In celebration of WGA’s 25th anniversary, we’re launching a special series featuring conversations with our past presidents, reflecting on their leadership and the legacy they helped build.
Jan Healy was the tenth Member of WGA to serve as President, from 2021-2022. It started with an invitation from one of WGA’s founders, Ann Baker in 2001. It led to a quarter century of collective giving, lifelong friendships, and a bold hope: that WGA won’t be needed someday.
Describe your WGA journey. What brought you to the organization?
Ann Baker, a Community Foundation Board of Trustees member, Jacksonville pioneer, and a founder of the Women’s Giving Alliance, invited me to join WGA in its founding year, 2001. My intuition told me I was accepting an exciting invitation. I was right. Over the past 25 years, my experience with this organization has become a defining part of my life—nourishing my deeply held passion for women’s equity, teaching me about strategic philanthropy and the power of collective giving, and providing me the opportunity to build relationships with dozens of smart, engaging women who have become lifelong friends.
Do you have a favorite funny memory or special story to share from your time as WGA President?
Throughout those 25 years, I have served in a variety of committee and leadership roles, but what brings me the greatest joy is hearing the voices and stories of the women and girls who have benefited from our grants. One example stands out. WGA learned from our grantee partners that many of the women and girls they served were missing work and school simply because they did not have access to menstrual supplies. Our Members were shocked into action. At our next meeting, women arrived with thousands of boxes of tampons and pads to donate. Their immediate response was powerful—and it inspired me personally to establish Renewing Dignity, a new nonprofit dedicated to providing women and girls with the period supplies they need each month, so that no one would be held back by something as normal and natural as a period.
You were the first President to bring in consultants to help with our growing organization. What led to that decision?
In 2021, WGA celebrated its 20th anniversary—a significant milestone that gave us an opportunity not only to honor our Members, grantee partners, and the many accomplishments of our first two decades, but also to look thoughtfully toward the future.
As WGA continued to grow, the Steering Committee recognized the importance of taking a deliberate look at our organization, our opportunities, and the ways we could strengthen our volunteer-led structure for success in the years ahead. We engaged professional consultants to conduct a comprehensive organizational assessment, with the goal of developing specific, actionable recommendations to help us achieve our ambitious goals for the next decade and beyond.
We also recognized the importance of telling WGA’s story more effectively and expanding our reach within the community, so we engaged a communications consultant to help us strengthen our messaging and broaden awareness of our work.
Another important area of focus was advancing our commitment to diversity—an essential part of WGA’s identity since our founding and a commitment that is firmly embedded in our mission. Professional coaches led a series of Zoom workshops that helped us reflect on our progress, strengthen our understanding, and identify ways to move this work forward.
Taken together, these efforts (and others) represented an important investment in WGA’s future. They gave us an opportunity to build on our strong history while establishing a thoughtful foundation for continued growth, greater impact, and the decades ahead.
The pandemic created significant challenges for partner agencies and their clients. How did WGA respond?
The pandemic placed tremendous strain on our grantee partners and the clients they served. WGA responded by listening to our partners and adapting our grantmaking to meet emerging needs. In 2022, we introduced Core Mission Funding, providing one-year grants of up to $50,000 to help nonprofits address pandemic-related challenges and restore essential services. The enthusiastic response from our partners affirmed the value of being flexible and responsive to our community.
What do you see or wish for the future of WGA? What would you say to a woman who is on the fence about joining or getting more involved?
My hope for the future is that WGA is no longer needed—that women and girls of every background are treated equitably, with dignity and respect, and can pursue their dreams for themselves and their families. Until then, WGA can continue advancing that vision by expanding its reach and inviting everyone—including men—to embrace its mission of strengthening women, families, and communities. Equity benefits us all, and collective action makes meaningful change possible. I am incredibly proud to be a Member of WGA. I encourage everyone to attend a WGA event, learn about the impactful, research-driven work we do, and discover how you can become part of our collective. We are stronger together!