. It's a nice small

group. So there's lots of personal attention. You get to know

everybody who works there. And they do a great job of managing

our money. They invest it for us.

They write the checks out to all the nonprofits. When

we grant them money. So it does provide a level of protection for

all of our members. But just as an

aside for people who are interested, it's not just

Women Giving Together. They— we are a

donor-advised fund, and any individual could go and have a

donor-advised fund as well. And what's great about it is

that it's It's wonderful to have a fund at maybe Schwab or a

place like that. But what Delaware County Foundation brings to the

table is that you don't, there's no minimum in how

much you wanna have in your fund. And they provide the

knowledge about the community. Mm-hmm. So let's say you're really into

something international or national like Doctors Without Borders.

You can ask Delaware County Foundation as an advisor

of your fund to donate, let's say, $500 of your money.

to— it's not your money, it's really Delaware County Foundation's, but you

would— of the amount that's in your fund to Doctors

Without Borders. But then you can also go to them and say, you know, I'm

not familiar with all of the nonprofits in Delaware County,

and I would like to give to a fund or up to a nonprofit

that handles food

insecurity or domestic violence. And they can tell you

very easily which are— which ones would be a good

fit for you, pros and cons of different

organizations. So it's a, it's a wonderful organization for

individuals and for women giving together. You know, private

foundations are an unknown hero in our

communities. I've done a lot of work with the Columbus Foundation, so I

always give them a shout out because they're very special people.

But And I checked with them about Women Giving

Together and the Delaware Foundation before I got

involved. And they were huge supporters of

what you're doing. And the foundations are

critical for meeting the needs in our community.

They know, as you said, they know the agencies, they know the

needs, they know the gaps. Yes. And how those gaps can be

met. A shout out to Chris and his team

at the Delaware County Foundation for all of this wonderful work. It

would probably be easier for them if you just gave them money and let them

spend it as they wish. But that's okay. They're helping you

meet your mission. So wonderful. Wonderful. Yeah. So there are

several key events the organization provides, the most important

being the grant process, supporting numerous agencies to meet

client needs. What issues or needs are most important to the

WGT members and their goals in granting funds? Talk about

how that review process works. Okay. Again,

we're so into flexibility, and then we do

meet every January to decide what we want our focuses to be. And

it's often homelessness or

domestic violence, or I shouldn't even say or, I should say and.

We can have as many focuses as we want. We could have 1

or we could have 10. So it depends on What the

group wants to focus on that year. So

once we decide that, then we move forward. Now,

what's interesting is that, for example, in 2020, we met in

January, set our goals. Two months later, everything

shut down, and we have the flexibility to say, "Let's have a Zoom

call. Let's decide: Do we want to keep that route, or do we want to

change things?" And we quickly decided we want to change our direction

because we were hearing about so many people who live paycheck to paycheck,

not necessarily their own fault. And

we were helping organizations that were trying to help those people not get

evicted. So we donated to People in

Need, who was helping individuals

keep from getting evicted. A few months later, a

lot of food insecurity. So we, we got together and actually

said, if anybody wants to give extra, we will donate

to organizations for food insecurity. We all voted on which

organizations and how we would do that. So we can, we can

move very easily because it's an informal group,

even with a lot of people. It's, it's— I love the attitude.

of the members because it's all about we got to meet the needs as best

we can. And if that means we got to shift gears, then we shift gears.

Well, and thank goodness for Zoom. Yes. When COVID hit, we really,

we got to, we got a good change in our

communications patterns, which to the better. So in

January, you're looking at getting the theme, right? And

then the process goes on, right? What happens is that We give

the nonprofits until

maybe late February to

turn in their— submit their grant applications. Women Giving

Together then gets together in March and reviews all of them,

and we decide which ones we think best fit the focus.

And it might be all of them, or there might be a few that are

like, no, we don't think we want to go in that direction. We

then have people volunteer to do site visits

because we want to make sure that we are actually

seeing what they're doing in action. Sometimes you can't do

that, but we do the best we can. And if it's something that we can't,

like if it's, let's say, a summer camp

that they want support for, we obviously can't go see that in March. So we'll

just meet with the people who are leading that so we can learn. about what

they do. We then have an

objective rubric to evaluate those.

We all get back together in April and share what we've learned.

And then we go through them one by one and decide of the amount of

money we have, what do we want to give to each? So how has that

changed over the years in that review process? How have you grown up

with it? We've actually become more

focused on being objective. When you just have

8 people in a room or 12 people in a room, it's very easy to

just talk back and forth and— And sway the group.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. But as we

get larger, you can't necessarily hear

everyone. So We try to make a

more objective evaluation form, which actually

just started in the last 2 years. We've

had— we are growing. Like you're saying, each

5 years or so, we hone it even further.

And so now we're at a point right now where we're trying out where we

are now with this rubric and evaluation form to

try to make sure that we're doing the best we can to communicate to everybody.

Yeah. What the people thought who went on the site visit and get everybody

get to hear their feedback, read their feedback, even if they can't attend the

meeting. And then, then we can evaluate from there.

I've been on both sides of the aisle for grants,

both giving money and getting money, having to fill out all

the paperwork and all of that. And Sue very

graciously allowed me to sit in on the process this year. And

it's funny when you said you're becoming more objective, because I

thought the group was incredibly objective, as if it had always

been that way. And really talking

from the heart in terms of, this is what we can

do, this is how we can help this cause, but also from a

very pragmatic standpoint in, we only have so much money to

spend, and it's a lot of money. But there's a limit, and how can

we best meet those needs? And a site visit

is not necessarily a one-off. Some of the members had

more than one conversation with the agencies,

particularly if there was a question. Yes. Or

some confusion somewhere. Maybe somebody said, oh, no, they don't really do that, or,

you know, whatever it was. But, you know, kudos to the members. It

was an incredibly professional and

extensive process. This was not a

one-off. No. By any stretch. The group's very professional, I think,

but in a comfortable way. Yes.

And I think some of that— well, some of these are

amazing women, but some of that also comes from the fact that this is our

money. You know, it's not like somebody's handing us

amount of money to say, oh, just spend it the way you want to. They

become, I think, much more focused

and intentional when it's your money. Yeah.

Well, it sounds like it's a very healthy respect of what it can

do as well. Yes. That you've seen it in action and know,

okay, we put this here, it will do this. We have to be very careful

where it goes. Yes. It makes a difference when you see it. Yeah.

That's a good point. Because when you think about it,

$1,100 sounds like a lot of money for an annual fee,

not even $100 a month. And if you only gave an agency

$100 in a month, they're not going to get a lot accomplished for that.

But if you put that $1,100 with 65 other

$1,100s, then you're talking about making a

significant change Running a summer camp. I mean,

that's, that's a huge amount of money. So it—

they— yes, they really do have an

incredible way of watching their

money, watching the group's money, but doing it with such a

cool heart, kind heart, that they

know that they're going to do something great with this money. So.

A lot of women quietly give more than $1,100. So we

went into this, our last grant cycle, with over $80,000.

And then some get so moved by what

they hear, they might email me and say, I want to put in a few

more thousand. Absolutely. So it's all done quietly. Nobody's

bragging about how much they give. It's very nice. Nice.

So I was just looking at my I have a list of questions right here,

and I didn't specify in the questions that story that you

sort of hinted at in terms of the capital campaign

that Women Giving Together supported.

For Common Ground Free Store? Yes. Yes. So why don't you tell us about— talk

about making a change and a difference. This is a huge story. Yeah,

it was really— Common Ground Free Store

is what the name says. It's a free store for people who—

for clothes, for kitchen items,

shoes. I mean, they have all kinds of different things, and they also

provide a meal for people when they come in.

Fabulous organization, but they have outgrown their space in a huge

way, and they have— it's been that way for several years, so

they have now secured

They're probably going to have another nonprofit join them in that

building. But they have a capital

campaign to make that happen. We

have been talking to them about this. And one of our— and this

happens a lot. Our members go to a site visit. They're

so moved that they become volunteers. That's great. And so they're going to be our

volunteers. And so one of— I think we have several members that are,

um, who volunteer at Common Ground Free Store, but one in

particular in this case was so moved by it that she wanted to

join their capital campaign and help them out. And so she has an inside

scoop on exactly what's happening and when. And she

came to us and said, I'm— and this is during the grant process,

so simultaneously she said, I want

to help them fundraise in a way that will

make enough noise that other people might want to give too, to make

that one of those initial big donations.

So she said, I'm going to put up $25,000 as

a match. Let's try to match, if you all would be willing to match. And

again, it's done very quietly. Nobody's doing a reply all and answering,

I'm going to give this much. It's all very quietly. So

nobody knows except for me how much money is being given.

The $25,000 match, people gave

$60,000. And that's just within the group.

You know, it's just, it's— And that's on top of the $80,000 that

you were already giving to other agencies. So it was actually ended up being over

$100,000 all in.

Because another, somebody from the outside then got excited about it and

added to it. Wonderful. So yeah. So yeah, that it's, this

is, this is how huge change is made.

Yes. For any nonprofit. And in this day and age,

the nonprofits are just scrambling. Yes, they are just

scrambling. So yeah, this makes— so thanks for adding that. I'm

sorry, I didn't want to catch you off guard, but it was It was

worth talking about that. It's a fun story to tell. So you're always

looking for new members. Yes. As I said, I

nudged Sue and she's allowed me to

sneak in to all of the meetings this year.

Tell us who makes a good member. Is it just a commitment to supporting

nonprofits in the county? How does an individual go about

applying for membership? And note

here, I'm handing Sue my application for

membership. We're so thrilled. This is so exciting. Yes,

I'm putting out that information to

the world. We're very happy to have you.

Thank you. It's really about having a kind heart and a giving heart.

That's really the only requirement.

There's no interest in having people

who have an agenda such as

political motivation as to why they might want to join this

group. I mean, that's really the— if

somebody has an agenda that's beyond just having a giving heart,

then that's really the only struggle we might have. Hmm. But other than

that, if someone has a kind heart, that's it. That we have

people who join that can't wait to get involved.

We have people who join that have no intention of ever getting

involved, but they love what we're doing. And you'll take their money and run

with it. Yes. And include them in all the discussions. And if they

wanna jump in on a decision, absolutely. Um, but it's, you know,

and the majority of people, it ebbs and flows with their life.

You might join with every intention of being involved, but life hands you

into a— sends you in another direction. Right. And it's like, well, I'm not— for

the next few years, I might not be able to participate. Absolutely fine. Then they

jump back in. It's so informal and so

relaxed that it's whatever fits somebody's life.

Joining is also very easy. We have an application. All

anybody has to do is Email women giving

together at gmail.com, and we will get you an application.

Send, and we can provide information to you. And Carol, you're we're not a

one-off. We invite anyone who would like to come to our

meetings, to come to our events without joining, and just learn

about us. If you like it, great, join. But you could come

into our meetings for years and never join if you wanted to. It's it's that

casual. I can't imagine going to the meetings on a regular basis and

not joining. It's never happened. I mean, if

it's anyone like me, I'm just like way too nosy to not be in the

thick of it.

So Women Giving Together also has another significant fundraising event

called Gather and Give. The next Gather and Give is scheduled for

November 18th. Talk about that. What happened with, uh, we were

talking, many of us have friends who wanna be part of Women

Into Giving Together, but the price tag's just a little too

high at the moment of their life that they're like, you know what,

$1,100 is just beyond what we're comfortable with right now. And a

lot of people have other passions and other ways that they

give. Sure. And that's totally respected. Sure. So, um, we wanted to come

up with an event that could create awareness, About

we we have chose three as the magic number.

Three different nonprofits make create awareness,

create an opportunity for people to volunteer if they want to, or

give. That gift might be ten dollars.

So this event is is it started out as

build creating awareness. This was this this year will be our fourth one.

That first year we raised about $16,000. Nope, that's

wrong. $35,000. I'm sorry. And

it has grown into this party. And

last year we raised over $100,000. So it's,

again, it's not just about the donations to these groups. It's,

you could walk away from there and even if you don't want to volunteer there,

you might tell your neighbor. About the great work that one or

all 3 of these organizations are doing. And that

awareness makes change. So, but it's become, uh,

you know, we invite men and women, but it's, uh, a lot of women are

making it into like a, uh, girls' night out.

It's kind of become a party, which is so fun. So what

happens is, uh, Women Giving Together members each summer

will nominate the nonprofits that they— that we've been

to before. That's the only requirement. It has to be a nonprofit that we've already

vetted. And then we all vote. And the

top 3 vote-getters are the 3 nonprofits that we will

showcase that year. They come and they give— they each have 10

minutes to give a presentation. And it can be a PowerPoint, it could be a

video, it could be a skit, it could be anything they want it to be.

And then we have 15 minutes of giving. That

could be text to give, it could be donor

advised fund. We try to come up with that.

We have a we use Give Lively so people can use that as

QR code. We have a lot of different ways to

make it easy for people to give, but there's no

requirement if you want to just. Sit there and enjoy a glass of

wine and watch everybody else give, that's fine too. We just— it's all just— it's

all good. And do I remember correctly? There's no

charge to go? No charge. You just go in and hopefully you've got your checkbook

or credit card or whatever ready to donate to one of the agencies.

And if somebody has no connection to Women Giving

Together but would like to participate in this, should they

just like email Or call, or what should they do? Yes, they can

email Women Giving Together at [email protected].

We also will be out there on Facebook, so you'll be able to see the

invitation there. And that's womengivintogether.delawareco,

for Delaware County, on Facebook. Okay.

And so we'll have information there, but it is open to anyone who would like

to join us. And there's no pressure to give. It'll feel like pressure

at the end because everybody's excited. But you don't have to give. It's good

pressure. It's like good trouble. It's good pressure. So

wonderful. Okay. Well, so, and I'm, I'm giving

all of my friends who are listening to this fair warning, they're going to get

an email from me saying, oh, you've got to come and participate

and have fun with us. So, so I'm excited for the November event.

So, Sue, this always— our

podcasts always go quickly. You know, it's like, No matter how many questions I

have or don't have on the list, we get through it. And I always

feel like I want to know more. The last thing I always

ask guests is give us your words of

wisdom. If there's a woman in the audience

who's interested in Women Giving Together or creating their

own giving circle, what advice would you give to them?

I— my big advice is don't recreate the wheel.

There's probably a giving circle out there that's doing what you

want to be doing. Find them, because

all of us are thrilled to talk about it and share

whatever we can about how to get started. Working with a

foundation is wonderful. That's not the only way to do it.

You could, if you're in this area or even if you're not, you could look

at Gahanna GLOW.

GLOW, or there's a Marian, I think it's called Marian

Women, 100 Women of Giving, I think it's called.

There's a lot of them. And the way those work is

that they don't need to create a nonprofit

themselves, a 501, because what they do is they get women

together quarterly And you bring a $100

check, not made out to anybody yet. And

so quarterly you go, you'd be part of this group of 100. You

meet, 2 or 3 nonprofits come in that have been invited,

give their pitch, and you make— the group votes

on which one organization will get the check made out

to them. So the group never collects any money. Hmm. So they don't

have to be a 501. The check goes directly to the nonprofit.

And that's— That's an easy way of doing it. I'm not saying that their job

is easy to organize these things. I'm sure it's very hard. But

as far as the finances go, they don't have to get involved.

So that's another way to do it. So there's lots of

ways that different women are doing it, and men. In fact, Delaware County

Foundation is just starting a men's Giving circle. So if anybody's

interested— Do I understand those are some of the husbands of members? Yes. Yes,

I understand. I was going to bring that up because Dublin— So it's a FOMO

group, fear of missing out. Do you know what? I think

that's true because the men would come to the events. Yes. Yeah.

And there is a men's group in Dublin, Ohio. Oh, good.

100 Men Giving. Okay. And so, yeah, they're

good advice, though, in terms of Look around before you just start to

create something. Yeah, just because it'll make your life a lot easier if you, if

you talk to somebody else who's done it. Right. Well, many

thanks to our expert guests for joining us today. Thank you, Sue Mahler, co-founder

of Women Giving Together, a giving circle of over 60 powerful

women in Delaware County, Ohio.