From Travelers Aid to Compass Family Services: A Storied Partnership

By Kate Blach, Philanthropy Director, Spinsters of San Francisco & Madeleine Lemos, Communications Manager, Compass Family Services

Spinsters helped wrap up and distribute gifts for the Compass Adopt-a-Family Drive this past holiday season

Though the Spinsters of San Francisco has been around as an organization for 93 years, its philanthropic history began in 1957, fundraising for Travelers Aid San Francisco. Travelers Aid was established in 1914 and provided assistance to the 18.5 million newcomers who visited the city of San Francisco for the 1915 World’s Fair. Continuing to support vulnerable populations in the city, it has since evolved to Compass Family Services. The 2022-23 Spinsters year marks the first time since that initial partnership that Spinsters is partnering with Compass once again.

Compass Family Services supports families experiencing homelessness and those who are at-risk to become stably housed, emotionally and physically healthy, and economically self-sufficient. Compass serves over 6,500 parents and children throughout San Francisco, providing comprehensive, personalized, wrap-around services to support families as they find housing solutions and develop the tools to secure positive impacts that last. 96% of Compass families achieve housing stability and long-term success.  

Spinsters has supported Compass through numerous ways over the last year. As an organization, members have raised $3,200 in contributions for Compass’ Halloween Costume Drive and Adopt-a-Family Program to spread holiday cheer to their families. For many families, these were the only gifts and costumes they would receive during the holiday season. Active members have volunteered their time through event support, playground duty, serving dinner and wrapping gifts at the Compass Family Shelter, distributing gifts during Adopt-a-Family, and much more. 

Spinsters and other volunteers at Compass Family Day

Spinsters wrapping gifts at the Compass Family Shelter for the Adopt-a-Family Drive

“I remember taking the tour of the facility and learning about all the essential services Compass provides, and I knew I wanted to do what I could to contribute,” said Carolyn Smith, Spinsters Co-Chair for Volunteer Events and Outreach. “I love that their mission is to provide a stepping stone to stable housing. It’s uplifting that San Francisco has this resource, where people can come together to do good. I know the time I spent sorting clothing donations is only a tiny contribution, but it makes me happy to think that I made it a little easier for someone to access something families need.”

We’re excited to continue our partnership and look forward to more opportunities to volunteer, fundraise, and support each other! 

Spinsters Philanthropy Director Kate Blach and Volunteer Events and Outreach Co-Chairs Angel Chen and Carolyn Smith helped organize donations at the Compass Service Hub at 37 Grove

If you want to support Compass, Spinsters will be hosting its annual Legacy Benefit on Saturday, March 11 at the Fairmont San Francisco Swig Suite. Proceeds will go towards supporting Compass’ mission of ending family homelessness, and tickets include an open bar, appetizers, a silent auction, live music, and more! 

Compass will also be hosting its 2023 Spring Benefit on Wednesday, April 19th at The Hibernia. You can support Compass directly by purchasing tickets or sponsorships, as well as making a donation directly on the Spring Benefit website.  

Learn more about Compass’ impact on families in the Bay Area in this video.

Spinnies Rise - A Year of Transitioning Back

Amy Tam, President

This year, our organization was one of many in a worldwide movement to rebuild, restore, and reconnect after the pandemic. Our members rallied to reunite our community in person safely and give back to the Bay Area community we love through in person volunteering and fundraising events.

Spinsters was grateful to partner with Oasis for Girls for our 92nd year, renewing our partnership that began in 2011. Oasis for Girls (“Oasis”) is an empowering local nonprofit that works with young women of color ages 14-18 from under-resourced communities in San Francisco to help them cultivate the skills, knowledge, and confidence to build healthy futures, and create more equitable, just communities. Serving more than 100 under-resourced high school girls each year, Oasis runs three core programs focused on life skills, arts education, and exploration. Programs like Oasis, especially during the pandemic, are valuable in supporting young women during a difficult time mentally where physical distancing made it challenging to find spaces of belonging and empowerment. Naturally, as an organization of about 100 young professional women whose own goals were to empower women and build community, their work resonated with us. We were honored to be a part of promoting female empowerment at a pivotal point in young women’s lives.

While the pandemic impacted many traditional philanthropy and fundraising activities, we were grateful to see how much our community stepped up to support our nonprofit partner and other nonprofit organizations across the city. Our members invested 395 volunteer hours between Oasis and other organizations. We were especially moved by how generous our community was in directly donating to Oasis at our fundraisers throughout the year. As an organization, our community made some of the largest donations to our nonprofit partner this year that we’ve ever recorded in our 92 year history. Check out a breakdown of some of our favorite community fundraising events that helped us make an impact this year.

Fleet or Flight Fundraiser

We brought back our infamous 12th Annual Fleet or Flight Fundraiser Party in person at Jaxson SF with amazing signature cocktails from Ketel One Vodka, Diageo, Yuzuri Liquor, and Kikori Whiskey. At our first fundraising event of the year, we sold over 100 tickets and Jaxson SF donated $1520 towards Oasis that evening.

Legacy Benefit

Legacy Benefit, our premier fundraiser of the year, celebrates our Spinsters history while supporting our nonprofit partner at the historic Fairmont Swig Suite Penthouse. Due to COVID-19 restrictions over the last two years, the fundraiser was virtual. This year, we were finally able to bring back this fundraiser in person with live music from The Turnaround Jazz Ensemble, wine from our sponsors (Azari Vineyards, Breathless Wines, Hanzell Vineyards, and Muscardini Cellars) and more. Our alumnae community and guests generously donated to support Oasis.

Gia Colosi, former Spinsters President and Alumnae, generously donated $10k at our live fundraising event. With Gia’s enthusiasm, Lisa Hattig, Spinsters Alumnae, donated $2k on the spot. It was amazing to witness how generous and supportive our community is in giving back.

Collectively, we sold over 100 tickets and raised about $16k from corporate sponsorships and direct donations, alone.

Kicks for a Cause

Our fun and physically active fundraising event, Kicks for a Cause, came back in person for its 4th year, selling over 50 tickets. We appreciate MIZO for supplying drinks to end the day with.

Between virtual and additional in person fundraising events as well as in our community, we continued to raise funds for Oasis. While we are still tallying up the total funds raised, so far we know we raised nearly $20k from corporate sponsors and organizations such as 100+ Women Who Care who donated directly to support Oasis’ work. Stay tuned for more updates! Our final total donation for 2021-2022 towards Oasis is still being tallied.

Our 92nd year was a reflection of the momentum we made in rebuilding our organization from the impact of the pandemic. Even during times of uncertainty, our community demonstrated a strong passion for philanthropy. Spinsters continue to overcome challenges and care for each other and our community while adapting and learning in the process. I cannot wait to see our organization continue to thrive for decades to come welcoming new generations of young professionals passionate about having a voice, having a presence, searching for a purpose, and making an impact in the Bay Area while continuing to foster diversity and inclusion in our community.

Interested in learning more about SOSF and becoming a member? Email recruitment@sfspinsters.com and we’ll keep you in the loop. Check back for more details and other meet and greet events here!.  

2020 - Let's not forget it so fast

Amy Tam, Communications Director

2020 embodied more than just Spinsters’ 91st year. It was a year of firsts, a year of overcoming adversity, and a year where we appreciated all the little things we previously took for granted. While most of us understandably feel like pushing 2020 far away like a bad dream, it is important to celebrate how each of us as individuals adapted and how we found new ways to stay connected as a community of Spinsters. I’m so proud of what we accomplished together this year, from pivoting to a fully virtual experience during a global health pandemic to learning how to become better listeners and allies in an ongoing civil rights and racial justice movement. In this primarily virtual world we all navigated entering our 91st year, community and collective impact has meant more than ever before. Together as Spinsters, here are just a few of the noteworthy accomplishments we made:

1. We held our first virtual New Member Tea welcoming new members into our Spinsters community. Our new members’ creativity and spirit shone through the screen from all across the Bay Area!

2. We raised $54,856 for our nonprofit partner, La Cocina, topping our fundraising records from the past decade!

Proceeds went to support La Cocina’s Emergency Relief Fund to provide direct financial support to female food entrepreneurs from immigrant communities who lost between 70-100% of their sales during the pandemic.

To share some testimonials from La Cocina food entrepreneurs that benefited from financial support:

“This money is beyond amazing and I don’t know how my family and I would survive without it. The folks at La Cocina and the community that supports us are angels. Overwhelmingly grateful.”

— Michelle Numbers, Buko Bakes

“I am so excited to receive these funds. These funds will for sure ease some of the financial stress my family is experiencing due to the pandemic. Thank you and love you all.”

— Nafy Flateley, Teranga

3. We held our first virtual Fleet or Flight Fundraising Party in October featuring wine from local women-run wineries, Breathless Wines, Artesa Winery, Benziger Family Winery and delicious food flights from two talented La Cocina graduate chefs, Bini Pradhan, Founder of Bini’s Kitchen and Tina Stevens, Founder of A Girl Named Pinky. At our first virtual fundraising event of the year, we were able to raise $1800 for La Cocina.

4. We maintained our time-honored tradition of Spinsters potlucks by gathering virtually together at our first virtual Fall Potlucks where Spinnies cooked alongside each other on screen.

5. We launched our first Holiday Gift Guide with a portion of all purchases that went to our nonprofit partner, La Cocina.

6. We launched new bonding experiences as well as workshops. To name a few:

Spinnies Supporting Spinnies Buddy System where Spinsters are paired with another Spinster to build new friendships, share experiences, and support each other.

Professional Development Power Hour where Spinsters convened for an hour quarterly on topics such as sharing their tips for working from home, job hunting in the competitive pandemic market, and striving for better work life balance.

Professional Development DEIB Workshop where we learned how we can hone our skills (i.e. Personal development/growth, negotiation techniques, self-empowerment, etc), learn more about and be active allies for our fellow co-workers to create more inclusive and empowering work environments.

7. We showed up and supported one another in a million little ways from virtual wine nights to dropping off treats socially distanced on each others’ doorsteps. Thanks to each of you, we built a stronger community together.

While 2020 was a year where we learned to cherish our old traditions, we also learned to make new ones. From this list of firsts and accomplishments, it’s clear to see that 2020 taught us a lot about how to slow down, be present, take care of ourselves and others, and stay connected even in the face of new challenges. This year brought us gifts of community, love, and support, which not only made a meaningful impact towards our nonprofit partner, but to each other.

Interested in learning more about SOSF and becoming a member? Email recruitment@sfspinsters.com and we’ll keep you in the loop. Save the date for our new member info session on February 9th! Check back for more details and other meet and greet events here!.