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Financial Women’s Association of New York Educational Fund

Mission The Financial Women's Association is the leading professional organization that connects, educates and advances women in business and finance. It was founded in 1956 by eight women on Wall Street who were not allowed into the Men's Luncheon Club. While this original membership of eight has grown to nearly 900 women and men today, the goals of the founders remain essentially the same: Provide a public forum for examination of important contemporary issues in business, finance, government policy and civic affairs Attain greater recognition for women's achievements in business Encourage women to seek career opportunities in finance and business Serve its members through educational programs and networking opportunities FWA members serve the community through a non-profit arm, the FWA of New York Educational Fund, which has widely acclaimed scholarship, mentoring, and financial literacy programs as well as professional development and educational programming for the business community. Founded as an unincorporated association in 1976, The FWA of New York Educational Fund was granted tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3 charitable organization and incorporated in 1982.

 The FWA and BMO Capital Markets Equity Through Education
 FWA – BMO Capital Markets Scholarship Fund at Baruch College
 BMO Capital Markets Undergraduate Scholarships for FWA – Murry Bergtraum High School Mentees
 Other Programs and Accomplishments of The FWA of New York Educational Fund

The FWA and BMO Capital Markets Equity Through Education

The FWA is grateful to BMO Capital Markets' continued support through its Equity Through Education "Day of Trading" Program. The generous funds have primarily been directed towards scholarships to students pursuing their undergraduate education and to enhancing their educational and professional development.

FWA – BMO Capital Markets Scholarship Fund at Baruch Colleg

The FWA of New York Educational Fund directed the funds from Equity Through Education to endow the FWA - BMO Capital Markets Scholarship Fund for undergraduate women with financial need and academic promise at Baruch College. This scholarship program was designed to enhance the FWA's mentoring program, which it began in 2002, at Baruch's highly regarded Zicklin School of Business. In 2006, the FWA first offered these full undergraduate scholarships at Baruch College, which is consistently ranked the nation's most diverse college by U.S. News and World Report. Each year, approximately six young women will receive scholarships from this fund.

The FWA mentoring program at Baruch currently serves 30 young women and their mentors, volunteers from among the FWA's membership of financial professionals. The focus is on personal and career development through one-on-one relationships, networking with other mentors and FWA members at FWA programs, and several topical luncheon workshops on campus led by FWA members. As of May 2010 when 10 mentees graduated, five had accepted full time positions with FWA corporate sponsors.

Adding this new financial component to other forms of support has been particularly critical for the diverse population of Baruch women, many of whom are recent immigrants or whose parents are first generation Americans. Baruch graduates the largest number of African-American and the fifth largest number of Hispanic-American students in New York City from its undergraduate programs.

Scholarship awards are made by Baruch College to students who are completing the business core curriculum with the intention of concentrating on financially-oriented disciplines. These students, through either coursework and/or participation in extracurricular or other activities, demonstrate an interest in advancing women's roles in the financial services industry.

Past recipients of FWA – BMO Capital Markets Scholarships:

2010-2011 Devangi Chopra Olga Geletina Nitu Kumar Kamellia Saroop Li Tao Nancy Wong

2009-2010 Devangi Chopra Noreen Hernandez Nitu Kumar Diana Liang Danielle Melito Li Tao

2008-2009 Aleksandra Baszynska Laura del Rio Tracy Ying Li Diane Peters Anastasia Sagalovitch

2007-2008 Aleksandra Baszynska Laura del Rio Tracy Ying Li Diane Peters Anastasia Sagalovitch Daliya Yassien

2006-2007 Carolina Aragon Gonzalez Lynda McLaughlin

BMO Capital Markets Undergraduate Scholarships for FWA – Murry Bergtraum High School Mentees

The Equity Through Education program is funding the FWA's annually renewable undergraduate scholarships to students who graduate from the FWA mentoring program at Murry Bergtraum High School (MBHS) in lower Manhattan. The BMO contribution is not only sustaining the scholarship program but it enabled the FWA to increase the awards for upperclassmen from $1,000 to $2,000 each. The FWA has partnered with Murry Bergtraum High School in lower Manhattan for 25 years, which is one of the longest partnerships in the New York City public school system. FWA members mentor approximately 30 high school students until graduation and the mentees benefit from the mentors' knowledge and experience as well as the opportunity to explore the business community. The mentoring program helps with the college selection process and provides SAT prep courses in partnership with Princeton Review.

2011-12 entering freshman BMO scholarship recipients:

Kathleen Abreu – City University of New York, John Jay Mariah Brown – State University of New York at New Paltz Francesca Clerjeune – La Salle University Ashley Earl – St. Bonaventure University Shatique Hicks – Syracuse University Sequenza Howes-Williams – State University of New York at Oswego Shyann Ramroop – Fordham University Michelle Rojas – Iona College Vicky Tranzil – Hunter College Anais Villa – Iona College

2011-12 BMO scholarship recipients who are continuing their college studies:

Dana Alle Martin – Stony Brook University Erika Catellar – Wheaton College Ashley Cerda – St. Michael's College Barbara Gelin – Baruch College Zhanna Digilova – New York University Licenia Pantaleon – New York City College of Technology Adalis Luciano – Brooklyn College Cristabell Ramdial – St. Bonaventure University

Other Programs and Accomplishments of The FWA of New York Educational Fund

Graduate Scholarship Program
The FWA of New York Educational Fund awarded four $10,000 scholarships to graduate students studying business at New York City schools – NYU, Columbia, Baruch, and Fordham - and one $10,000 scholarship to a student studying microfinance at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Over the course of 27 years, $650,000 has been awarded to nearly 140 graduate students.

Wall Street Exchange
For 36 summers, the FWA's Wall Street Exchange program has offered supplemental professional development workshops for a group of 30-40 college interns on Wall Street.

Financial Backpack
This past year over 400 high school students participated in the expanded Financial Backpack program. HSBC in the Community (USA) Inc. granted the FWA $900,000 over five years to teach personal financial management skills to over 3,000 high school students.

Financial Literacy Program
Since 2003, FWA members have provided twice-yearly financial literacy workshops to clients at University Settlement in lower Manhattan. The program is proud to have expanded its reach since last year by working with 40 women at Nontraditional Employment for Women and The Grace Institute.

Lenore Albom Microfinance Initiative
The FWA's Lenore Albom Microfinance Initiative raises funds each year to support overseas microfinance institutions (MFIs). For several years the FWA chose to provide scholarships for women leaders of MFIs worldwide. These women were chosen to attend executive leadership training seminars designed by Women's World Banking and ACCION. So far, eight women have successfully completed the programs with the support of FWA funds. In 2010 and 2011 the FWA directed funds to Fonkoze, the largest MFI in Haiti, which was seriously damaged by the 7.0 earthquake in early 2010.

Programs for the General Business Community
In addition to the outreach programs of the FWA of New York Educational Fund, it also organizes programs focused on education and professional development, which provide continued learning and career growth for the wider business community. The FWA committees that fall under the purview of the Educational Fund - Entrepreneurs, Not-for-Profit and Professional Development - sponsor an array of events. Through these events, the FWA offers access to business, government, and academic leaders, and allows members and others to develop familiarity with issues in finance, technology, business, management and the non-profit world. In the 2010-11 fiscal year, over 1,000 people attended these Educational Fund programs.