Catawba Medical Foundation’s Women in Philanthropy (WIP) will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9, according to Bill Loehr, Catawba Medical Foundation (CMF) executive director. WIP, which meets each spring and fall, donated more than $15,000 at the end of its inaugural year last November. The 2008 donations were made to the American Cancer Society’s local Wig Bank, Catawba Valley Medical Center’s (CVMC) Healthy House and for production of bound publications for the benefit of area cancer patients.

Held in the Northwest Area Health Education Center room 112 adjacent to the medical center, the September meeting will allow members of WIP the opportunity to review the needs from various areas within the medical center. At the regular fall meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 11, members will vote to select projects to receive support with their combined 2009 gifts. The September session will begin at 11 a.m and end at 1 p.m. During that time, staff will be available to answer questions about potential projects for funding. A light lunch will be available for each attendee.

According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the role of women in philanthropy is powerful. A recent study revealed that single women are significantly more likely than single men to make a philanthropic gift, and married men and married women are both more likely to give – and to make larger gifts – than single men.

Women in Philanthropy is a program of Catawba Medical Foundation, which gathers contributions to help CVMC underwrite vital new programs, acquire state-of-the-art medical technology, and maintain its self-supporting, not-for-profit status – all without one penny of tax dollars.

“Women do indeed play a large role,” says Loehr, “but fundamentally, they give for far different reasons than do men. I have seen this not only in women from the community, but also from our own hospital family.”

Loehr has discovered that women give philanthropically for the following reasons:

• Women give because of interest in and support for a cause.
• Women give to donate back to a cause, and to forge a better future.
• Women give to respond to a perceived need.
• Women give because it is the “right thing to do.”

Women in Philanthropy meets twice a year to review requests and grant funds to support CVMC and its various programs and services. It is based on similar groups nationwide, known as “Giving Circles,” in which women elect to come together and combine their philanthropic gifts to benefit a particular need or cause. For more information about the Catawba Medical Foundation or Women in Philanthropy, visit www.cmfoundation.org or call Bill Loehr at 828/326-3210.

Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit, public healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. CVMC, twice recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Magnet facility, was recently named as a “Distinguished Hospital for An Outstanding InPatient Experience” by J.D. Power and Associates as well as a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers.