Count Me In

  HWW Foundation Rings NASDAQ Closing Bell

  Backpack Drive 2007

  Microfinance Symposium

  Secret Santa

 

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About Count Me In:

Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence is the leading national not-for-profit provider of business education, resources and community support for women entrepreneurs to grow micro businesses to million dollar enterprises.  Count Me In launched the Make Mine a Million $ BusinessT and Micro to MillionsT programs to inspire women entrepreneurs to build sustainable enterprises, create jobs and develop innovative products and services.

Count Me In will be announcing future volunteer opportunities for the following upcoming events. An announcement will go out mid July.

Upcoming Make Mine a Million $ Business Events:

Albuquerque, New Mexico - September 18, 2008
Open to women business owners in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah
Charlotte, North Carolina - October 7, 2008
Open to women business owners in North Carolina
Trumbull, Connecticut - October 16, 2008
Open to women business owners in Connecticut
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - December 11, 2008
Open to women business owners Nationwide

To apply or join the Make Mine a Million $ Business community, please visit: http://www.makemineamillion.org/

 For more information visit http://www.countmein.org or email Volunteer Liaison Gail Dysarczyk at GDysarczyk@permal.com

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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.

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High Water Women Hits a New High Water Mark Delivering 2,200 Backpacks to Children

With the support of volunteers and donors from the hedge fund and financial community, High Water Women distributed a record number of backpacks to underprivileged children in August. Just in time for the start of the new school year, over 2,200 backpacks loaded with school supplies, books and clothing were given to children of homeless and HIV-positive mothers, girls in Harlem, Astoria, and Philadelphia who attend the Young Women's Leadership Schools, and children in need residing in Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Newark. Backpacks were distributed through the Child Center of New York, TASC (The After School Corporation), The Children's Aid Society, Inwood House, Iris House, Newark Now, Partnership With Children, STRIVE, Women in Need, Young Women's Leadership Foundation, the Jewish Child Care Association, and the Children's Guidance Center.

Marjorie Kaufman of Kingdon Capital and Doreen Mochrie of Pershing Square spearheaded the 2007 Backpack Drive. Darcy Bhatia, a High Water Women member who is Co-founder of Highmont Capital and on the Board of K.I.D.S. (Kids in Distressed Situations), secured the donation of 1,000 unfilled backpacks, as well as hundreds of lunch bags and water bottles through K.I.D.S. (Kids In Distressed Situations). Additionally, the Books for Kids Foundation contributed 600 books which were included in the filled backpacks.

Over $50,000 was raised to help purchase backpacks, school supplies, books and clothing. Led by professionals from Kingdon Capital, Pershing Square, Centennium Capital, Goldman Sachs and the Kenmar Group, nearly 100 individuals from 38 firms contributed to the drive. Donors also included individuals from XT Capital Partners, Galtere Ltd., Kacela Capital, Alexandra Investment Management, PAAMCo, Tudor Investments, AIG, Bear Stearns, Peter Kimmelman Asset Management and UBS. We are also thankful for Scholastic Literacy Partners for their assistance.

Volunteers from the recipient organizations played a crucial role in the effort. STRIVE provided both space and manpower for the assembly of the backpacks. A large group of teenagers from the charity spent several days setting up boxes of backpacks and supplies as they were shipped in, and then together with volunteers from Inwood House, Children's Guidance Center, Iris House and numerous others, helped assemble the backpacks on August 15th. Many women from the financial community also participated in the assembly event, most notably a large group of dedicated volunteers from Barclays Capital's U.S. Women's Internal Network (WiN), Rising Professionals Group.

The recipient charities represent children and teenagers who are impoverished. Many have been abused or neglected, are homeless or formerly homeless, and emotionally fragile. By helping these kids get off to a good start at school, they will be better prepared to face the start of the academic year. For homeless children, a backpack filled with school supplies can motivate children to attend the first day of school prepared and ready to learn, rather than feeling left out and embarrassed because they don't have what other students have. More importantly, the backpacks carry with them the feeling that someone cares enough to support them in such a meaningful way.

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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:

• Accion International, www.accion.org
• Grameen, www.gfusa.org
• Women's World Banking, www.swwb.org
• CGAP, www.cgap.org
• Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org
• Women's Trust, www.womenstrust.org
• Blue Orchard Finance, www.blueorchard.org
• Fonkoze Financial Services, www.fonkoze.org
• Chiapas Project, www.gfusa.org
• Pro Mujer, www.promujer.org
• Diana Taylor, www.banking.state.ny.us
• Jonathan Morduch, www.nyu.edu
• Planet Finance, www.planetfinance.org
• Microfinance Gateway, www.microfinancegateway.org
• www.microfinance.com, www.fonkoze.org
• www.unitus.com, www.unitus.com
• Mix Market, www.mixmarket.org
• Omidyar, www.omidyar.net
• Year of Microcredit, www.yearofmicrocredit.org

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.

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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.