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foUndAtion Profile: CHAMBERS FAMILY FUND
Since 1981, accomplished
business leader, philanthropist,
and Colorado Women’s Hall of
Fame inductee Merle Chambers
has been a champion for PPRM,
supporting our organization
individually and through her
foundation, the Chambers Family Fund. The Fund’s
most recent gift was a challenge grant encouraging
individuals to offer Building the Future capital campaign
contributions to PPRM. The purpose of this campaign
was to raise funds for PPRM’s new health center and
administrative office. Over $500,000 in new gifts were
raised and then matched by the Fund, resulting in
proceeds in excess of $1 million.
Merle is an avid proponent of women’s economic
independence and equal pay for women in the workplace.
Merle embraced these values early in life as her family’s
work ethic and passion to help others were ingrained
in her. Merle founded and managed Axem Resources
Incorporated, a privately held, independent oil and gas
company, until its sale in 1997 at which time she created
the Chambers Family Fund. The sale allowed her to
pursue her philanthropic interests and dedicate her life
to a cause that would help women and families. An
important part of empowering women to be self-sufficient,
Merle believes, is to provide access to contraceptives
and reproductive education. Like PPRM, Merle considers
family planning and access to contraception essential to
women’s economic independence.
“We (Chambers Family Fund) are fortunate to have
the capacity to commit significant funds for creating
change. We hope that these upstream solutions,
such as directing our support towards systemic
change, will have a positive ripple effect for future
generations.”
Services provided by PPRM are critical to women’s
futures, especially in today’s uncertain economic times.
“When we fund initiatives to educate women,
helping them become economically self-sufficient,
we believe we’re breaking the cycle of poor and
undereducated women who can’t get good jobs.
By supporting education of this nature, we’re
simultaneously helping women and their families.
It’s a waterfall effect. Poverty is not just about
a single woman who can’t earn a living; it is a
worldwide issue.”
Merle is an instrumental figure to PPRM, funding
innovative projects over the years like the E-Business
Strategy Portal which created an online, unified presence
for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates. Other projects
include Secure Source, which helps women attain
affordable methods of contraception and the Power
the Promise Initiative that allows Planned Parenthood
affiliates to easily engage in dialogue with one another.
In the spirit of making a difference over the long-term,
Merle is a consistent and dedicated philanthropist.
“With our support, we sustain and increase what
an organization can accomplish. We often ask an
organization — ‘what is your greatest challenge
in attracting resources?’ — that is where we’ll
direct our support. We recognize that building the
capacity of an organization, creating an endowment,
and funding operational costs are essential to an
organization’s success.”
In addition to her strong commitment to Colorado,
Merle has supported the Rocky Mountain region by
creating women’s foundations and expanding women’s
philanthropy. A shared theme among all her foundations
is that they improve the lives of women and girls in
Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.