Supporter Spotlight: Allen Model
WOMEN’S WAY wouldn’t be where it is today without the support of our staff, board members, committee members, donors, Young Women’s Initiative (YWI) members, partnering organizations, grantees, and more. In our series “Supporter Spotlight,” we are highlighting individuals who have made a substantial impact within our organization through service, involvement, and commitment that has helped shape WOMEN’S WAY into the leading non-profit organization committed to advancing gender and racial equity in the Greater Philadelphia region.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with longtime supporter and former Board Member, Allen Model. In the interview, Allen shared his reflection on the transformation he has seen at WOMEN’S WAY over the years and why he continues to support our work to advance gender and racial equity in the region.
How did you first get involved with WOMEN’S WAY?
I ran a small but decent-sized Family Foundation in the mid and late 80s with my late brother. I was always interested in women’s causes and equity, so I did some research to learn about women’s organizations like Women Against Abuse, Women’s Law Project, and a few others. I found that several of the women’s organizations that I admired and wanted to fund were part of the original seven women’s organizations that formed WOMEN’S WAY. Over time, the Foundation supported not only those organizations, but also WOMEN’S WAY itself because we liked the collaborative process of WOMEN’S WAY.
I eventually ended up on the WOMEN’S WAY Board and was a board member for several years. At that time, WOMEN’S WAY was just beginning to entertain the notion of having a regular component of men on the board. For very understandable reasons, there was a certain amount of ambivalence about whether they wanted men on the board. Eventually, they decided it was not a bad idea to have some men for funding, symbolic, and strategic reasons.
