From A Grateful Grantee:
Thank You, Women's Impact Fund!    

The importance of your grant to the success of the Mental Health Association of Central Carolinas (MHA) during 2013-2014 truly cannot be overstated.  The $100,000 expansion of our suicide prevention and mental health education spilled over into the advocacy arena, with a Suicide Prevention Resolution being passed by the North Carolina House of Representatives this summer. The WIF grant allowed us to build relationship with key audiences, such as Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police

Ellis Fields

Last fiscal year, 1,346 community members learned how to support someone who may be experiencing a mental health crisis and ultimately prevent suicide. The additional staffing and focus your grant provided helped cement our reputation as experts in suicide prevention. In 2014, MHA was charged with developing and leading a Mecklenburg County suicide prevention task force and was asked to serve on the 2014 North Carolina Suicide Prevention Plan work group.

We will forever be grateful for your gift and owe thanks to all the members of the Women's Impact Fund for their individual support.

~ Ellis Fields, Executive Director of Mental Health Association

The Search Continues        

Our search committee has been hard at work this summer seeking the right person to succeed Susan Ehrman and serve as our new Operations Manager.  It is, as you would imagine, a tall order. While the search committee received resumes from many talented candidates, we have yet to find someone with the right combination of skills, personality and passion for the position.

How Goes Our Strategic Journey?    

The Strategic Planning Task Force continues charting a path that leads to our future and is now on step three in a four-step planning process. Each step asks a different question.

1. Mission Statement - Why does our organization exist? What, at the most basic level, do we do?
2. Strategic Goals and Objectives - What do we want to accomplish?
3. Tactics - How will we accomplish these goals?
4. Implementation Plan - How should we prioritize and pursue our plan?

We have answered the first question with our Mission Statement, which says the Women's Impact Fund exists "to maximize women's leadership in philanthropy by engaging and educating our membership, increasing charitable contributions and strengthening communities through the impact of collective giving."
      

The answers to what we want to accomplish are found in our eight Strategic Goals. Some are big picture, including: Bold Leadership on community issues; Developing Women as philanthropic leaders; Establishing a structure and culture that align with our mission. The Task Force has developed tactics for these goals. The four remaining goals align with the work of specific committees whose members will work with the Task Force to finalize their tactics by November 1.
       

Then it's on to the fourth step: creating an Implementation Plan!
Here's how Task Force Leader, Anne Essaye feels about the journey so far:  "We have learned so many things. We have learned about our strengths and weaknesses and what we believe in as an organization. We have learned about our collective hopes and dreams for WIF and are focusing now on the realities of making them happen. We look forward to sharing this with you."  

iPad Users, Please Read!         

With our recent website upgrade to a new version of Joomla, the menu dropdowns for our website are no longer functional on the iPad. We are working to fix this, but it will take some time to correct. Please bear with us!