Circle Of Sisterhood – Sorority Life at Truman State University!

Circle of Sisterhood is Truman State’s Panhellenic Philanthropy!

Their Mission: The Circle of Sisterhood will leverage the collective influence of sorority women to raise financial resources for entities around the world that are removing educational barriers for girls and women facing poverty and oppression.

The Cause: For too many girls and women around the world, access to quality education is often limited. More than 60 million girls are out of school around the globe. Education is an answer to many of the global issues affecting women – poverty, oppression, misogyny, brutality. Ultimately, more and more educated girls will mean stronger and healthier villages, communities, and entire countries.

The Barrier they try to remove with education includes:

Affordability (inability to afford tuition, uniforms, boarding, etc.)
Child marriage
Inadequate infrastructure (conducive structures, latrines, etc.)
Lack of school supplies
Puberty (inadequate menstrual hygiene education, facilities, supplies)
Sex trafficking (reintegration, teach of a trade)
Untrained and underfunded teachers

Why support the Circle of Sisterhood?

The sorority community is one of the largest, identifiable bodies of college educated women in the world. And our community holds a significant amount of influence. As one community of women, we can use our influence to help not only our campus and alumnae communities but those around us to understand the global issues affecting women and the critical need to help girls achieve education around the world.

When not even 7% of the world earns a college degree and 2/3 of all illiterate adults in the world are women, we have much work to do. As educated women, we have a responsibility to help girls go to school.

Why Sorority Women?

The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation is a mechanism by which all sorority women can stand together across affiliation, age, color, and creed to make a difference in the lives of millions of girls and women. Collectively, we can do much more than we could as individuals or individual groups. We can give others an equal chance for rewarding lives and livelihoods through schooling, the learning of a trade, or even access to or preparation for college.

One person can make a small difference. But as a community of educated women, our collective efforts will be transforming for generations to come.

Their Impact:

They aim to fund entities regardless of location, but we are particularly interested in the United States and developing countries.

Since our founding in 2010, we’ve been able to support organizations working to remove barriers to education in 25 countries on four continents, including funding the construction of 30 school builds in six countries – Nicaragua, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Senegal and Haiti.

As of December 31, 2022 the CoS has:

Granted over $1,200,000 to remove barriers to education in 28 countries on 4 continents
324 campus sorority communities as official philanthropic partners
27 alumnae organizations engaged (and we want so many more!)
Funded the construction of 41 schools in remote villages in 7 countries (Guatemala, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua and Senegal). Close to 6,000 students, 49% being girls, are attending these schools.
Provided scholarships, tuition, uniforms, boarding school fees, malaria nets, libraries, teachers, tutors, electricity, computers, hygiene products, and the list goes on…to remove barriers to education.