San Diego Womens Foundation

SDWF Holiday Party with a Purpose 2025
2025-12-11 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | ElderHelp of San Diego, 9590 Chesapeake Drive, San Diego, CA, 92123, United States
Join us for a heartwarming holiday celebration! The San Diego Women’s Foundation invites you to our Holiday Party with a Purpose 2025 – a festive gathering featuring ElderHelp of San Diego, our Cycle 25 Community Partner dedicated to preventing and addressing senior isolation and loneliness. We’ll come together to spread cheer, give back to our community, and support a wonderful cause.
ElderHelp’s Holiday Angels program spreads holiday joy to hundreds of local seniors each year. Volunteers deliver warm wishes along with a festive plant, a $25 gift card, and a handmade greeting card to each senior, and pet owners even receive a little something for their furry friends. This outreach brightens spirits during a season when many older adults may feel especially alone – for some seniors, it will be the only gift they receive this holiday season.
We encourage guests to support the Holiday Angels initiative by donating $25 Walmart or Target gift cards, purchasing items from ElderHelp’s Amazon Wish List, or making a contribution online:

Gift Cards: Please mail or drop off gift cards by November 21 at ElderHelp of San Diego, 9590 Chesapeake Dr, San Diego, CA 92123.
Amazon Wish List: Purchase items directly from ElderHelp’s list to support local seniors.
Online Donations: You may also donate directly online.

Your generosity will help ensure no senior is forgotten this holiday. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of isolated seniors by sharing the joy and spirit of the season.
Please note: This event is open to SDWF members and their guests only. Registration is required, and festive casual attire is encouraged.

SDWF Critical Issue Education: Affordable Child Care
2026-01-26 12:00 - 13:00 | Online Event – Zoom
In June 2026, SDWF will award unrestricted funding to nonprofit organizations in San Diego County working to expand affordable, accessible, and quality child care for infants and toddlers (ages 0-4 years). We will prioritize organizations that provide services to families and communities with the least access today, and whose efforts contribute to long-term, systemic improvements to the child care landscape.
Join us on Monday, January 26, for an engaging virtual conversation about the urgent need for affordable child care and innovative strategies to strengthen the system for parents, providers, and communities alike. Our featured speakers Samantha Selstad and Barbara Suazo will share insights, challenges, and solutions shaping the future of child care in San Diego.
Please note: We are recording this session and will share a link to the video with everyone who registered.
About our Speakers:
Samantha Selstad
Samantha is an expert in the field of Early Childhood Development with a passion for neurological development, ethics, and developmentally appropriate practices. Samantha holds a B.A in Early Childhood Education from National University and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from Pacific Oaks College. Samantha loves working with parents, teachers, and administrators to assist students in reaching developmental milestones and has two children as well.
Barbara Suazo
Barbara is a San Diego native, proud JIT alum and passionate advocate for parenting and early education support. Barbara’s day job involves channeling her diverse experiences and vibrant personality into creating lasting connections and impactful events, all while navigating the child care market and parenting two young kiddos.

SDWF Cycle 26 Proposal Review Training (Members Only)
2026-02-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Zoom Meeting
This members-only training is required for anyone planning to participate in SDWF proposal review.
Trainers will provide all the necessary information to effectively evaluate applications – no prior experience necessary! Reviewers will be assigned to a small team for proposal review. Teams will meet in person or virtually between February 5 – March 1 to review and score their assigned proposals.
**If you are unable to attend the live virtual training but would still like to participate in proposal review, a recorded training will be available. To select this option, please choose the recorded training option on the next page. **
MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE TO RECEIVE ZOOM LINK OR RECORDING
IMPORTANT DATES
Feb 5- March 1: Teams meet to review proposals (each team will meet once during this timeframe)
March 1: Review deadline

Adventuring Philanthropists: Galentine's Day Volunteer Event
2026-02-13 11:00 - 13:00 | Bayside Community Center, 2202 Comstock Street, San Diego, CA, 92111, United States
Join us for a special Galentine’s Day volunteer opportunity with Bayside Community Center as we support their Valentine’s Day Ice Cream Social for participants in their senior lunch program on Friday, February 13.

What to Expect:

11am: Arrive for set up
11:30am-12:30pm: Serve ice cream sundaes and socialize with seniors
12:30-1pm: Assist with clean up

Come solo or bring a friend, because celebrating Galentine’s Day is even better when you give back together.

SDWF Philanthropy Fellowship Forum 2026
2026-02-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Zoom Meeting
The San Diego Women’s Foundation (SDWF) will soon begin accepting applications for Cohort 11 of the SDWF Philanthropy Fellowship Program!

The SDWF Philanthropy Fellowship is a two-year program for nonprofit professionals in San Diego who are seeking mentorship and professional development. The program includes full membership to SDWF and access to SDWF committees and activities for the duration of the fellowship, and provides a unique opportunity to learn about foundation work and grantmaking from the funder’s perspective.
The Fellowship term for Cohort 11 will begin on July 1, 2026.
Individuals interested in applying for the fellowship program are encouraged to attend this forum to learn more about the program, expectations, eligibility and the application process.
Must register in advance to attend – Zoom details will be sent closer to the event date.

SDWF Book Club
2026-02-26 17:30 - 19:00 | Carruth Cellars Urban Winegarden & Cheese Shop: Liberty Station, 2710 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, CA, 92106, United States
Back by popular demand!
We’re excited to host another SDWF Book Club, centered on this year’s grant topic: Affordable Child Care.
Join us for a lively and meaningful discussion on Thursday, February 26, from 5:30–7:00 PM at Carruth Cellars.
Must register in advance to attend.

“Scraming on the Inside” by Jessica Grose
Close your eyes and picture the perfect mother. She is usually blonde and thin. Her roots are never showing and she installed that gleaming kitchen backsplash herself (watch her TikTok for DIY tips). She seamlessly melds work, wellness and home; and during the depths of the pandemic, she also ran remote school and woke up at 5 a.m. to meditate. You may read this and think it’s bananas; you have probably internalized much of it.
Journalist Jessica Grose sure had. After she failed to meet every one of her own expectations for her first pregnancy, she devoted her career to revealing how morally bankrupt so many of these ideas and pressures are. Now, in Screaming on the Inside, Grose weaves together her personal journey with scientific, historical, and contemporary reporting to be the voice for American parents she wishes she’d had a decade ago.
The truth is that parenting cannot follow a recipe; there’s no foolproof set of rules that will result in a perfectly adjusted child. Every parent has different values, and we will have different ideas about how to pass those values along to our children. What successful parenting has in common, regardless of culture or community, is close observation of the kind of unique humans our children are. In thoughtful and revelatory chapters about pregnancy, identity, work, social media, and the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grose explains how we got to this moment, why the current state of expectations on mothers is wholly unsustainable, and how we can move towards something better.
