WealthSpring Fund

The WealthSpring Fund is a statewide affiliated fund dedicated to the economic well-being for women and their families. The Fund is building an endowment to support women now and in the future. WealthSpring provides grants to organizations across the state that work directly with women through entrepreneurship training, banking skills, budget and financial management, financial literacy, education and training needed for employment or advancement, and work-related child care needs.

Why have a “women’s fund”?

For all that Nebraska has to offer, many women and their families are still missing out on the good life.  Statistics indicate women and children are more vulnerable to economic hardship than men.

For one thing, Nebraska ranks 41st out of the 50 states for median annual earnings of its women. What’s more, almost four times as many low-income households are headed by single mothers as by single fathers, and 75 percent of Nebraska’s elderly poor are women.

More than one out of four working families in Nebraska has to make such decisions as whether to put food on the table or pay the heating bill, even if both parents work.

WealthSpring is working to enable working women – all women – to achieve economic self-sufficiency in order to build wealth, sustain themselves and their families and create stronger communities. 

Goals and Grants

The WealthSpring Fund was created in 2006 and is building the Fund’s endowment. The goal is to build a $1 million endowment by recruiting Founders who contribute at least $1,000 each, and others who contribute at a level appropriate to their means. The Fund will use its permanent endowment to transform the way Nebraska women build wealth, provide for their families and contribute to stronger communities. Enabling women to create wealth and gain economic equity moves them from dependence to financial independence; and finally to a position of influence and positive change.

The WealthSpring Fund has provided grants to organizations across the state:

The REAP Women’s Business Center statewide
Friendship Home in Lincoln
Adams County YWCA
Kinder Haus Childcare Center in Eustis
Lincoln Housing Charities, Lincoln
Community Action of Nebraska Program
Center of People in Need, Lincoln
Genesis Personal Development Center, Butler County
Community CROPS, Lincoln
GLW Children’s Council, Burwell

For more information, contact Reggi Carlson at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 402-323-7331.

The WealthSpring Fund Advisory Committee

Susan Ugai, Lincoln, Chair
Diane Wilson, Lincoln, Vice Chair and Treasurer
Reggi Carlson, Lincoln, Secretary

Nancy Furman, Lincoln
Marilyn Hadley, Kearney
Julie Kalkowski, Omaha
Andrea Nelson, Lincoln
Judy Parks, Papillion
Carol Russell, Omaha
Kathy Thuman, Lincoln