Funder Focus: Danna Murray and the Minerva Foundation for BC Women
October 4, 2004
By Nicole Zummach
This month in our Funder Focus we feature the Minerva Foundation
for BC Women, which was established in 1999 to provide funds for
projects that assist women to realize their potential and to create
a safe place for them to live and work in British Columbia. CharityVillage
spoke with executive director Danna Murray about the issues facing
BC women, how the foundation is working to address their needs, and
the challenges associated with getting a new foundation off the ground.
CharityVillage: The foundation is still very young, only five
years old. How did it get started?
Danna Murray: The Minister of Women's Equality got together a
group of women involved in business and politics. The group felt that
with their connections and ability to make things happen in the community,
they could support other organizations that were doing work with women
across the province. So after talking about it for a year or so, they
had their public launch in 2000.
The organization is based on four pillars: safety for women, education,
leadership, and economic security. Those were the four areas where the
group thought they could support women. The point was that they would
create opportunities for women to realize their economic and leadership
potential. They felt that they could best help other organizations by
helping those organizations to support themselves. For example, we support
many organizations with special project grants.
CV: What are some of the biggest challenges associated with starting
a new foundation?
DM: I think that, like anything, it takes a while to build credibility
in the community. One thing that we have is a very dynamic board. We've
had numerous women that basically donated their time and energy, and
had a lot of influence in the community. Having worked for a lot of
other nonprofits, I have to say that it was a fairly easy rise in terms
of getting out there in the community and gaining some credibility because
of the people associated with us - the Minerva family, as it were. I
think it was very timely as well. These women had reached the top of
their game and were now ready to give back. This was something that
they could sink their teeth into and say, 'yes, I'll support this.'
One of our first projects was a leadership conference that brought together
30 women leaders from different career sectors throughout the province.
We also brought together 30 young women who were grade 11 students.
They came together at UBC (University of British Columbia) over a weekend
to talk about leadership, and had all kinds of workshops. It was an
incredible group of women, and from that the word spread. It was a great
stepping stone.
CV: What advice would you give to others looking to start
a public foundation.
DM: We've tried to really collaborate with others. With all the
new wealth, there are a lot of people trying to set up foundations.
Maybe it would be better to collaborate with another foundation or join
forces. We've dealt with a lot of people through our education awards
and there are individuals who might have thought about setting up their
own foundation. We tell them that if there is something specific they
want to support that is within our guidelines, for example education,
they can set up an endowment with us and we will manage it. Then they
don't have to do the work and there isn't this proliferation of a million
different foundations within a small area.
Another thing we've found is that because we were a new foundation we
could be quite flexible. If people came to us and said 'Gee, I'd really
like to do this', we could pretty well say, 'Sure, we'll accommodate
you.' I think with a lot of the more established foundations this might
be more difficult.
CV: You've mentioned your four pillars: education, safety, economic
security, and leadership development. How is the foundation working
to support these priority issues?
DM: Education was the first program we set up. When we started,
we went to every university in the province and said we would put up
$5,000, if they would match it, to create an award for women, and we
had criteria for the type of women we wanted to support. For example,
we wanted to help single mothers; we wanted to retrain mature women
returning to the workforce; we wanted to advance women in nontraditional
fields of study; and as well, we wanted to assist immigrant women, Aboriginal
women, and women with disabilities. So those were our four key areas
and we wanted to set up a $10,000 award at each university. Every university
said yes and we joined forces. It was great. From there, we went to
every college. So now we also have 15 colleges throughout the province
with awards ranging from $1,000 to $2,500. We've given out more than
$600,000 in the last four years.
Then there is our leadership conference, which I mentioned previously.
We started that in 2002 and we bring young women in from all over the
province who have demonstrated that they have leadership ability. These
young women have the opportunity to meet with people like Carole Taylor,
and Rae Hull, the regional director of CBC Television. They would normally
never have the opportunity to do that. The idea is that they develop
relationships during the conference that would carry on in the future
as well. Another program we just started here in Vancouver is called
Follow a Leader. We take ten professional women and then grade 12 students
job shadow an individual for the day, and then attend a series of workshops.
The hope is that mentoring relationships might develop out of that.
This year we will also be doing it in Prince George and Victoria.
We address the issue of safety through special project grants. For example,
we gave money to the Red Cross for their Prevention Circle. We trained
Aboriginal women about abuse and then sent them back into their communities
to train others. So we provide grants to a number of different organizations
to work on that.
Our latest initiative with economic security is the launch of Minerva
Helping Women Work. This is a program where we bring in 15 women with
a professional background who have been out of the workforce and really
need to get back to work. It is a six-month program where we will meet
with them several times a week and take them through a series of career
planning exercises. Then, through the Minerva network, they will have
the opportunity to meet women from all different career areas, and also
work with a personal coach during the job search and interview process
at the end.
CV: Last year you branched out with new chapters in Victoria
and Prince George. Considering that the foundation is still quite young,
was it a challenge to expand so quickly?
DM: It's been a wild ride. We've accomplished a lot in a short
period of time and we're now going on to the next level, which is sustainability
as opposed to growth. We're getting our systems and processes in place
to deal with the challenges of having so many things going on and so
many people involved. We just put together a big plan for our volunteer
piece, which is huge because we rely almost solely on volunteers.
CV: October is Women's History Month. How do you think we
will look back on this period of history, as it relates to women, 20
years from now? Where are we at?
DM: Well, I think we've come a long way, but we still have a
long way to go. Right now, many women have reached a position of power
and influence. I think that's been the most exciting thing about this
era. There is still a huge population fighting through the glass ceiling,
but there are women in positions who can make changes and influence
others. Given the programs we are doing, we come face to face with women
who are still knocking into barriers all the way along. So, as I say,
we've come a long way but we have a long way to go.
CV: How do you see Minerva shaping the future for women in
BC?
DM: With all of our leadership programs and our education awards,
I think we are empowering women who can then go back into their communities
and make them better. By providing women with economic security and
leadership abilities, we are giving them the tools to make changes in
the community and help women help themselves.
CV: What would you like to achieve as a foundation in the
coming years? How do you see yourself evolving?
DM: Sustainability over the next few years is our mandate going
forward. We would obviously like to build our endowment. We have a lofty
goal of $5 million and we would hope that we are in a position to help
even more people. We want to make ourselves a solid, sustainable organization.
Danna Murray joined the foundation shortly after its public launch
in 2000, and has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than a decade.
For more information about the Minerva Foundation for BC Women, visit
www.theminervafoundation.com.
