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Recent Highlights

  Backpack Drive 2008

  HWW Foundation Rings NASDAQ Closing Bell

  Microfinance Symposium

  Secret Santa

 

4,984 Backpacks Distributed for the 2008 School Year!

Congratulations and many thanks to all who participated in this year’s backpack drive. More than $100,000 was raised, including in-kind donations. Over 400 donors and volunteers from the finance industry were responsible for providing and assembling a total of 4,984 backpacks loaded with school supplies, books and clothing. The backpacks were given to children who are homeless, in foster care, or impoverished and residing in Manhattan, Harlem, Astoria, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Newark, NJ, Providence, RI, Hartford, CT, and Philadelphia, PA.

We are grateful for the wonderful generosity of the financial community and the tremendous in-kind and logistical support of Credit Suisse as well as the volunteer manpower of more than 200 people (including over 100 employees from Credit Suisse, 17 from Morgan Stanley, Kenmar, and employees from many other firms). Volunteers prepared and assembled a total of 3,886 backpacks on August 12th, 13th, and 14th for underprivileged children in the greater New York City area as well as Philadelphia, PA, and Newark, NJ.

On the heels of the great success at Credit Suisse, members of High Water Women Foundation delivered an additional 861 backpacks in New England. J.P. Morgan Investment Bank contributed towards 581 backpacks as part of a “Back to School” backpack drive supporting High Water Women. Selected as the August “Project of the Month” by their employee volunteer program, employees contributed money and in-kind donations, and 25 employees volunteered in an assembly day. In all, the backpacks were distributed to the Child Center of New York, Children’s Aid Society, DreamYard, Good Shepherd Services, Inwood House, Iris House, Jewish Child Care Association, Newark Now, Partnership with Children, TEAK Fellowship, Women in Need, and Young Women's Leadership Foundation in New York City and Philadelphia. In Providence, the backpacks were distributed to the Summerbridge Enrichment Program and the Times Squared Academy. In Hartford, the backpacks were distributed to The Village for Children and Families and the Covenant Prep School.

We are extremely grateful for the support of Credit Suisse, which lent space to receive shipments of school supplies and provide workspace for volunteers to assemble more than two-thirds of all the backpacks. Credit Suisse also provided the services of two movers who moved huge quantities of supplies on palettes for the volunteers to assemble, and then moved the backpacks to the loading docks for the charities to pick up.

We are also very appreciative of the following co-chairs and members of the planning committee who raised funds (close to a 100% increase from last year), obtained in-kind gifts, volunteer support, and provided the time to help with the logistics:

2008 Backpack Drive Co-Chairs
Therese Bechet-Blake, J.P. Morgan
Darcy Bhatia, Highmount Capital
Rinarisa Coronel-DeFronze, HedgeOp Compliance
Brooke Cobb, Credit Suisse
Chiaw Eei NgGibson, Aetna (New England)
Marjorie Kaufman, Kingdon Capital
Melissa Cohn, Kenmar
Erika Kreyssig, Pershing Square
Doreen Mochrie, Pershing Square
Barbara B. Schoenfeld, Saffron (New England)
S. Jennifer Sellas, iVision International
Eugenie Sibeud, Goldman Sachs


2008 Backpack Planning Committee
Grace Blakely, Deutsche Bank Securities, Volunteer Coordinator
Wendy Dailey, Credit Suisse, Inventory and Logistics Coordinator
Brett Driscoll, J.P. Morgan, Treasurer
Liz Hilpman, Barlow Partners
Kathleen Kelley, Kingdon Capital
Sara-Meyer Davis, Credit Suisse
Semira Moslem, J.P. Morgan
Robin Mosberg, Coordinator for the Charities
Zoya Raynes, J.P. Morgan
Elizabeth Saracco, EIM Management (USA) Inc.
Heather Tancredi, Morgan Stanley


Finally, thank you so much to the following top donors ($5,000 and up), as well as these top in-kind donors. Without their support, so many deserving children could not have been provided for:

Donors:
Aetna Foundation
Centennium Capital
Credit Suisse
Dematteo Monness LLC
Galtere Ltd
Goldman Sachs Foundation
Kingdon Capital Management LLC
Marjorie & David Kaufman
Saffron, LLC
Pershing Square Foundation
Carol Nulman

In-Kind Donors:
Barnes & Noble Union Square
Barclay’s Capital
Commerce Bank
Credit Suisse USA
Eastern Connection
KIDS in Distressed Situations
Mitch Ackles, Hedge Fund PR
National Geographic Explorer! Classroom Magazine
Sand Family Fund
S. Jennifer Sellas

Sincerely,
High Water Women Foundation Board of Directors

Twenty members of High Water Women with Co-Founder and President Kathleen Kelley outside the NASDAQ offices in Times Square

(Photograph taken by NASDAQ photographer Rob Tannenbaum.)

High Water Women's work was recognized before the closing of the bell at NASDAQ on Friday, January 25, 2007. Kathleen Kelly gave 2-minute remarks on the Foundation and spoke of the philanthropic work of its members. Board members and members who were present came from diverse financial and legal institutions such as: Abadii & Co., Barclays, Barlow Partners, Inc. , Capital, Ceberus Capital Management, Chardan Capital Markets LLC , Execuzen, Ibis Management LLC, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Old Hill Partners, Sidley Austin LLP, UBS, and Wilmer Hale, Inc. The following networks carried the proceeding of High Water Women's closing of the market: CNBC, CNBC India, CNBC.com, Fox Business Network, KTVU, NDTV (New Delhi), Bloomberg & Bloomberg Brazil.

Microfinance Symposium, Sponsored by High Water Women, Draws Leaders in Microfinance and Senior Women in Financial Services

NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- High Water Women (HWW), a philanthropic and volunteerism organization founded in 2005 by senior female executives in the financial services industry, recently hosted a half-day symposium on microfinance. The symposium, which was held at Shulte, Roth & Zabel, was the third and by far the largest and most successful of HWW's three microfinance sessions to date, with over 100 participants committing five hours to the intensive discussion. The purpose of the meeting was to initiate a collaborative effort between leading experts in microfinance and participants, identifying ways in which women in the financial industry can leverage their intellectual and philanthropic capital to empower underserved women around the world.

Leslie Lake, incoming President of High Water Women, stated, "Now in our second year of operations, we are thrilled by the progress of our programs and the prospect of new accomplishments. In our first year, HWW raised more than $1 million, including $750,000 from our Casino Night in January. These funds have supported much-needed programs at our non-profit partners serving women and children in the New York Metropolitan region."

Ms. Lake continued, "We are now very proud to announce that we are expanding our efforts beyond the New York Metropolitan area to include empowerment of underserved women globally.

In addition to committing to raise money to support microfinance initiatives, the group agreed to provide volunteers to help the microfinance networks with advice regarding:

A - accessing the capital markets
B - creating investment opportunities for institutional investors
C - currency hedging


For a complete agenda of the symposium, please dowload this PDF agenda.pdf

"By combining its members' expertise in all aspects of the capital markets with their reach into the financial services industry, High Water Women is uniquely positioned to help advance microfinance worldwide," commented Maria Otero, President & CEO of ACCION International. "They are applying their skills in research and due diligence to craft strong partnerships that can bring financial services to hundreds of thousands of poor households in the developing world."

The symposium was moderated by Diana Taylor, Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York.

For complete biographies of all the speakers listed below, please dowload this MicrofinanceSymposium.PDF

Keynote speakers at the microfinance symposium included:
  • Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation
  • Maria Otero, President, Accion International
  • Michaela Walsh, Founding President of Women's World Banking
Featured speakers included:
  • Christina Barrineau, Millennium Promise
  • Nancy Barry, Women's World Banking
  • Lucy Billingsley, Chiapas Project
  • Isobel Coleman, Council of Foreign Relations
  • Dana Dakin, Women's Trust
  • Emilio Ghersi, Accion International
  • Elizabeth Littlefield, CGAP
  • Ann Miles, Blue Orchard Capital Markets
  • Jonathan Morduch, New York University
  • Camilla Nestor, GF-CMG
  • Lynn Patterson, Pro Mujer
  • Robin Ratcliffe, Accion International
  • Louise Schneider-Moretto, Women's World Banking
  • Hannah Siedek, CGAP
  • Sharmi Sobhan, Fonkoze Financial Services
"The energy and enthusiasm created was amazing. The leaders of the microfinance community were as excited about our ability to provide intellectual capital as they were about our potential financial support. HWW seeks ways for its members to share their unique knowledge, experience and skills. Microlending appears to be a fantastic fit," said Leslie Rahl, co-founder of HWW.

The group is also planning a microfinance due diligence trip to Ghana and Benin in August led by Leslie Lake and Barbara Lucas. "With this trip, we hope to see firsthand what works and what does not," said Barbara Lucas, a co-sponsor of the symposium. "Ultimately, we will bring back the lessons we learned and apply this knowledge to HWW's capital campaign and our work with leading organizations in microfinance."

For more information on HWW's microfinance initiative, please send an email to microfinance@highwaterwomen.org. For more information on our Casino Night, please email casinonight@highwaterwomen.org.

For more information and additional resources related to microfinance, please visit the following websites: CONTACT:
Justin Jackson or Kristin Faucette, both of Burns McClellan, 212-213-0006 jjackson@burnsmc.com and kfaucette@burnsmc.com

For more information on our initiative in microfinance, please click here.



Secret Santa Brings Holiday Smiles to Local Kids Via WIN

Iris House and Inwood House For the second year in a row, High Water Women made the holiday season a little brighter for underprivileged children. Co-chaired by Shani Gendebien of Kingdon Capital and Sara McLane of UBS, the program spread holiday cheer by delivering over 550 gifts to children in homeless shelters run by Women In Need, and to teens in Inwood House and Iris House programs. The children were asked to write a letter to Santa asking for three gifts. Each participant in the High Water Women program purchased at least one of the gifts on their child's wish list. The Secret Santa program began in late November, and High Water Women members continued to purchase and collect toys all through December. Gifts on the children's wish lists included everything from kid's cameras and baby toys to race car sets and Dora the Explorer items.



Copyright 2009 High Water Women