A Letter from Board Chair Mary Gallivan 

I am thrilled to be serving as the chair of the Women's Impact Fund. When I joined WIF five short years ago, it was beyond my wildest dreams that I would be asked to lead this phenomenal organization. I'm honored to be included among the leaders of this amazing group of women dedicated to maximizing women's leadership in philanthropy and to strengthening our community.

Several people have asked me how I will measure success this year. As you know, over the past 18 months, we have introduced many new ideas to the Women's Impact Fund. These include an ambitious strategic plan, a detailed analysis of our financial sustainability, a change in our membership fee, the departure of two fantastic staff members and the addition of two equally amazing ones, a new incoming committee chair structure, and most recently, the combination of the Membership and Member Education committees to become Member Engagement. To me, this will be a year of implementing these exciting ideas. I believe we need to give the organization time to "settle in" to the new structure and to see how everything works once fully implemented.  

By Jennie Buckner

In an organization full of women who lead very full lives, Mary Gallivan still stands out.

She wears an important hat at Foundation For The Carolinas, serving as Director of Centers for Giving overseeing the Center for Corporate Philanthropy and the Center for Nonprofit Sustainability. She is pursuing an Executive Masters of Business Administration at Queens University of Charlotte even as she assumes the WIF's top leadership role.

A Denver native and Duke University graduate, Mary is married to veterinary surgeon Dr. Sean Gallivan, and they share a Plaza Midwood home with their dog named Jake.

With all of that to keep her busy, how does Mary still find time to pen personal notes on stationary that she has hand crafted? It's not hard, she says, if you love what you do. "I love my job, WIF, my family, and learning. Of course, it also helps that I'm married to a saint."

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