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December 18, 2019

Meet The Matriots All-In Members

In the July edition of The Hive, Sally Crane Cox introduced us to Kitty & Dick Rosenthal of Cincinnati.  Kitty & Dick were our first members to max out on The Matriots. Ohio law sets a defined maximum annual gift that a PAC can accept from a single donor at $13,292.35.

The Rosenthals didn’t just say yes to go all in for a single year, they said “we want to do this for the Matriots for three years in a row!”

And in this month’s Hive, we introduce you to the NEXT two Ohio families making the same commitment: Sally Crane Cox & Cary Cox and Carol Andreae & Jim Garland.

Sally and Carol were both founders of the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio almost two decades ago. Sally is among the six women who returned from the Women’s March in 2017 ready to take action – action that eventually became The Matriots PAC!

“After engaging for a time in the process of promoting women’s political leadership through The Matriots PAC, it became clear that achieving gender equity was not going to be a short-term goal,” Sally said. “It will take dollars and diligence to develop a deep bench of qualified candidates who share our values and can run viable campaigns.”

For Carol, this investment is the next iteration of work to put more women at all kinds of tables of power.

“With women in leadership roles, different issues get attention – childcare, infant and maternal mortality, early childhood education, for example, issues which affect the whole community, but are often relegated to being ‘women’s issues’ and less worthy of attention,” Carol said. “From my experiences with other women’s organizations, I’ve learned that women often have the solutions to community problems, but don’t have the resources, nor the influence to implement them. Historically, when there is investment in women, the community prospers.”

That’s exactly what The Matriots are working to do: elect more Ohio women to public office who will promote a healthy economy in which women can thrive and prosper.

“Early on, we were struck by the fact that the Matriots’ candidates appeared to be motivated to run for office not to seek power or stature, but to advance policies that positively impact women and their families,” Sally said.

“Obviously, the realization of the need to elect more women has been a powerful motivator for many people, men as well as women,” Carol said. “The success of the Matriots in its few years of existence has been incredible. With more support available for the candidates, more women have been willing to step up and run for office.”

And we’re proud our members are women AND men, Ohio residents AND those out of state, and importantly people of ALL political stripes. Speaking on behalf of Cary and herself, Sally said, “We think it is really inspiring the number of women and men who identify as cultural conservatives who have joined the Matriots PAC and who recognize that the Matriots’ mission of promoting women’s economic independence benefits society as a whole. In order to be successful in our goal of equal-gender representation, we will need support across the ideological spectrum. And at this time of extreme partisan divide, a focus on making our democracy truly representative, and of choosing shared values over partisan labels, is not only brave but smart.”

The Matriots doesn’t intend to let these three families stand alone on our list of All In contributors. The sustainability of this organization – our ability to invest in female candidates in the future; and ESPECIALLY in next year’s critical 2020 races – relies on gifts that guarantee our financial viability.

As Carol recently told a blogger for the Women’s Funding network: “I would say to any donor: by letting it be known that you are giving money to support an issue – whether it’s $100 or $1,000,000- you are taking a stand and saying this issue is important and you are making a difference.”

Take that thought into your holiday. Think about what female leadership means to you; and whether this is a cause for which you want to stretch. Join us. Tell a friend. Increase your gift. This is how we build the war chest for 2020 and beyond.