Impact - it is in our name; it is at the heart of our philanthropic commitment to the community.  Over the past 13 years, we've seen projects that we've funded take off and achieve tremendous results, in part because of the investment WIF has made through critical and strategic grant-making.

There's no telling what can happen when the right organization applies at the right time with the right project.  In 2008, WIF awarded a $98,000 education grant to Freedom School Partners to support a Freedom School camp.  The plan was to learn from that project and scale the program and expand that opportunity to more children who could benefit from their six-week, literacy-rich summer camp.

Mary Nell McPherson with WIF's Mary Gallivan

Recently, Mary Nell McPherson, executive director of Charlotte's Freedom School Partners, shared a "mission moment" reflection on the program.  Initial expectations were easily surpassed with the first two years of the grant: the program more than doubled during that period and continued to expand.  Today, Freedom School Partners serves more than three times the children it served when WIF made its grant in 2008.