How We Work

We Pool Our Resources

The Spirit of St. Louis Women's Fund members commit to an annual contribution of $1,200 for five years. $1080 of each member’s annual contribution goes directly to making grants and $120 to help support SOS’s educational programs and operation. All contributions are managed through The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund, a component fund at The Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation. All contributions qualify for the highest charitable tax-deductions allowable by law.

We Respond to the Community

The SOS Women’s Fund looks to respond to urgent and critical needs throughout the St. Louis community where our funding can make an important difference. We do not limit grantmaking to women’s causes and award grants to organizations in the areas of:

• Arts and Culture
• Education
• Environment
• Health
• Social Services

We Do Our Homework

The Grants Committee researches needs in the community and requests proposals from nonprofit organizations. The Grants Committee develops guidelines, reviews proposals, conducts on-site evaluations of nonprofit organizations and continues ongoing relationships with our community partners. The entire SOS membership makes the final grant decisions by majority vote.

We Make a Significant Impact

The Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund was created to increase the participation and leadership of women in philanthropy in the St. Louis area. The power of many women giving together has a significant impact. By pooling our funds, we are able to respond to community-wide needs with substantial focused grants.

Our Partnership with the Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation

The Spirit of St. Louis Women's Fund has selected the Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation as its administrative, financial and grantmaking partner. The Community Foundation provides a wide variety of services all dedicated to helping St. Louisans put charitable dollars to work addressing the issues most important to them in the communities they care most about.  The Foundation administers over 350 charitable funds totaling over $125 million in assets and supports these funds in distributing over $10 million annually in grants and scholarships.