Susan Dunn Sherk Honored at the 2014 Philanthropy Breakfast with

Women in
Philanthropy News
November 2014
Susan Dunn Sherk Honored at the
2014 Philanthropy Breakfast with
First Founders’ Award
Keynote speaker Sen. Chris Coons
salutes Sherk’s community activism
First Founders’ Award Recipient Susan Dunn Sherk
(right) with husband Wil, daughters Victoria and
Kirsten, and granddaughter Lily.
On October 22nd, more than 200 community supporters, business partners and Fund for Women (FFW) Founders honored Susan
Dunn Sherk as she received the Fund for Women’s prestigious First Founders award. This award and annual event has been a
staple and highlight of the organization each year. It provides the opportunity to celebrate the efforts of current Founders while
spreading the mission and garnering new Founders. This year the breakfast, held at the spacious Wilmington Country Club, was the
biggest one yet. We filled the room to capacity, giving the attendees more opportunities to network. The Philanthropy Breakfast,
which began in 2007, allows the FFW to recognize the impact a Founder has had throughout her career and life. Past honorees
include: Sally L. Gore, Linda Chick, Eva Verplanck, June Peterson, Jane Wilkie, Lynn W. Williams, and Maria Taylor. U.S. Senator
Chris Coons spoke to Susan’s achievements as well as her being an inspiration for the community at large. “If you want to get
something done,” he remarked as the keynote speaker, “put a woman in charge.”
Look for next year’s Philanthropy Breakfast, as well as other dates, within this issue. We thank everyone who attended and hope
to see you and many more new faces in 2015!
IN THIS ISSUE
Susan Dunn Sherk and U.S. Senator Chris Coons
at the breakfast. Welcome Chris to the Fund for
Women as he became a Founder at the breakfast
and also made his daughter, Maggie, a Founder.
Chris and Maggie joined their mothers Sally Gore
and Annie Coons as Founders.
Women in Philanthropy News
Philanthropy Breakfast
Fall into Philanthropy
First Founder, Young Founder
Volunteers Needed
First Founders Award
#GivingTuesday
Presentation in a Box
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Request from Historian
About the Fund for Women
Save the Dates
First Founders Award
“Next Million” Campaign News
New Founders since July 2014
Board of Trustees
Becoming a Founder
New—Logo Shirts
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November 2014
What Fund for Women has been up to recently…
Fund for Women New Castle County
We have been hard at work this past summer and fall —3 events, over 65 new Founders
Fall into Fund for Philanthropy, hosted by Susan Dunn Sherk
Founders Susan and Wil Sherk opened their home on September 23rd to potential
and existing Founders for an evening of camaraderie. Guests enjoyed food,
spirits and lively conversation concerning philanthropy in Delaware and how each
person makes a difference.
Ashley Biden speaks to guests about the importance of philanthropy.
First Founder—Young Founder, hosted by Ginger Ward & Karissa Thacker
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” – Aristotle
Founders Ginger Ward (FFW Next Million Chair) and Karissa Thacker
opened their home to host a Founder-raising for younger potential
Founders (under the age of 35) to learn more about our mission. The
event was a great success, signing 11 Founders. Carolyn Gordon of
Northern New Castle County Family Promise spoke and became a
Founder. This event was incepted when a group of our First Founders
created a 50% scholarship to assist 20 young Founders in becoming a
part of the Fund for Women.
Founders Caroline Jones and Caroline
Chahallis bask in watching the success of
the evening with 11 new Founders under
the age of 35.
Women in Philanthropy News
Carolyn Gordon and Erin Zoranski
show their new Founder ribbons.
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Amy Henretty and Jessica Durnan complete the
paperwork to become Founders!
Molly Giordano smiles with Ginger Ward
at becoming a new Founder.
November 2014
October 2014 Philanthropy Breakfast Honoring
Susan Dunn Sherk with our Eighth First Founders’ Award
Our Eighth
First Founder’s
Award Recipient,
Susan Dunn Sherk,
Mike Janis, Founder Don Fulton, Tom Dilley, and Bob MacIntosh
all members from Caesar Rodney Rotary Club, which sponsored a
table at the breakfast.
Michele Whetzel, Chair of the Fund
for Women Trustees, congratulates
Susan on her award while
granddaughter, Lily, looks on.
describes her life as falling
into many “pots of
chocolate” as she has led
her professional, personal,
and philanthropic life
serving others. Drive up to
the home she shares with
her spouse and fellow
Founder, Wil Sherk, and you might just find a barrel
collecting food for the Delaware Food Bank on her porch
on behalf of her neighborhood association, of which she is
president. Susan is constantly working on finding ways to
make other’s lives better.
Susan was raised in the outskirts of Chicago, Illinois and
married her great friend from high school, Wil Sherk.
Together they recently celebrated 46 years of marriage.
They are parents of two adult daughters, Kirsten Sherk of
North Carolina and Victoria Sherk, married to Joseph Bui,
residing in Washington, D. C. Both daughters work for
nonprofits—Kirsten for Ipas, a global reproductive health
organization, based in Chapel Hill, N.C. and Victoria as a
clinician at Green Door, a community mental health clinic
in D.C. They are very proud of their daughters and are
doting grandparents to Lily and Marie.
Founders Jane Wilkie, Calisa Emerson, Laura Day and her daughter
Haley Carlisle enjoy networking at the breakfast.
F UN D F OR W OME N
N EED S Y O U
Would you like to help the Fund for Women grow through
your volunteer support? We have short and longer term
opportunities. Some opportunities focus on Founders in
your county while others are leading projects for the Fund
for Women. Lend your expertise while getting to know an
amazing group of women! To learn more about how your
skills and talents can be used to help the Fund for Women,
please reach out to Susan Detwiler, our Governance Chair,
[email protected] or Kay Keenan, our Vice Chair
[email protected]
Women in Philanthropy News
Following a career of 30 years in Washington, DC, working
on Capitol Hill in various capacities with members of both
the House and Senate, and service with the Small Business
Administration, Susan began her fundraising career as a
Major Gifts Officer for Sarah Lawrence College. When Wil
came to Delaware in 1999, she served as the Grants
Manager and interim Executive Director for the Delaware
Community Foundation, and subsequently as Development
Director for the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Currently,
Susan has a consulting practice serving primarily as
Capital Campaign Counsel to nonprofits. Her clients have
included nonprofits from a wide range of fields, ranging
from the arts to health related and animal welfare
organizations, and faith institutions. Today, we honor
Susan because of her active volunteerism and her personal
philanthropy.
In the 15 years Susan has lived in Delaware, she has made
a major impact in our state. She chaired the Delaware
Fund for Women from 2006-2008. Kay Preston, who was
Vice Chair at the time, remembers Susan’s leadership as
“organized, energizing, and motivating;” just what the
organization needed. Today, Susan remains active as a
member of the Fund for Women’s “Next Million”
Campaign Committee, and most recently, Susan and Wil
opened their home for the Fall into Fund for Philanthropy
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November 2014
event which garnered 17 new Founders for the Fund for
Women.
Susan serves on the board of St. Michael’s School and
Nursery. Helen Riley, St. Michael’s Executive Director
says,
Susan is a model board member now serving her third
term after moving to the Advisory Committee for
two years. She is known for giving freely of her time,
talents, and treasures.
Her commitment goes beyond Delaware as she serves on
the Advisory Board for the Peace Drums Project. The
project is a unique Delaware interfaith initiative
promoting peace among Jewish, Muslim, and Christian
youth living in the Galilee region of Israel. Its goal is
building trust – a trust that will continue into the future
and will touch many people. It introduces peace-making
and reconciliation through the shared activity of a
dynamic steel drum band.
Susan is a past board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Delaware ACLU, and the Delaware
As a lifelong Episcopalian, Susan has served as a warden in Museum of Natural History. She is always willing to share
her knowledge on how to become involved in the
her church in Washington, DC, and in Wilmington, she is
nonprofit sector.
chairing the Christ Church Christiana Hundred Outreach
Committee. She is orchestrating the distribution of both
Since Susan and her husband Wil, made Delaware their
financial support and tangible collections such as school
home, we have been and continue to be fortunate for the
supplies for local Delaware students and sporting
equipment for the children of the village of Jalonga in the many philanthropic contributions. Susan’s volunteer
hours, both hands-on and in leadership roles, along with
Dominican Republic. The committee manages the grant
her generosity have made a difference in Delaware. Thank
process for nonprofit organizations looking to the church
you, Susan. We are exceedingly grateful for all you do for
for support.
the Fund for Women and others!
Susan has a great history with the Delaware Community
Foundation as the interim Executive Director, former staff
vice president, board member, and now, a member of the
DCF’s Development Committee. Fred Sears, President and
CEO of the Delaware Community Foundation said,
When I think of community leaders committed to
philanthropy in Delaware, Susan is on the short list –
she is passionate about serving others through her
active involvement in committees and boards
including the Fund for Women. We, and so many
other organizations in our state, have been
fortunate to have benefited from Susan’s
commitment and untiring effort to help make our
state a better place to live and work.
Founder and Chair of the Events Committee that organized the
breakfast, Nancy Reilly, New Castle County Chair, Jane Wilkie,
and First Founder Judy Hoopes gather for a photo.
Founder Ginger Ward delivers an inspirational message of hope.
Founder Cynthia Primo-Martin, Founder Maria Matos, and
Deborah Pierce enjoy catching up at the breakfast.
Women in Philanthropy News
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November 2014
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and the Fund for Women!
You, our Founders, are so generous and those we serve are so appreciative. This Giving Tuesday, December 2nd,
you can help us by spreading the word about the Fund for Women. If you use Social Media, share our
Tweets (@FundforWomenDE) and Facebook posts (FundforWomen) with your network. Watch for our
email to forward to your friends.
If you don’t want to wait until Giving Tuesday—go to http://weblink.donorperfect.com/2014ffwgiving.
Help us reach our goal of $5,000 from this campaign.
The needs of Delaware women and girls are indeed great, and for us to continue to do more, we continually need to
find ways to raise more funds. Help us make our first Giving Tuesday a big success.
Thanks for your generous support!
Request from our
Historian, Marilyn Hyte—
The FFW would love to help you declutter your home or office. Marilyn
would like to build a set of
“historian scrapbooks”, so she is
seeking any information of interest
to the FFW community. In particular, any FFW
newsletters from the early years
(1995 to 2006) and/or other documents such as newspaper clippings,
photographs, and event invitations.
If you have any of these, please contact Marilyn at [email protected]
Thanks to Colleen and Bridgett—the Fund for Women now has a
Presentation “In a Box”
Written by Kay Keenan:
Sitting innocently at my Rotary one morning I realize our program chair is discussing
how a speaker has canceled for one of the upcoming meetings. Our speaker for that
day is fellow Founder Colleen Morrone who is President and CEO of Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County. The next thing I know, Colleen is telling Bridgett Blake she
should have me speak on the Fund to cover the date.
So, a few weeks later with a PowerPoint created, I presented to the Cesar Rodney
Rotary about the Fund. The audience was about 80 men with four women members
who are Founders including: Beth Jones, Pam Kinley, Nancy Reilly, and Carol Ann Weisenfeld. Some of the men have spouses or daughters who are Founders including Bonnie Copeland, Cindy Dwyer, Neyja Elder, Royer Fischer, Mattie Janis, Terrianne Lavin,
Nicole Topkis Pickles, Judy Topkis, and Julie Topkis-Scanlan.
In good Rotary fashion the presentation took about 10 minutes to give and I closed
mentioning the October First Founder Breakfast as fellow Rotarian Nancy Reilly was
chairing the breakfast. The first question was about how to buy a table at the breakfast which resulted in two tables being purchased (thanks to Rick Harra of McCrery
and Harra Funeral Homes and Bob MacIntosh, MacIntosh Engineering) and four new
Founders—Bridgett Blake, Don Fulton, Alisha Bryson, and Amy Harra (made a Founder
by her spouse).
Do you have an organization looking for speakers? Let me know and we can either
find someone to present or you can have the presentation to adapt as you feel is
appropriate to the organization.
New Founder Michelle Freeman thanks the Board of Trustees for making Matt Haley a
Founder in Memoriam. Michelle was Matt’s significant other at the time of his passing.
Women in Philanthropy News
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November 2014
About the Fund
The Fund was established by sixteen visionary “First Founders,” who vowed to recruit 1,000 Founders, each
contributing $1,000 to fund a $1 million endowment, to be held at the Delaware Community Foundation. In
2009, the Fund for Women reached its original goal of 1,000 Founders. As of 2014, over 1,400 women, men,
and organizations have become Founders and supporters, and thanks to their generosity and fundraising success, the endowment now exceeds $3.2 million. This is due in part to the fundraising efforts of the Swingin’
With a Star (SWAS) Golf Tournament. The SWAS Golf Tournament contributed more than $1 million to the
Fund for Women from 1993 to 2012, in honor of our own Betsy Rawls.
FUND
Save the Dates!
FOR
WOMEN GRANT APPLICATIONS

December 4, 2014, 5:00 to 7:00 pm—
Winter Founderland,
Independence Clubhouse, Millsboro
*FFW WILL BEGIN ACCEPTING
ON JANUARY 1, 2015.

January 27, 2015, 5:30 to 7:00 pm—
FFW Networking Event at University &
Whist Club, Wilmington
THERE WILL BE GRANT
WITH APPLICATIONS :

March 12, 2015, House Party at Founder
Caroline Chahalis', Bear

April 12, 2015, 2:00 to 5:00 pm—
Fashion, Fun, and Philanthropy Show,
Independence Clubhouse, Greenville
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12TH
CENDEL BUILDING
101 W. L OOCKERMAN ST., DOVER

May 14, 2015, 5:30 pm—Grant Awards’
Ceremony and Annual Driving Force Award,
Duncan Center, Dover
Look for more events and details in
upcoming newsletters.
GRANT APPLICATIONS
WORKSHOPS HELD TO ASSIST
DOVER:
WILMINGTON:
THURSDAY , DECEMBER 18TH
COMMUNITY SERVICES BUILDING, ROOM 105
100 W. 10TH STREET, WILMINGTON
THE 2015 GRANT APPLICATION
AND ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT WWW .DELCF .ORG /FFW
About the 2015 First Founders Award
Since 2007, the Fund for Women annually presents the First Founders’ Award to a Founder who:
° Has a record of exceptional generosity,
° Demonstrates civic or charitable responsibility, and
° Whose leadership has encouraged others in serving our community in Delaware.
Please nominate a Founder you feel has made a difference in our state and deserves to be spotlighted for her
accomplishments and contributions. The recipient will be honored on September 30, 2015, at our
Philanthropy Breakfast held at the Wilmington Country Club.
Just complete the nomination form on www.delcf.org/FFW and email it to our Vice Chair, Kay Keenan at
[email protected]
Women in Philanthropy News
6
November 2014
News from your “Next Million” Campaign…
We have reached our 21st anniversary, and we know the
needs for women and girls in Delaware are greater than
ever. In 2014, we saw over four times the need for which
we could provide.
The grants we were able to provide will aid prenatal
care for low-income and uninsured women in western Sussex County; mental health services for victims of sexual
assault; a program for Delaware girls, ages 8-18, to explore
STEM programs; and food for domestic violence victims.
These are just a few of the recipients of the Fund for
Women grants. However, we can and should do more.
As the title of the campaign implies, we are striving to raise
an additional $1 Million to add to our endowment.
To date, we have raised a total of $440,706, increasing our
endowment to $3.2 million.
Whether you are making your first gift or continuing to
support the Fund for Women, all contributions to the
endowment count towards the “Next Million.” We thank
you for your continued support enabling us to collectively
give more support to our community.
For more information on the “Next Million” please contact
Ginger Ward at 646-373- 6394 or [email protected].
Welcome New Founders, July–November 2014
Gert Abel
Sue Bennett
Bridget Blake
Thomas Brady Jr.
Pauline Brittingham
Alisha Bryson
Cynthia CarterWedgewood
Paula Castiglione
Maggie Coons
Sen. Chris Coons
Margaret Donohoe
Jessica Durnan
Calisa Emerson
Jane Fisher
Michelle Freeman
Don Fulton
Nancy Gale
Molly Giordano
Mary Nash Godden
Barbara Goldberg
Carolyn Gordon
Amy Harra
Amy Henretty
Karen Heydt
Catherine Hodgins
Margaret Holley
Lynne Howard
Katherine Jameson
Maggie Juliano
Leslie Kelly
Marcy Kempner
Melissa Kenny
Lisa Lessner
Kathleen MacRae
Molly Magarik
Sandra Massa
Wendy Massey
M. Claire
McCudden
Isabelle Mead
Harriet Memeger
Cheryl Moralez
Theresa Morrissey
Colleen Morrone
Lois Munson
Jenna Nugent
Judith Orth
Ellen Roberts
Mary Roper
Kimberly Ryan
Jennifer Scavina
Denise Schwartz
Fred Sears
Victoria Sherk
Linda Shopa
Eve Slap
Sharon Struthers
M Cynthia Sublett
Betty Sweeny
Kathy Tidball
Ellen Todd
Kathy Trzaskos
Kerstin Tyreus
Mary Pat Urbanik
Margaret Vavala
Cynthia Viviano
Theresa Vreken
Susan Weissinger
Tomoko Werbe
Carol Whetzel
Nancy Woolpert
Anne Wright
Maryann Younger
Erin Zoranski
For a full list of Founders visit — http://www.delcf.org/Download/FFW/FFW2014/Founders_List_2014.pdf
B O A RD O F T RU S TEES 2 0 1 4- 2 0 1 5
Chair
Chair Emeritus
Vice Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
Governance Chair
Archivist Committee
Data & Publications Chair
Events Chair
Grants Chair
Grants Vice Chair
Marketing & Communications
New Castle Co Development Chair
“Next Million” Campaign Chair
Post Grant Chair
Sussex Co Development Chair
Chronologist
Women in Philanthropy News
Michele Whetzel
Laura Day
Kay Keenan
Pam Cornforth
Valerie Middlebrooks
Susan Detwiler
Marilyn Hyte
Terrianne Lavin
Nancy Reilly
Suzanne Feaster
Pamela Sharpe
Kimberly Cauley
Jane Wilke
Ginger Ward
Susan Salkin
Lynn Kokjohn
Anne T. Hogan
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November 2014
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Wilmington, DE
Permit No. 912
P.O. Box 15101
Newark, DE 19711
Change Service Requested
Becoming a Founder is easy—www.delcf.org/ffw.html
To receive more information, email [email protected].
Remember, Fund for Women Board of Trustees members are volunteers,
so your donation goes directly to growing our resources. By growing our
endowment, Founders of the Fund for Women can better serve the needs of all
women and girls throughout Delaware.
Thanks for becoming a Founder!
They are here—Fund for Women logo-shirts
in white and dark purple.
w/3 styles: long-sleeved cuffed, 3/4 sleeved, and short sleeve
polo. http://weblink.donorperfect.com/FFW_Shirts
Women in Philanthropy News
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November 2014

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