Twenty-five years ago, three friends met in Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole’s basement, in a secret society of sisters who had a dream of a new chapter in United Way of Greater Atlanta’s history.
“I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of an organization that does righteous work but doesn’t seem to understand that that work has to be done for and by women,” said Dr. Cole. “It was time for change.”
In the late 1990s, United Way of Greater Atlanta was leading groundbreaking work—including establishing the nation’s first 24/7 211 helpline and creating the Georgia Early Learning Initiative—but doing much of that work without the buy-in of women.
A basement meeting starts a movement
Dr. Cole, 1996 United Way Board Chair and President of Spelman College, called a meeting to order in her home basement, inviting two of her “sister-friends.” She became the leader of the group, because, as the other two said, one did not say no to Dr. Cole. Ann Stallard came with a large professional network and entrepreneurial spirit from her printing business, and Anne Kaiser, the “young’un” of the group, was ready to enact their ideas with the research and data to back it.
“At the time, we looked around, and it wasn’t hard to see that there had not been a woman in charge of a campaign, because, you know, ‘women can’t raise money’,” said Ann with a glint of a smile. “And it was a situation where women had not been a CEO of United Way in terms of staff. Things like that began to give us lots of road signs.”
And what better way to enact change than to start at the top, in former CEO Mark O’Connell’s office with a playbook in hand of how women were going to lead United Way of Greater Atlanta into the future.
The three founders presented their playbook at a meeting soon after, which called for a plan to reach a certain percentage of women on the United Way board and advocated for a woman to chair the annual fundraising campaign. They also wanted to start a research project, which they called mother-in-law’s research, spearheaded by Anne Kaiser, to find women of influence and potential philanthropic capacity in Atlanta.
And, as predicted, Mark O’Connell didn’t say no to Dr. Cole.
United Way’s year of the woman
A year later, the three founders presented a report on their efforts. The payoff was clear. The number of female Tocqueville Society members had more than doubled, and the three friends recruited thirty of those women leadership donors to form the first “Women’s Initiative,” later coined Women United.
“As we celebrate 25 years of Women United, I’m reminded of the extraordinary legacy this community has built. It’s more than an organization; it’s a movement fueled by women who refuse to accept the status quo. Being part of this legacy is a profound honor, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunities it has given me to serve, lead, and grow.”
-Denise Smith, Women United member
Arthur Blank and Stephanie Blank were so inspired by the leadership of Dr. Cole that they gave a $500,000 grant in 1999, in what the Atlanta Journal Constitution called the “year of the woman” for United Way. Then Northside Hospital awarded a match grant specifically for women who donated $2500 or more, inspiring 104 women to increase their giving to make their impact go twice as far.
Spreading impact, in Atlanta and beyond
Dr. Cole, Ann Stallard, and Anne Kaiser’s idea created ripples in women-led philanthropy beyond Atlanta. Other United Way chapters around the nation and beyond saw the impact of women’s leadership and replicated the women-led initiative model in their own communities. And here in Atlanta, Women United’s impact didn’t slow down.
Twenty-five years later, Women United members remain dedicated to helping children and women in Greater Atlanta find a thriving future.
In the past three years alone, Women United partnered with 197 nonprofits, the majority of which are female-led. Through these partnerships, nearly 283,000 women across Greater Atlanta improved their economic stability, gaining access to secure housing, increasing their credit scores, saving money, and finding sustainable employment.
Women United paves the way for advocacy wins as well, spreading their influence beyond the dollars raised. Inspired by President Jimmy Carter’s call to action at a Women United event in 2014, the group successfully lobbied for the Safe Harbor YES initiative for exploited children. In November 2016, 83% of Georgians voted for the adoption of Constitutional Amendment 2 establishing a dedicated fund to provide supportive programming for children who have been bought and sold for sex.
A bright future, by women and for women
The three founders’ hopes for the future include seeing women join each other to inspire a better future for women and children in Greater Atlanta, for the next 25 years and beyond.
“As women, if not us, then who? Right now, we as women have got to do as we feel called and are able to do,” said Dr. Cole.
Anne Kaiser agrees.
“If three friends 25 years ago can sit down and have a spark of an idea, then go with it, because here we are 55,000 members later, 2 billion dollars, 66 communities later. We would have never seen that in Dr. Cole’s basement at that one point of time. For all these women out there with ideas and passions, don’t look back!”
Their legacy is yours to join — become a Women United member and empower women and children to live choice-filled, economically secure lives.