Jill Prushiek and Sarah Stokes have been elected to lead the Women’s Giving Circle (WGC) of the Eau Claire Community Foundation in 2017.
They will serve as co-chairs for the organization’s Circle Advisory Team, which also includes seven other women elected at the WGC’s annual meeting plus the team’s immediate past chair.
Prushiek is an associate dean in the College of Education and Human Sciences at UW-Eau Claire. Stokes, a former TV news anchor at WEAU-TV, is now a co-owner of Stokes & Herzog Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing.
Since 2008, the Women’s Giving Circle has awarded $186,487 in grants. In 2016, it granted a record-breaking $36,000 to eight Eau Claire area nonprofits: the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley, Chippewa Valley Free Clinic, Fierce Freedom, Girls on the Run of the Chippewa Valley, Lutheran Social Services, Safe Sleep Task Force, Trinity Equestrian Center and Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council.
Members of the WGC contribute at least $250 a year to the organization. Part of these contributions supports grants to local nonprofit organizations that run programs benefiting women and/or children. The rest of the funds are used to build an endowment for future grants at the Eau Claire Community Foundation.
Anyone—male or female—can join the WGC. People ages 39 and under can take advantage of the Young Philanthropists program, which allows them to join the Circle at a reduced rate of $150 per year for up to three years.
Other members of the Circle Advisory Team for the coming year are Karen Eisenbarth, secretary; Petey Ahneman and Jennifer Hanson-Bremer, education and programs team co-chairs; Sherry Macaul and Jeanne Peterson, grants team co-chairs; Pat Markin and Marianne Klinkhammer, membership/outreach team co-chairs; and Sue McIntyre, past chair of the Circle Advisory Team.
More information about the WGC is available on the Women’s Giving Circle page of the Eau Claire Community Foundation website, www.eccommunityfoundation.org.