When Lindy makes a commitment, it’s long lasting. She’s been married for 57 years, lived in the same home since 1978, had a career serving nonprofits, and has been chapter leader of her Spokane, Washington chapter for 9 years. She’s passionate about women’s issues and has served on both Rise’s Grants and Partnerships Committee and is now a member of Rise’s Transformation Partnerships Committee.  

Kia: Your chapter has been around for 9 years, that’s a long time! Can you tell us more about its longevity? 

Lindy: About 10 years ago a friend of mine in Vancouver, WA invited me to her chapter meeting of what was then Dining for Women. They had more than 100 members! Soon after, I visited another chapter near my home, and there were only a handful of members. I wanted to create something in-between and made a list of all the women I knew who might enjoy this. I started my chapter with Shannon Kapek, who has since moved away, and we had about 40 people. That was too many for my house, so we moved our meetings to a local Unitarian church. After a few years, we started meeting in members’ homes. Now we have about 10 people who come to each meeting.  

When I joined the Grants and Partnerships Committee (GPC) with Rise I told my chapter that I had too many balls in the air. People volunteered to help with some of the responsibilities and then other people volunteered to serve as back-ups. We now have four people in leadership roles who have different responsibilities. My role has always been the connection to the national organization.  

Chris Bieker is the member who designs our invitation and sends it out. When she presents, she always comes up with a creative way of involving us. One time she wrote a play based on the “three cups of tea” model and we each had parts in the play. We recently did a story cloth, where she came in with various pieces of felt and we created our own story cloths and told everyone what each symbol represented for us and why it was part of our story. When we did Flying Kites as a grantee, she brought in small kites that she had created, plain paper with sticks and a tail, and she gave us colored pens. As we listened to her talk, we created our own designs on our kites, representing the information that we heard about the grantee. At the end we talked about our designs and what they meant to us. Everyone loves when Chris presents because it’s always fun and we’re invested in learning.  

Some of the members of my chapter are not as involved; they are busy with other activities. They don’t really visit the website, go to webinars…even though I encourage it. They enjoy the meetings and continue to contribute. We actually have some members who moved away but still contribute. We start the year with a summary of each month’s grantee. People sign up to host or present. I suggest people sign up for 3 things per year. We have a good sense of who is doing what in the beginning of the year. Because I was on the GPC, I can throw in some tidbits during meetings about the featured grantees. Now on Transformation Partnerships, I have a new perspective I can share with my chapter.  

Kia: As a member of Rise’s Transformation Partnerships Committee, you are more familiar with this program than the average member. How have you tried to help your members become better informed about this program? 

Lindy: They don’t have enough information. It’s not all on those at the national level; the members aren’t taking the time to go and look it up, or watching the webinars, etc. One day, a lot of questions came up at our chapter meeting about it, so I jumped in and said let’s have four people volunteer to each take one of those partnerships, go to the website, see what you can find and come back, and just share for five minutes with the chapter what you’ve learned. Since I set it as a five-minute presentation, it wasn’t a big commitment. They volunteered because I gave them a thumbnail on each one. Some people had background from their own life experience that they brought into the conversation. They all became more invested in Together Women Rise after that conversation because they were more aware of these important issues being addressed.  

It was a really good discussion overall. As part of that conversation, we started talking about the need for strategic change and had a greater appreciation for what these partners are doing – or trying to do. We may go back and do that again sometime. Rise has now renewed two of those partnerships, so we’ll have more to learn. 

Kia: Why do you think Rise’s Transformation Partnerships are so valuable? Do you have a favorite so far? 

Lindy: I really like the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) because it is about research on women. Equality Now is about using the law to change social norms. If the law is enforced it eventually feels normal. I am not a lawyer, but I did work with a law center as their executive director and learned a bit about the law as it concerns women. One thing that became really clear to me is that women’s and girl’s issues are not well-funded. One of the reasons why Together Women Rise is a wonderful fit for me, is it matches my values and skillsets. Featured Grants are great, working on immediate needs, but we can’t spend the rest of eternity addressing only immediate needs without looking at the root causes. These partnerships have identified a niche area that they want to dive into and work on. It’s really essential work.  

We are attempting trust-based philanthropy which I think is great. We want to support the work of these organizations, respect them, respect that they know more about their work than we do, and so it’s not up to us to tell them how to do their work. It’s up to us to listen and learn and support them. Very early in my career, talking with a funder when I was an executive director telling them we were unable to use the grant they had given us for the original purpose. The response knocked me off my chair! The guy said, “we don’t care, we like what you’re doing, we trust you to do what is best with the money.” This was the late 80s and not the way things worked! This stayed with me forever.  

Kia: Where do you see your chapter at the end of 2025? What are things you plan to do to keep it a strong chapter? 

Lindy: We do occasionally talk about adding more members, but we don’t really have room in our homes for very many more. Our chapter is open on the website for people interested, and especially if people just move to town and want to get involved, the answer is always yes. By the end of the year, we will have a more informed chapter, maybe a few more members. When people travel, we can still get 10 people at the table. With monthly credit card or bank withdrawal giving, our contributions are stable. A girlfriend in Seattle said she wanted to support us and gives $5,000 a year, but she’s never been to a chapter meeting! I think our chapter will remain healthy, and less hesitant about volunteering. The more you do, the easier it gets.  

If you are interested in being featured on “A Rising Tide” or have a recommendation for a chapter or chapter leader who should be featured, please email Kia Hunter, our Volunteer Manager, at kia@togetherwomenrise.org.