AAWGT MEMBER HIGHLIGHT

As we mark our 15th year of collective philanthropy, we are taking the opportunity to highlight a few of our members as they describe what AAWGT means to them. We feature Tara Clifford here and will include other members throughout the year.

AAWGT Founding Member Tara Balfe Clifford

“If we use our trusted, respected, and ethical philanthropic power, we can help shape the agenda and use our access and influence to affect priorities in Anne Arundel County.”
------- Tara Balfe Clifford, April 2021

Helping AAWGT Grow

With a deep commitment to, and a career focused on, community development and affordable housing, Tara was active in Baltimore’s Giving Circle. Then Tara joined AAWGT at its founding in 2005. She was part of the team that discussed and drafted guidelines for the first grants in 2007.

In 2007, Tara spearheaded a new committee—Post-Grants Evaluation—and served as its first Chair, with Barbara Hoffstein as Vice Chair. “We established a process to ensure AAWGT/grantee partnership and mutual understanding of the results and impacts to be achieved, with monitoring through regular communication and site visits,” says Tara.

Tara cites and salutes the many accomplishments in AAWGT’s early years, including the design and implementation of the website, and getting the infrastructure up and running for the organization’s operations, communications, membership/grantee database, electronic invoicing, and online applications.

In 2009, Tara received the Founders Award, presented annually to a member for exemplary efforts and results. Also in that year, with Bronwyn Belling, Tara helped establish the Lifetime Member option. She has served on the Leadership Development Committee and currently is in the Racial Equity Study Group.

AAWGT Founder Sharon Stewart notes Tara’s leading role in recruiting the next generation of AAWGT members. “It’s easy and we should all do it,” says Tara, who also mentions the importance of “intergenerational recruiting,” such as inviting one’s mother and daughter(s) to join the organization.

Hopes for the Future

Tara’s “hope list” is a long one, but her top aspiration is for AAWGT to live and embody the title of our March 2021 education offering, Women Fostering Change.

Other hopes include continued work with AAC public schools on financial literacy for all students; nurturing innovation by grantees in incubating new ideas and ways of solving problems; continuation of an intentional journey toward racial equity based on our shared values; and initiation of a conversation about planned giving. “Creating one’s legacy through planned charitable donations provides oxygen for not-for-profit organizations,” concludes Tara.

WOMEN LEADERS FOSTERING CHANGE

On March 10, AAWGT presented a fascinating panel discussion moderated by member Cardie Templeton. Speakers were three extraordinary women leaders: Linda Gooden, Rear Admiral (Ret.) Margaret Kibben, and Monica Brown Jones, M.D. Topics included the importance of opening doors, the role of leadership “grit,” gender stereotyping, the pandemic’s effect on women’s leadership, overcoming self-doubts, and leadership’s evolution in the next decade. Click HERE to read the highlights of this event.