Annual Giving Project Proposal One
Student Affairs: University Health Services
Sexual violence is pervasive on college campuses. National data indicate that during college, 20 to 25 percent of women and about 7 percent of men will experience sexual assault, which refers to any unwanted or nonconsensual sexual touching as well as attempted or completed oral, anal, or vaginal penetration. Specific to UW–Madison, the 2019 Association of American Universities Campus Climate Survey indicated that students who self-identified as women; LGBTQ+; and/or Black, Indigenous, and people of color experience disproportionate rates of sexual violence. For example, 26.1 percent of female undergraduates reported experiencing a sexual assault, compared to 6.8 percent of male undergraduates. Access to post-assault care and support is integral to retention and the overall well-being of students. The detrimental impacts of sexual violence on students’ physical and mental health and on their academic success are well-documented, particularly for those students holding historically marginalized identities.
UW–Madison has made a number of recent efforts to address the issue of sexual assault on its campus, including creating a campus-specific policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence, mandating faculty and staff training on sexual harassment and sexual violence, and hiring a Title IX coordinator within the Office of Compliance to address the university’s response to reports of sexual misconduct. The university has also hired a director of violence prevention and campus initiatives, housed within University Health Services (UHS), to implement pre-matriculation trainings on alcohol and sexual and dating violence.
Additionally, UHS provides a variety of high-quality services and resources for sexual assault survivors and continually seeks to expand its offerings. In 2019, UHS Survivor Services had 2.5 full-time-equivalent clinician positions for staff who provided a mixture of therapy and advocacy services. Today UHS offers an integrated care (medical, mental health, and advocacy) model. Our current staffing structure includes a director of survivor services, four full-time health staff, and one full-time advocate. We are currently hiring an additional advocate, as well as two additional health staff members. Survivor Services plans to announce an expansion of services toward its goal of integrated care after this proposal is submitted.
Students are demanding that UW–Madison do more. In November 2021, the student organization Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment (PAVE-UW) started a change.org petition to increase funding for Survivor Services at UHS. To date, the petition has received more than 1,000 signatures. In February 2022, the Daily Cardinal published an editorial calling on UW–Madison to increase funding and promoted the student petition. Further, prioritizing funding for sexual assault services was one of the six issues that, in May 2022, the Badger Herald asked the new chancellor to focus on: “To the new chancellor, prioritize creating innovative funding and grant opportunities to support survivors instead of accepting the status quo. … Most of your predecessors have avoided doing so to the [detriment] of every victim.”
The Women’s Philanthropy Council has a unique opportunity to partner with UHS to build on this campuswide work and create a better standard of care for students who experience sexual violence. UHS has identified two programs that will help students receive comprehensive care on campus, regardless of health insurance status or other financial barriers.
Forensic Nurse Exams
UHS Survivor Services provides comprehensive, confidential, and no-cost care to student survivors of sexual violence, including advocacy, mental health, and medical services. During the 2021–22 academic year, UHS Survivor Services piloted a forensic nurse exam (FNE) program on campus with great success. FNEs, sometimes called “rape kits,” provide time-sensitive medical exams and treatment following a sexual assault, as well as the option for evidence collection if the incident will be reported to law enforcement and/or the university. In its initial year, UHS Survivor Services provided 43 forensic nurse exams (91 percent to female-identified students). Prior to the pilot program, UW–Madison students relied on off-campus resources to access an FNE. The pilot program brought these FNE services to UHS, and when surveyed, 100 percent of the students who utilized FNEs at UHS indicated they would not have sought one had it not been available on campus. The FNE program is a partnership with community agencies — Dane Multi-Agency Center (DaneMAC) and the Rape Crisis Center (RCC) — demonstrating the UW’s commitment to supporting survivors of sexual assault to the larger Madison community. The FNE pilot was made possible through a one-time grant allocation, without possibility for renewal despite a clear need on campus.
HIV Prevention: Post-Exposure Prophylactic Medication
An identified gap in the care available to UW–Madison student survivors of sexual assault is the financial barrier to post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) medication. PEP medication is used to prevent a person from contracting HIV following a high-risk exposure. Given the cost of this medication (approximately $2,000 per course) and the stigma associated with seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS, many students are unable to access care and the subsequent prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Funding Proposal and Anticipated Impact
With these needs in mind, UHS respectfully requests $30,000 for the following allocation:
- $10,000 to fund the provision of forensic nurse exams on campus for two years.
- Based on current utilization rates, we estimate this will provide critical, time-sensitive medical examinations, treatment, and evidence collection for at least 90 additional students. We believe many of these students will hold historically marginalized identities.
- $20,000 to fund the provision of life-saving PEP medication, at no cost, to student survivors for two years.
- Based on current utilization rates, we estimate this will provide PEP to 10 student survivors.
- This commitment from the Women’s Philanthropy Council will unlock additional matching funds from our community partners, DaneMAC and the Rape Crisis Center. Accruing these monies will ultimately triple the overall impact, providing PEP medication for approximately six years and reaching an estimated 30 students.
Impact and Recognition
UHS is committed to sharing the impact of the Women’s Philanthropy Council while also prioritizing the privacy of its clients. UHS will be able to share aggregate data with the council, including the number of students served, specific services received, and some demographic data. Additionally, UHS is currently developing a patient satisfaction survey that can also be used as a tool to measure and report impact.
UHS and the Student Affairs Advancement team hope to collaborate with the Women’s Philanthropy Council on publicly recognizing this potential philanthropic commitment and its impact on campus throughout the year. This fall, the announcement of the grant could be publicly celebrated with a press release and article on the Student Affairs website. Additional opportunities for public recognition throughout the year include Student Affairs social media (3,300 followers on Instagram and 1,400 on Facebook). April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and could be a particularly meaningful time to not only share the impact of this grant but also to remind students about the UHS resources that they have access to.
This grant will guarantee the availability of confidential, no-cost medical care for student survivors of sexual violence. Further, by ensuring that these services are available on campus at UW–Madison, the Women’s Philanthropy Council will help UHS remove barriers to care, well-being, and success for historically marginalized students. These services are integral to post-traumatic recovery, to retention of students affected by sexual violence, and to promotion of a campus culture where survivors are seen, believed, and supported. This support will have significant impacts on all student survivors during their tenure as Badgers and beyond.
Annual Giving Project Proposal Two
The 4W Women’s Philanthropy Council Grants Program: A Sustainable Program to Foster Innovation, Excellence and Engaged Scholarship
During the six-year period from 2016 through 2022, the Women’s Philanthropy Council supported the 4W Innovators Grant for UW–Madison faculty and staff and the 4W Emerging Scholars Award for UW graduate students. This WPC grants program has had a huge impact on the scholarship and careers of grantees. For example, School of Human Ecology graduate student Mariela Quesada Centeno MPH’14, PhD’22 received a grant to support the training of Latina doulas in Madison in 2018. Now, in 2022, she is a leader in Roots4Change a network of Latina community health workers who provide doula services and other kinds of support. From the School of Education, Amy Vatne Bintliff PhD’19 initiated work related to well-being for adolescents. She is a teaching professor at UC–San Diego and applying the model locally and in Uganda. Poet and scholar Dr. Fabu Carter MA’80, MA’81 carried out a research exchange in Kenya, and Professor Mary Hark worked with artisans in Ghana. Professor Darshana Mini, from the Department of Communication Arts, studied the #MeToo movement in India, and Professor Lara Gerassi studied barriers to health care for victims of sex trafficking here in the United States.
Our scholars come from around the world, carry diverse identities, and have expertise across disciplines. Please review profiles of our diverse roster of 18 Innovation Grant Recipients and 32 Emerging Scholars.)
The Women’s Philanthropy Council’s total support for the two programs of $15,000 per year was matched by other 4W funds, enabling us to award a total of $30,000 per year for two to three faculty/staff grants and four to five graduate student grants each year through 2022. We now request $15,000 to support continuation of this program for 2022–23. To continue the program at prior levels, 4W will again match these funds. We have also planned a fundraising effort to endow the program. Thus, council support will serve as bridge funding so that the grants can become a sustained program offering ongoing transformative support for gender and well-being efforts across campus. This support would carry on in perpetuity as a powerful legacy for the Women’s Philanthropy Council.
The 4W team has developed an efficient and supportive approach to recruitment, grants development, selection, administration, and reporting. The grants program is campuswide, offering eligibility for members of all schools and colleges. Once grantees are selected, 4W provides them with support related to gender analysis, well-being parameters, strategy, and coaching on writing and publication. Grantees also participate in a circle of scholars where they share ideas and provide peer support.
The grants program has become an important pillar of the 4W Initiative. Fully funding it and scaling it up is a prominent element of the 4W strategic plan. Our aim is to endow the program at the current level of $30,000 per year in the short term and then to gradually expand the program over time.
Budget Request: $15,000
All WPC funds will go directly to grantees without administrative or transaction fees of any kind.
The WPC Women and Wellbeing Grants Program: Sustaining Success
The requested support will allow us to have continuity in our grant awards as we implement our strategy to sustain and endow the program. Having recently completed a successful campaign to endow the 4W directorship, we are now turning our attention to this grant fund. Now that we have a workable administrative model for the program and a track record for success, we believe that individual alumni and other friends of 4W will be interested in endowing named grants to be awarded annually. It will cost approximately $150,000 to endow a Faculty Innovators Award and $100,000 to endow an Emerging Scholar Award. We believe that the opportunity to honor an individual and benefit a new scholar every year will be of great interest to UW–Madison alumni, corporate and institutional sponsors, and others. It is our goal to endow two Innovator Grants (faculty) and four Emerging Scholar Grants (graduate students) by December 2023. Then we will continue to build the program over time until we can annually award four Innovator Grants for faculty and staff and eight Emerging Scholar Grants for graduate students.
About the 4W Initiative
The UW–Madison 4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative aims to make life better for women and make the world better for all. Based in the School of Human Ecology, this program serves the entire campus. This research-to-action program results in measurable benefits in the communities where we serve as a partner for change. The program focuses on women’s health, leadership, and well-being in higher education, the private sector, government, and civil society. To date, this program has successfully launched initiatives in the following areas: 1) community health and family planning, 2) working to end human trafficking, 3) micro-enterprise, 4) women and agriculture, 5) relationships and equality, and 6) engaging with the arts for well-being. Through this impactful work, 4W aims to establish the university as an internationally recognized convener, catalyst, and leader in advancing well-being and full participation of women in society.
Learn more about 4W at our website or on our YouTube Channel.
WPC Annual Giving Project Proposal Three
Wisconsin Women Making History: Day of Listening Women’s and Gender Studies in Wisconsin: Documenting Leadership in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity
This project will utilize the growing Wisconsin Women Making History (WWMH) platform to celebrate women’s and gender studies programs and departments across the University of Wisconsin System and their continual leadership in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts in Wisconsin over the last five decades. Gender and women’s studies (GWS) programs and departments are critical to the advancement of both the Wisconsin Idea and efforts to advance EDI initiatives across the UW System. As scholars trained in examining how race and gender work in tandem with other markers of identity, gender and women’s studies students and faculty are central partners in projects focused on collaborative EDI efforts, particularly as they relate to the positionality, retention, and career development of women of color, first-generation students and scholars, and others who experience institutional marginalization in varying ways. As gender and women’s studies programs near their 50th year of systemwide collaboration, it is more urgent than ever to recognize and celebrate intersectional efforts toward gender equity and the critical need to support these efforts systemwide. At a moment when many of these programs are losing funding and visibility across the country, UW–Madison has led efforts to keep a systemwide network in place through the leadership of the Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium and the Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian, which are both housed and funded at the UW.
Funds from the Women’s Philanthropy Council will support a systemwide day of listening (eventually archived on WWMH) on campus. This event will focus on a day of gathering that includes alumni, students, faculty, and community members who have contributed to gender and women’s studies across the state since the 1970s. This day of celebration will include organized oral history interview stations where students, trained by oral historians, will interview stakeholders about the overlap of gender and women’s studies and the development of EDI work across the state. The day will also include several panels, a keynote speaker whose career exemplifies this intersection, and a historical exhibit. The WWMH website is a well-established archival site that documents, broadly publicizes, and celebrates this work.
First published online in 2017, Wisconsin Women Making History is a growing digital resource that provides students and lifetime learners an online destination to find remarkable women who have contributed to Wisconsin’s state legacy. With more than 100 active profiles and more than 400 nominations, WWMH is as popular as ever and a critical resource for community members, students, and scholars across the state. A comprehensive technical update of the WWMH website will support the archival documentation of this central milestone and will serve as an ongoing resource for community members across the state as well as marketing to support these changes and post-event presentations to stakeholders across the state.
Organizers
Based out of UW–Madison, the Office of the Gender and Women’s Studies Librarian (GWSL) and the Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium (WGSC) serve as central hubs for connecting gender and women’s studies across the state. In concert with the Wisconsin Idea, these two offices connect community members, students, staff, and faculty across the state to enhance the connections between campuses and the broader community. Dr. Stephanie Rytilahti ’05, MA’10 is the director of the WGSC, which has served as the formal organization of the UW System women’s studies programs since 1989. The WGSC is focused on inter-institutional cooperation, expansion of resources and support for the programs, and maintenance of our national prominence in the field. Dr. Karla Strand has been the GWSL for nearly nine years. Since 1977, the Office of the GWSL has been one of the premier resources for support of gender, women’s studies, and LGBTQ+ scholarship and librarianship in the country. The Office of the GWSL coordinates the WWMH project and website and has been an active participant in the WGSC from its inception.
Budget:
- Updates to WWMH Website: $11,000
- Lodging for 75 guests (State Rates): $9,825
- Speaker Honorarium: $2,000
- Photographer: $600
- Pyle Center Food, AV: $8,000
Total Costs: $31,425
Income:
- GWSL Cosponsorship (Intern): $3,500
- WGSC Cosponsorship (Workshop, Marketing): $3,500
Total Income: $7,000
Budget Narrative
Funds from the Women’s Philanthropy Council will support two main aspects of this project: updates and enhancements to the WWMH website and costs to host a day of listening and celebration on campus. A software developer from Wisconsin Public Television has completed previous work on the site and provided an estimate of 200 hours at $55 per hour (internal rate for a UW–Madison partner) for a total of $11,000. This work includes a comprehensive update to the site design, layout, accessibility, and capacity to handle increased patron traffic. The costs of the day of listening include lodging for 75 UW System guests at a rate of $131 per night at the Lowell Center. The cost for food includes catering for 150 people at the Pyle Center (appetizers and dinner at the current state rate of $12 for refreshments and $35 for dinner) as well as AV and venue costs for a group of this size (an additional $950). Finally, we will offer an honorarium for a keynote speaker and costs for a professional photographer to document the event. The Office of the GWSL will hire a student intern to support marketing, event registration, and logistical support for the event. The WGSC will use its own administrative budget to support lodging and catering logistics and management, honorarium payment, and a digital and paper program. It will also cover the cost of training students through a workshop to conduct oral history interviews for the event with participants. Dr. Rytilahti is a trained oral historian and has conducted similar workshops and student trainings in the past for an event recognizing GWS at the UW. All content, including biographies, interviews, and images of the event, will be archived on the WWMH website, and the Office of the GWSL has the budget and staff to support this additional work.
Impact of Gift
Because this project is a living archive, the impact is measurable in a variety of ways. All the profiles and biographies of individuals connected to GWS will become part of the public history site of Wisconsin Women Making History, making the impact of these programs and departments accessible in new ways to people across the UW System and Wisconsin. All the GWS programs have deep connections to community organizations, mentorship programs, and nonprofits across Wisconsin, and we will invite these partners to engage with the new material and suggest additional areas of focus for the future. In this sense, this grant offers an opportunity to further grow and develop WWMH as an ongoing archival project. We can use tracking metrics from the website to gauge engagement and use of this new section and utilize analytics to increase traffic and usability, providing a tangible and trackable impact of this community-based archival site.
Second, GWS is a critical mainstay to the humanities and EDI across the UW System. Every UW System campus benefits from the work of staff, students, and faculty engaged in intersectional approaches to gender equity and racial inclusivity. The materials gathered from the day of listening and archived on the WWMH website will offer critical tools for boosting the importance and visibility of GWS at UW–Madison and across the state. The WGSC and the Office of the GWSL will publicize the event and the materials generated from the oral histories and engage our extensive networks to share the results of this work with stakeholders across campus and the UW System (Board of Regents, administrative leadership, students, staff, instructors, community partners, etc.). This provides an opportunity to make the efforts and critical work of GWS visible in new ways across the UW System, creating new opportunities to engage stakeholders in this history and strengthen the stability and support for these programs across the state, ultimately working to ensure this work remains a stronghold on each campus in the future. Finally, both organizers have extensive experience with hosting large events and producing post-event materials with a strong educational component. This ensures that the engagement, conversations, and connections that occur during the day of listening will be utilized in a variety of ways after the event. In addition to the biographies and histories added to the WWMH website, the organizers will archive all panels, keynotes, and oral history tutorials on their websites. These materials will be teaching tools for instructors and will offer students ongoing opportunities to reflect on how GWS classes offer crucial training for engaging in inclusivity and equity work on their own campuses and after graduation.
Recognition Opportunities for WPC
Gender and women’s studies would not be a viable institution across Wisconsin without the critical support of many campus and community partners. In addition to actively documenting the support of the WPC on the website and all event materials, the organizers would like to include the history of the WPC on the Wisconsin Women Making History website, documenting both the history of women’s philanthropy at UW–Madison and the critical projects the WPC has supported for more than 25 years. This section will include a profile of founders and active members of the WPC and an overview of some of its projects, particularly as they reflect contributions to EDI work and gender equity initiatives. This can provide an ongoing tool for the WPC to heighten the visibility of its work and expand its networks in new ways. Additionally, the day of listening event could include a panel of WPC members, offering the audience an opportunity to engage actively with the history of women’s philanthropy across the state and access to information on how to utilize the expertise and mentorship of WPC to support the financial viability and growth of future GWS projects.