In a year Executive Director Melody Shekari describes as marked by “shifting elements” and escalating pressure on women, the Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga is highlighting key wins, new community insights and an urgent call for expanded advocacy in its 2025 Annual Report.
Shekari begins the report by emphasizing that the community’s experiences are “connected to policies and budgets at the federal, state and local levels” – a link she says has become clearer as recent shifts threaten hard-won gains.
Despite those changes, she notes, the Women’s Fund continued its mission of “collective philanthropy, policy and advocacy,” relying on its board, partners and supporters to move forward.
That work produced several notable successes. This year, Tennessee lawmakers passed measures protecting fertility treatment and contraception – an outcome the organization celebrated after tracking 20 bills and supporting seven that ultimately passed. One of the most significant, the Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act, was co-sponsored by local Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes.
The Women’s Fund also backed legislation requiring free menstrual hygiene products in Tennessee public high school restrooms. The bill passed with what the organization described as “significant support” but was not funded. Shekari notes that the Fund and its partners intend to continue pushing for the initiative next year.
Advocacy was amplified through the group’s statewide partnership with the Tennessee Women’s Fund Alliance. The third annual Bold & Brave Day on the Hill in March brought an intergenerational group of women to Nashville, where participants heard from multiple legislators and watched a bill they supported move through committee.
That work extended back home, where the organization hosted events for community members – including high school students – to write postcards to legislators on issues ranging from women’s health to education. The report shows participants wrote hundreds of postcards.
Later in the year, staff met with area legislators to discuss issues affecting women in Hamilton County.
One of the Fund’s most ambitious undertakings of 2025 was its community engagement project, an effort to gather information from women about the challenges they face locally. More than 500 women participated through surveys and focus groups, giving the organization a clearer view of concerns it plans to address in a multiyear advocacy plan.
Results from the project will be released soon. Shekari says the findings will help shape a “comprehensive plan” for more ambitious legislative and policy goals.
In addition to its policy work, the Women’s Fund carried forward efforts to raise awareness about period poverty (a lack of access to menstrual products, education and sanitation facilities due to financial constraints). During Period Poverty Awareness Week in May, community drives and events generated more than 12,400 period products for Hamilton County Schools Care Closets, the Chattanooga Area Food Bank and the Soddy Daisy Community Library.
Collective philanthropy remained another major emphasis. The Nightingale Network, the organization’s donor collaborative, continued to grow in membership and awarded $18,600 in grants this year. Chattanooga Free Store received the $10,000 primary grant to support its provision of essential items such as diapers, hygiene products and period supplies.
The other two finalists – Partnership for Families, Children and Adults and The Launch Pad – each received $4,000 grants.
The Women’s Fund also highlighted the success of its Voices luncheon. This year’s program included remarks from Dr. Shae Connor on the changing health care and funding landscape and how those shifts could negatively affect women and girls. She warned that without critical measures – many of which have been defunded or distorted by misinformation – women “will simply die of disease.”
The event also featured Stacy Martin, whose personal health journey led her to become an advocate and local entrepreneur. Martin reminded attendees that “there are so many opportunities to fix things wherever you live, work or play and at whatever level you choose to participate,” adding that Tennessee still has “a significant amount of work to do” to improve life for women and girls.
Financially, the organization closed the fiscal year with $307,884 in total income and $268,146 in expenses. Assets totaled $733,612 with no liabilities.
As the organization looks ahead, Shekari’s message underscores the challenges women continue to face – from a widening wage gap to losses in workforce participation due to child care access and cost. She also warns of efforts that “will continue to silence women and undermine our success in indirect ways.”
Meeting those challenges, she says, will require renewed advocacy at every level, deeper community engagement and stronger collective philanthropy.
“With the many funding changes and challenges, it’s going to take us all stepping up even more in action, collaboration and community,” she writes. “Your connection and support of the Women’s Fund will help us together propel women, families and our community forward.”