LA women power through pandemic to fund Everychild Foundation grants

During the pandemic, one Los Angeles women's organization was still able to give away one million dollars in grant money.

LOS ANGELES - During the pandemic, one Los Angeles women's organization was still able to give away one million dollars in grant money.

Call it the power of the purse.

Only in these times, the Everychild Foundation did it differently.

In non-pandemic times a major project is given a one million dollar grant by the Everychild Foundation to go toward a major project.

In these times, it was more about meeting basic needs.

Everychild made what it calls "a necessary and urgent pivot." With so many organizations hurting, Everychild divided the one grant into eight.

The Everychild Foundation is a group of 200 Los Angeles County women who each donate six thousand dollars. a year of their own money. There is no fundraising, no donor galas.

Their slogan is "Women Reinventing Philanthropy." Founder Jacqueline Caster says "really, the common denominator is that everyone cares about children.

Wellnest, focusing on families and mental health, was among the eight established organizations granted 250-thousand dollars each.

Wellnest was founded in 1924.

Charlene Dimas-Peinado is the President/CEO. Dimas-Peinado says the Everychild mission is "to ease the suffering of children in Los Angeles"

With the grant, Wellnest was able to help more than 500 families.

In 2019, the Everychild Foundation's one million dollar grant went toward suicide prevention.

The foundation is in the process of reviewing grant applications for 2021. This time it will go to four non-profits and each will get $250,000.

Caster says in 2022 they hope to go back to giving just one grant for one million dollars.

Post-pandemic times may be more conducive to building a major project.

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