Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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continued on page 74 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GALE H eather duBoef 's moment of truth came the night she didn't want to attend her own party. It was 2005 and she was busy planning two charity events with a few friends, coordinating everything from the f loral arrangements to the canapés to the gift bags. And after all those weeks of organizing, she turned to them and asked, "Can I just pay my $5,000 and not go?" "The thing is, I wasn't really kidding," recalls duBoef. She was bored with menu tastings, choosing décor colors, wrangling auction items—"all the things I'm terrible at," she says. "It was exhausting." It was also frus- trating, working on events that sometimes cost more to put together than they raised. "We use this term, 'friendraising.' A lot of people showed up and donated money and in-kind services toward this heart-wrenching cause, but that money all went to the party rather than those who need it. If I want to throw a party, I'll throw a party. But if I want to do philan- thropy, there's got to be a better way." Finding a better way has always been duBoef 's MO. A g raduate of UCL A , she went f rom being a f it ness inst r uctor to desig ning g y ms. When love took her from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and she needed to meet new people and "get more community," she opened a pottery paint- ing studio. And when she realized that the price of a gala ticket could be put to better use, she founded Nevada Women's Philanthropy, a member- driven, pooled-fund grant-making organization that awards a substantial sum to a different local nonprofit each year. DuBoef pitched the idea to her two sisters and three of her friends. On the gala circuit, $5,000 had seemed a manageable number, so that's what each decided to dedicate to NWP every year. To duBoef the model made sense: Even with just the six of them, it would mean an annual grant of Giving Large NEVADA WOMEN'S PHILANTHROPY CHAIR HEATHER DUBOEF CREATED A GRANTMAKING ORGANIZATION THAT WOULD HAVE THE GREATEST POSSIBLE IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY. BY JENNIFER BLOCK 72 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY 072-074_V_SP_SOG_MAYJUNE_14.indd 72 4/21/14 1:27 PM