By Heather Larkin, President and CEO of Arkansas Community Foundation
I am so proud of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas “Top 100 Women of Impact” recognition at this year’s Power of the Purse event. I cannot believe that I have been around long enough to say: “I was there from the beginning!” It has allowed me to reflect on the role that Arkansas Community Foundation played in the inception of such an important organization for Arkansas.
Twenty-five years ago seems like yesterday when in 1998, Olivia Farrell and Arkansas Business waged a campaign to recognize Arkansas women for their abilities, their career acumen and their contributions to our state. Arkansas Business’ “Top 100 Women in Arkansas” publication featured women business leaders in the various sectors of the economy. That publication helped start the conversation: Arkansas needed to do more to empower and improve the lives of women and girls.
In 1998, there was a small group of extraordinary women working to figure it out. Using the next Arkansas Business Top 100 Women luncheon, conversations were facilitated among the attendees on how to make a difference to improve the lives of women and girls. Each table reported out and the causes became clear: Arkansas needed more women in careers that required a background in mathematics, sciences, computer technology, and we needed to encourage female students to go into those fields. At the same time, almost every table suggested that philanthropy could make a difference in these areas, too. Olivia Farrell and Pat Lile were called on to develop a path forward.
The two women got to work, and the Community Foundation hit the road. Pat Lile, Mary Dillard, Karen Potts and I went to Memphis and Kansas City. We met with the leadership of the two respective community foundations who’d begun their own women’s foundations. A glimmer in our eyes began to take shape.
Joining forces with the Community Foundation’s Chair, Mary Gay Shipley and several other women, a steering committee was established to help start the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and create the first Power of the Purse event.
The key challenge was to inspire at least 100 women to give $1000. Invitations went out all over the state, to the former “Top 100” women leaders, along with philanthropists, educators, community leaders and more. By the end of the year, the money had been raised and the “Founders” were established. All the donations were placed at Arkansas Community Foundation in a fund designated exclusively for the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas.
For four years, the Community Foundation provided fund management and accounting, staffing for committee meetings, mailings, public relations support, the annual Power of the Purse luncheon and the Girls of Promise conference until the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas became its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Those were heady days for a young woman like me starting out in the world of philanthropy, and as the saying goes, the rest is history. Here we are 25 years later celebrating the “Top 100 Women of Impact” and building on the legacy of those original leaders who paved the way.
I am proud that the Community Foundation was there in the beginning and am incredibly inspired by the amazing growth of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas as they keep blazing a trail for women and girls in our state.