Get inspired. Get involved. Make a difference.

HIGH WATER WOMEN

Social change powered by professional women

High Water Women believes in the economic empowerment of women and youth. Our core programs are focused on providing financial literacy training and supporting women and their children through our annual backpack and holiday gift drives. We also pioneer conversations around impact investing, and have worked globally in support of microfinance organizations. With a primary focus on women, our networks are diverse and everyone is welcome.

High Water Women Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization founded in 2005 by women in the hedge fund and financial services industries and now enjoys a network of over 3,200 volunteers and members.

Important update

In 2005, a group of senior women in hedge funds and financial services founded High Water Women to give back to their communities. Since then, through on-the-ground volunteering, we have pursued and achieved our mission of economic empowerment of women and low income youth through programs in financial literacy, an annual backpack drive and pioneering programs in impact investing and financial inclusion.

• Our Financial Literacy, Impact Investing, Backpack, and Secret Santa programs have impacted thousands of people.
• Our Muriel Seibert Financial Literacy program has served over 11,000 in the greater New York City area and helped pave the way for financial independence for youth, immigrants and young adults in our community.
• We have distributed over 151,000 backpacks in the Northeast, giving children the confidence and the ability to start the school year on equal footing, while providing volunteer opportunities for many financial organizations.
• Thousands of children have received gifts through our Secret Santa program (over 1,000 this year alone!).
• In 2007, we began looking at the field of microfinance and helped the Grameen Foundation establish the Bankers without Borders program which led to many field engagements with successful non-profits in Africa, SE Asia and Latin America.
• In 2012, seeing that the microfinance space was evolving into the broader area of impact investing, we hosted the first Impact Investing Symposium on the East coast to empower investors and have since brought together over 2,000 leaders in impact investing to inspire, educate, and collaborate in innovation to help move the field forward.

Along our 17 year journey, multitudes of women in finance have also met lifelong friends and mentors, laughed, weathered a few storms and most of all been inspired by the women we’ve worked with and served. We are proud of the work we’ve accomplished in an organization with a maximum of two full time staff! And none of this would have happened without your countless hours of volunteering and generous support.

As we look ahead there is so much more to accomplish. Rather than try to go it alone, we determined that our programs will continue to scale and provide even greater impact at other organizations that have the resources to achieve our shared mission. While this was a very hard decision for the Board, we believe that it is in the best interest of the community we serve, as well as our sponsors and volunteers, to be able to continue the work rather than risk having to close our doors and end the programs we’ve all worked so hard to make successful.

We are eternally grateful to 100 Women in Finance, Portfolios with Purpose and Sydney Paige Foundation (with whom we’ve partnered already for many years) for the time and effort you’ve spent working with us on this solution. Thank you for being an important part of the High Water Women Foundation over the years. We are so grateful to all our volunteers, donors and supporters for making these programs possible. We are very proud of all that we have accomplished together since 2005 and truly value you and your commitment to our programs.

Stay up to date

• Financial Literacy: to stay up to date on our program, please go to Portfolios With Purpose
• Financial Literacy: to volunteer with the program, please contact Elanor Brand
• Impact Investing Symposium: to stay up to date on our program, please follow 100 Women in Finance
• Backpack and Secret Santa: to stay up to date on our programs, please follow the Sydney Paige Foundation
• Backpack and Secret Santa: to volunteer with the programs or organize a backpack assembly, please contact Elanor Brand