One woman can change the world.
But two women can change the course of a brokerage firm. Kimberly Doran and Coleen Donohue are two such women –two female salespeople at Dallas, Texas-based Capital Institutional Services or CAPIS. Broker/Dealer CAPIS itself is 51% women-owned and is run by Chief Executive Kristi Wetherington and Chief Financial Officer Ann Sebert – both who are supporting Doran and Donohue’s newest female-targeted charity initiatives. Both Doran and Donohue are members of the STA, STA Women in Finance and Women in ETF’s groups and are on the lookout to join others.
Doran and Donohue sat down with Traders Magazine’s John D’Antona Jr and explained that the firm, WBENC-certified (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) since 2015, is starting a new initiative internally to donate a portion of their “women-owned business” revenue to a handful of select charities whose mission is to help women and girls.
WBENC certification gives CAPIS access to Corporations with diversity mandates in addition to enhancing its involvement with Public Pension Plans who also have mandates.
“As a women-owned firm, we want to give back to causes that support and empower women,” Doran told Traders Magazine. “When a corporation, with a diversity mandate, chooses us as an execution partner via our treasury desk, corporate buy backs, or commission management (corporate pension plans), we will ‘put our money where our mouth is’ and make a donation to 1 of the 3 charities we’ve chosen to work with.”
“We carefully selected charities based on mission, quality ranking (ranked by transparency, accountability, financial performance etc), location and size,” Donohue said. CAPIS is partnering with charities in Chicago, Dallas, and New York.
While all the details have not yet been finalized, the charities selected so far are:
Sarah’s Circle – Chicago, IL. Which serves homeless or at risk women with daytime services- food, clothing shelter, housing and clinical services for domestic violence and trauma. www.sarahs-circle.org
Young Women’s Preparatory Network- Dallas, TX. Supports single-gender, college-preparatory, public education in Texas and beyond, giving young women the academic and leadership skills to achieve success in college and in life. www.youngwomensprep.org
Girls Inc. of New York City – New York, NY. Which offers girls the opportunity to discover their intellectual and emotional strengths. www.girlsincnyc.org
“And this is just the beginning for CAPIS in terms of our involvement in the advancement of women and girls in all facets of life. Our goal is to use our women-owned status to give back in a meaningful way, and really cement ourselves as a firm that doesn’t just have the “women-owned” title, but as one that is actively involved in empowering women,” Donohue said.
