HWW Overview
Our Mission
High Water Women empowers women and youth in need by creating powerful volunteer opportunities that leverage the talents and aspirations of professional women.
Our Work
We are a volunteer-driven organization working with nonprofit partners to identify significant volunteer and grant making opportunities to advance the nonprofit’s mission while best utilizing the skills of our members.
Our impact is in three key areas:
- Enriched education for at-risk youth
- Relieving the impact of family poverty
- Economic empowerment for women
Each year, we contribute thousands of volunteer hours to our partner organizations. We also raise funds to provide significant grant making support through signature events such as “Casino Night.” We help nonprofits build capacity and expand programs that empower women and youth in need through our grant making – providing more than $2 million in grants since 2005.
We are best able to create measurable results where philanthropy and volunteerism are coupled, and therefore we partner exclusively with organizations where our philanthropic and volunteerism goals converge.
Our accomplishments include:
- Creating the Muriel Siebert High Water Women Campaign for Financial Literacy™. The curriculum teaches middle and high school students the essentials of personal financial independence and is taught by High Water Women (HWW) volunteers in after-school programs throughout New York City.
- Leading the design and implementation of training modules for partners Grameen Foundation and Women’s World Banking in subjects including treasury management, investor readiness and the evolution of the relationship between microfinance and capital markets.
- Conducting annual Back-to-School Backpack and Secret Santa Drives requiring the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. Since 2005, we have raised more than $500,000 to provide thousands of at-risk children with fully-loaded backpacks to start the school year and gifts to brighten their holidays.
- Contributing thousands of volunteer hours to our nonprofit partner organizations. We visit classrooms, conduct career days and mentor at-risk students. We also help women trying to secure a financial footing by participating in job training, resume writing, and job search workshops. In addition, we support women entrepreneurs by reviewing and advising on business plans and loan applications.
- Celebrating “Casino Night” which brings together hundreds of professional men and women to raise more than $500,000 annually to support grant making, HWW initiatives and the growth of volunteerism.
- Recognition as an emerging and top foundation in publications including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Absolute Investor, Hedge World, Alpha Magazine, Private Asset Management, Bloomberg and Smart Money.
- Nomination in 2008 for “Event Planners of the Year” by Institutional Investor's publication, Private Asset Management, for the 3rd Annual “Casino Night” and in 2007 for Philanthropic Group. In 2006, awarded with the “Visionary Award in Community Service" by The National Council on Economic Education.
We focus our partnerships primarily in the New York City area, with additional work in the tri-state area and to microfinance organizations with an international focus.
To donate to help us further our mission and expand our work, click here.
To learn more about our initiatives and programs, click here.
Our Members
Our members are professional women with a commitment to investing their time, resources and expertise to build the capacity of our nonprofit partners. Membership is free and open to any professional woman through registration.
To become a member click here.
Our History
Founded in 2005 and incorporated as a 501 (c)(3) by a small group of senior women from the hedge fund community, High Water Women has grown to engage women throughout the financial services sector in philanthropic giving and volunteerism. We now have more than 2,300 members across the financial services spectrum and partnerships with 15 nonprofit organizations.
Our grant support for nonprofit organizations and support for our initiatives is accomplished solely through funds raised and contributed by our members and generous funding partners.
Our name derives from the high water mark measure that incentivizes hedge funds to outperform their last best gains. By seeking to surpass prior achievements with each new endeavor, our organization and our members produce amazing results.