GSU Library Research Guides: Women's Collections: Subject Guide: Philanthropy

Philanthropy: Manuscript Collections

Altrusa International, Atlanta Club Records 1938-2001 (W077)
The records of the Altrusa International, Atlanta Club, 1938-2001, describe through administrative papers, correspondence, scrapbooks, articles and photographs how the women's service organization provided community service within District III and with Altrusa clubs internationally as a whole.

Atlanta Women’s Foundation Records circa 1980-2003 (W051)
The Atlanta Women's Foundation (AWF) raises, manages, and distributes funds to programs that serve women and girls in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Correspondence, minutes and agendas, printed material, writings and creative works, financial documents, legal documents, and photographs make up the records of the AWF.

Philanthropy: Oral Histories

Elaine Alexander
Born in 1934 in Cambridge, MA, Elaine Alexander graduated from Lesley College with a BA in Education. She married Miles Alexander in 1955, and they have lived in Atlanta for close to 60 years. Alexander has served on numerous civic and Jewish boards and commissions. As well as serving as Executive Director of Leadership Atlanta from 1978-1992, she is a life board member of the American Jewish Committee and Southeast Region’s Anti-Defamation League, and she was a founding member of the Black/Jewish Coalition. She has also actively supported organizations that help women. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgia Commission on the Status of Women from 1976-1979, and served on the board of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation from 1997-2004. She was also the founding president of Vote Choice / A Georgia PAC, and has long been an avid and vocal supporter of Planned Parenthood.

Alexander has also served as vice chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, and has supported a number of political campaigns, including those of Maynard Jackson, John Lewis, Elliott Levitas, Michael Dukakis, Shirley Franklin and Kasim Reed. Among her many accomplishments, in 1985, Alexander was a recipient of the YWCA Women of Achievement Award, and in 2005, she received Planned Parenthood of Georgia’s Living Legend Award. The Anti-Defamation League has also honored her with their Community Service Award (1997), and in 2010, she received the American Jewish Committee Humanitarian Award.

Deborah Richardson
Deborah J. Richardson is the Executive Vice President of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights leading its fundraising and program development. Previously, she was Chief Program Officer at Women’s Funding Network in San Francisco, CEO of The Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Director of Program Development for Fulton County Juvenile Court, founding Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Fund (now Youth Spark) and Managing Director of the National Black Arts Festival.

Judith Taylor
Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1936, Judith Taylor graduated at age 19 from Brandeis University and moved to Atlanta after her marriage to Mark Taylor. As State Public Affairs Chair for the National Council of Jewish Women, Taylor lobbied in the state legislature on issues relating to women, children, and the elderly, including the ERA, changing rape laws, and juvenile justice. She campaigned for the first female Atlanta City Council members and helped to found Vote Choice, a Georgia PAC. She was also a founding mother of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation. the first woman to serve as Vice President of the Planning and Allocation Division of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, and the second woman Vice President of its Community and Government Relations Division. Judith is an alumni, as well as alumni chair, trustee and treasurer of Leadership Atlanta, and a lifetime member of the Board of the Southeast Region of the Anti-defamation League.

Taylor has been recognized for her many accomplishments: in 1984, she was a member of the first YWCA Academy of Women Achievers. Then, in 2008, she and Mark were the recipients of the Jerry and Dulcy Rosenberg SHORASHIM Award, and in 2010, they were both recipients of Planned Parenthood of Georgia’s Living Legends Award.