Advisory Board Spotlight: Barbara Chesler

“In the early years we were giving out grants of $750 or $1,000 — a very big grant was $2,500,” Barbara Chesler said. “The Fund for Women & Girls has come such a long way thanks to the power and work of so many incredible women.”

Those early grants proved to have extraordinary impact and reach. The nonprofit partners receiving them included All Our Kin, which provides training and services for 1,100 family childcare providers who educate more than 6,000 children, the Diaper Bank of Connecticut, and Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services — all of which continue to help thousands of women, children and families and have become national models in the work they do, said Chesler, a member of the Fund for Women & Girls Advisory Board and the grants committee, has been part of the Fund for more than 20 years.

In 2023, the fund awarded over $200,000 in grants for economic security, mentoring girls and policy research.

Chesler was drawn to the Fund when she was the Senior Associate Athletics Director at Yale where for 30 years, she oversaw Yale’s 35 varsity sports and helped establish the first Yale endowment to benefit women’s athletics. “With my background in college athletics and Title IX, I’ve always been a strong advocate for women and girls, so I knew I wanted to be part of The Fund,” she said. “One of my goals at Yale was not only to serve Yale but to be part of the larger community.”

Reviewing grant applications for possible funding “opened my eyes to all the good work being done at nonprofits all over Greater New Haven and the great need in the community as well,” she said.

She is proud of the Fund’s evolution over the years, working to identify strategic investments in longer-term opportunities that support the economic mobility and advancement of women and girls, and finding new organizations that will impact Greater New Haven for years to come.

Now, after more than two decades of service, Chesler is stepping back. She is excited about all that is ahead for the Fund and about the women who will lead it. “There are lots of new women who will be a tremendous asset to the Fund,” she said. “Greater New Haven is filled with very talented and strong-minded women who care about the community. That’s the number one criterion — caring deeply about the community.”

This story is part of the Winter 2023 edition of the Community Fund for Women & Girls' newsletter.