VWF generally gives to small, start-up organizations that aren’t likely to get funding from the government or larger organizations, says Gosh. “VWF grants, no matter how small, really make a difference at the grass roots level. It’s so fulfilling to see what a difference a small group of women can make.”

Traditional Home magazine thinks Gosh makes a difference, too.

Gosh was awarded the magazine’s first Classic Woman’s Award in 2005, along with five other community activists from across the country, for her efforts in leading the women who founded The Vermont Women’s Fund. Gosh was recognized at an awards ceremony in New York City hosted by The View’s Meredith Viera. While Gosh says the experience was thrilling, she adds, “It was also humbling. We don’t do the things we do to get recognized.”

VWF was founded in 1995, but Gosh’s activism began in the 1980s when state legislators threatened to reduce funding for Planned Parenthood of northern New England. As a mother of two young children at the time, Gosh was appalled, angered and frustrated.

She wanted to do something about it.

Not knowing where to begin, Gosh attended a “lobbying 101” class to help her learn how to organize around issues and make a difference. “I thought, if it’s that easy, if making phone calls to state legislators makes that much of a difference, then I’m going to do it.”

While working with the Governor’s Commission on Women, Gosh got an idea – to start a fundraising committee that could raise $17,000 to do a study on women and poverty in Vermont. In the early 1990s, 50 percent of all families in Vermont living below the poverty line were headed by single mothers, she says.

“We started talking within our committee and began to think about the larger picture, about how we could raise on-going funds that would always be there,” Gosh says.

Within a year and a half, Gosh, along with the help of hundreds of volunteers, raised $1 million. Today, VWF’s endowment has reached $2.2 million and since 1998, the fund has made 127 grants to Vermont organizations serving women and girls.

Recipients of VWF grants include organizations that fund AIDS projects, camps that build confidence in young girls through challenging outdoor activity, programs that teach adult women non-traditional skills like construction, plumbing and electrical work, and exercise classes for senior citizens that emphasize the prevention of osteoporosis, among others.

Have Justice, Will Travel was one of the first organizations that VWF funded. The founder, Wynona Ward, was herself a childhood victim of domestic abuse. Ward’s mantra, says Gosh, is “‘We will not stop street violence, we will not stop school violence, until we stop violence in the home. To stop violence in the home we must stop the generational cycle of abuse.’”

Gosh says she is in awe of the work Ward is doing. “She finds out about dreadful situations in rural Vermont, goes to them, and when the husband is not around, tells the woman how she can help. She walks them step by step through leaving, getting a restraining order, getting a divorce, counseling, job training…she’s turned so many lives around,” Gosh says.

“This was a grassroots project and we (VWF) believed in her. We thought it could work, and now, the lives she has affected in this country is extraordinary,” Gosh says with pride.

When selecting grant recipients, Gosh says VWF council members try to make them as diverse as possible. The council looks at geographic diversity, diversity of issues and a range in the ages of those helped by the organizations.

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

– Margaret Meade, anthropologist

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In all areas, however, the need is huge, says Gosh. “Last year we had 69 applicants ask for a total of $423,000.” In 2005, $81,000 was awarded to 21 grantees. “It breaks your heart to have to choose among so many good applicants,” she says. That’s why part of the VWF’s mission is to educate women about the needs that are specific to women and girls and to donate to those organizations, says Gosh. “We encourage all women to be philanthropic and to use their collective financial power to help shape Vermont’s future.”

With mentors like Madeleine Kunin, the first female governor of Vermont, and heroines like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, “who were treated like social pariahs while hugely advancing women’s rights,” how could Gosh not be considered a “Classic Woman.”

But Gosh is humble. Stressing that she didn’t do it alone, she says, “Many women have been involved in this. It’s a grass roots effort. It isn’t rich women giving to needy women. It’s all of us.”

Currently serving as interim director of VWF until a permanent director is hired, Gosh hopes to increase the fund’s endowment for the future.

“There is more than $500,000 in Vermont bringing about social change that wouldn’t be there otherwise,” Gosh says. “Hopefully there will be millions more in the future.”