Sorority Women Send Girls to School Across the Globe
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We are joining the movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women’s power as economic catalysts. Numerous studies indicate that education is the key to eradicating poverty. We will remove barriers to education for girls and women.
In the 1800s, women in America did not have the right to vote, nor were they welcomed at institutions of higher learning. As more and more women sought a college education, society pushed back claiming that young women were not physiologically suited for book learning. Yet women who wanted to advance their intellectual life resolved to attend college despite decades of opposition. In the company of other like-minded women, these pioneers began to form sororities as early as 1850 in order to withstand the ridicule together and support each other in their desire to achieve an education.
More than 150 years later, sororities continue to be support organizations for young women looking to advance their educational endeavors as well as contribute to their campus and community through philanthropy.
The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation (CofS) was officially recognized as a U.S. charity on September 30, 2010 as a mechanism by which all sorority women can stand together across affiliation, age, color, and creed to make a difference in the lives of millions of girls and women. As a community of more than 5 million college-educated women, we strive to give girls and women around the globe an equal chance for rewarding lives and livelihoods through schooling, the learning of a trade, or even a college degree.
Sorority women understand the value of achieving an education, and we believe that every girl in the world deserves the opportunity to go to school. We have a responsibility as educated women to help those less fortunate, especially girls who would never have the opportunity to go to school without our help. We want to provide those who have little chance of ever achieving a quality education on their own, the opportunity to do so.
The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation was established because sorority women are strong proponents of women’s empowerment and are also well aware that the sorority movement itself came forth out of oppression. In less than 2 years, sorority women across the U.S. on over 100 college campuses are joining this effort to uplift girls and women around the world from poverty and oppression by helping them achieve the one thing we already have – an education.
Since being recognized as a charity in September 2010, the Circle of Sisterhood has been able to have an impact in eight countries on five continents and has raised close to $100,000.
“One study after another has shown that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty. Schooling is often a precondition for girls and women to stand up against injustice, and for women to be integrated into the economy. Until women are numerate and literate, it is difficult for them to start businesses or contribute meaningfully to their economies.” Half the Sky, pg. 168
More About This Charity
Region
Midwest
Category
Best New Charity
Name
Circle of Sisterhood
Mission
The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation will leverage the collective wisdom and influence of sorority women to support entities around the world that remove educational barriers for girls and women, uplifting them from poverty and oppression.
Impact
- This Achievement raised $100,000
- This Achievement helped 100 people
- Circle of Sisterhood was able to have an impact in 8 countries on 5 continents in its first year of existence as a 501c3 charity.
Works In
U.S., Peru, Cambodia, Zambia, Tanzania, Mexico, Ethiopia, Thailand
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