Save the Date

WOBs 1st Annual Indulge! Fundraiser February 11, 2012 5:30-8:30 PM 1458 Great Plain Ave, Needham, MA The Presbyterian Church

WOB Wins Collaboration Excellence Award

Join us for an evening of indulgence: Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Tastings, Auction, Music, Awards Tickets: $50 : Tickets can be bought by emailing info@webofbenefit.org All proceeds will empower survivors of domestic violence to become economically independent through grants for education, housing, laptops etc.

Summary of Activities

2011
To date, Web of Benefit has awarded 950 Self- Sufficiency Grants to survivors of domestic violence. 200 grants have been given in Boston. 50 Grants have been given to Chicago.

In June, Massachusetts has celebrated its annual Nonprofit Awareness Day. As part of the program, Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN) hosted Excellence Awards for governance, advocacy, collaboration, and communication. This year, we were awarded the Nonprofit Excellence Award for Collaboration, which recognizes a team of two or more nonprofit organizations that have achieved extraordinary excellence and impact through the collaboration. We have partnered with 60 collaborating agencies in Boston and 20 in Chicago to award SelfSufficiency Grants and to expand the web through our pay-it-forward philosophy. Working with our collaborators, partners, and funders, we empower women to rebuild their dreams and move past domestic violence into self-sufficiency.

Redesign.
Notice something different? This fall, Quarasan, a design and concept developing consultant in Chicago, rebranded Web of Benefit. Let us know what you think@webofbenefit.

Many thanks to Quarasan!

 Christian Science Monitor

Our Executive Director, Jo Crawford, was chosen to participate in a P&G Gillette sponsored specially designed Capacity Building and Leadership Development Program. It is designed to provide the opportunity to access timely and critical information and guidance to sustain and strengthen high impact initiatives, to build networks and make collaborative connections. It is a series of workshops to present some of the latest thinking, trends and information happening in the nonprofit sector. She has also been given an executive coach to work confidentially with her to help her succeed in her efforts to advance the mission of the organization. The program will last six months. Jo was also recognized for her accomplishments by Christian Science Monitor and by Boston Financial Management, Inc.

Continuing the Web In September, we introduced a new program, A Note from Web of Benefit, to further our connections with our grantees. The program consists of a monthly newsletter with quotations and blog posts, job training/ employment resources, grantee stories and ways to add to the web of benefit. As part of this program, we created an online private forum, Web of Women, where grantees can connect with each other for support and peer friendship and mentoring. We ask grantees to email us with any suggestions for the type of content they would like to see in the mails. We would like to extend that invitation to you as well. If you have an inspirational note, quote, blog post that you would like to share with our grantees, email webofbenefit@gmail.com

For two days in October, Groupon (Boston) hosted a fundraising campaign for Web of Benefit. Groupon is a city based daily deal website with a corporate social responsibility arm called G-Force which creates nonprofit partnerships. With the help of all of you who contributed financially and through word of mouth, we finished the campaign with 133 donations, totaling $1,330. This was three times our original goal! This money was used to award Self- Sufficiency Grants to survivors of domestic violence. We want to say thank you again to everyone who helped us with this campaign!

" Web of Benefit helped me by giving me a

Anna B. Stearns Charitable Foundation Babson College Student Organizations Boston Financial Management Bushrod H. Campbell & Adah F. Hall Charity Fund The Clipper Ship Foundation Crossroads Community Foundation, MetroWest Matters Draper Laboratory Dream Factory Community eTapestry Fish Family Foundation Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Lincoln and Therese Filene Foundation Mifflin Memorial Fund The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust The Cambridge Community Foundation The Carlisle Foundation The Linden Foundation The Ludcke Foundation The McGraw-Hill Companies The Proctor & Gamble Company The Rebecca Pomroy Foundation, Verizon Wireless, HopeLine New England All of our generous donors!

laptop and money for transportation to and from school during a time when I had no funds for either. Because of their help, I was able to stay in school and complete my schoolwork on my own (rather than when the computer lab was open). I was also able to start my own freelance writing business, which would be impossible without a laptop. Now, I am in my second year of graduate school and well on my way to fulfilling my dream of being a full-time writer. I have Web of Benefit to thank for allowing me to continue on that path.

Total grants given to date 950+ Total pay it forward good works performed 2,800+ Total lives touched 3,800+ Five new collaborating partners in Boston and five in Chicago. Total collaborations are now 80. Three new foundation partners, seven new corporate partners. Board Expanded by two members and organized into committee structure. SOAR 55 nonprofit consultant services created strategic plan Pro Bono branding consultants, Quarasan, creating new logo and brand design and marketing plan. Hosted Japanese Womens Leadership Initiative with Simmons School of Management and Fish Family Foundation for fifth year. Grantee Google Forum designed and launched in November for peer mentoring. Three interns hired for events and grant research.

" - Chicago Grantee

We are now on Twitter! @Web_of_Benefit

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Follow us for real time updates on our programs, as well as for resources and information about women s empowerment and domestic violence.