Business and Professional Women's Foundation
Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW) is an organization that promotes workforce development programs and workplace policies to acknowledge the needs of working women, communities and businesses. It supports the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.

Current issues
 Successful Workplaces Movement
 Pay equity
 Support for women veterans
 Contraceptive equity
 Family time flexible leave
 Equal Rights Amendment

Structure
The work of BPW Foundation is supported through corporate partnerships, grants and individual philanthropic donations.  Its Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) number is 10506. It is governed by a Board of Trustees.

History
The legacy of Business and Professional Women/USA began in 1919.

While mobilizing for World War I, the U.S. Government recognized the need for a cohesive group to coordinate identification of women's available skills and experience. A Women's War Council, financed through a federal grant, was established by the War Department to organize the resources of professional women. It was guided principally by executives of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs was founded on July 16, 1919, at a meeting led by Lena Madesin Phillips of Kentucky. In the 1930s it became a charter member of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women.

BPW/USA became the first organization created to focus on the issues of working women. BPW worked throughout the 1930s to prohibit legislation or directives denying jobs to married women and lobbied successfully to legislatively end the legal practice of workplace preference for unmarried persons and, in the case of married persons, preference for males. BPW/USA was one of the first women's organizations to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment in 1937. 

At the advent of World War II, BPW developed a classification system for women with specialized skills critical to the war effort and supported the formation of women's branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. While wage discrimination has existed in the U.S. since women and minorities first entered the paid workforce, its prevalence was not felt until the massive influx of women sought work during World War II. Immediately following the war, the Women's Pay Act of 1945 - the first ever legislation to require equal pay - was introduced in the U.S. Congress. It was another 18 years before an equal pay bill made its way to the President's desk to be signed into law.

BPW Foundation was incorporated in 1956 as the first foundation dedicated to providing resources to and about working women.  It included research, information, career development programs, workshops and other training opportunities.  The Marguerite Rawalt Resource Center, established in 1980 and put on-line 2006, is a major resource for information and documents on the history of women and women in the workplace.
 
The establishment of "Status of Women" commissions in the U.S. in 1963 was due largely to BPW efforts. President John F. Kennedy recognized BPW's leading role in securing passage of the Equal Pay Act by giving BPW's National President the first pen he used when signing the Act into law.

Virginia Allan initiated the "Young Careerist" Program to develop the business and presentation skills of young women between 25–35 years of age. The first National Legislative Conference, held in 1963 in D.C., later developed into BPW's current Policy & Action Conference, where members lobby Congress and the Administration on BPW's legislative issues.

BPW tackled "comparable worth" by calling for newspapers to stop the occupational segregation in classified ads (clustering of women in a few restricted occupations of low-paying, dead-end jobs). Numerous state and municipal governments revamped their pay scales, recognizing dissimilar jobs may not be identical, but may be composed of tasks, educational requirements, experience and other characteristics that are equivalent or comparable. In 1986, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to approve a pay equity referendum, implementing $34 million in increases for employees in female and minority-dominated jobs.  Continuing with BPW's focus on workplace issues, BPW lobbied Congress for passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which finally passed in 1993.
     
Discussions on comparable worth were expanded to include enforcement and strengthening of existing Equal Pay legislation. The Pay Equity Employment Act of 1994, followed by the Equal Pay Act (introduced in 1994) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (introduced in 1997) became BPW's focus legislation through the '90s. Then-Secretary of Labor, Elizabeth Dole, and First Lady Barbara Bush addressed BPW's members at the White House Briefing during the 1990 "Lobby Day" event. Subsequent speakers have included Senator Tom Harkin, First Lady (Senator) Hillary Clinton and Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

In 2005, BPW used its grassroots power to continue the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' (BLS) Working Women Series and to re-instate Lifetime TV on the DISH Network programming.  During this same year in October, BPW/USA launched Women Joining Forces:Closing Ranks, Opening Doors (WJF), a program to support women veterans as they transition from military to civilian life. This commitment made BPW/USA the first and only non-governmental agency to offer programming that supports women veterans. 

Workplace equity issues including sexual harassment, opportunities for women veterans, work-life balance, health care reform, dependent care, tort reform, increasing the minimum wage, lifetime economic security and pay equity continue to be BPW's targeted issues.

In 2009 BPW Foundation merged with its sister organization BPW/USA.

List of BPW/USA National Presidents

1919-1920: Gail Laughlin
1920-1923: Lena Lake Forrest
1923-1925: Adelia Prichard
1925-1926: Olive Joy Wright
1926-1929: Lena Madesin Phillips***
1929-1931: Marion H. McClench
1931-1935: Geline MacDonald Bowman
1935-1937: Charl Ormond Williams
1937-1939: Earlene White
1939-1944: Minnie L. Maffett
1944-1946: Margaret A. Hickey
1946-1948: Sally Butler***
1948-1950: K. Frances Scott
1950-1952: Sarah T. Hughes
1952-1954: Helen G. Irwin***
1954-1956: Marguerite Rawalt**
1956-1958: Hazel Palmer**
1958-1960: Grace B. Daniels**
1960-1961: Fannie Hardy**
1961-1962: Katherine Peden**
1962-1963: Minnie C. Miles**
1963-1964: Virginia Allan**
1964-1965: Dorothy Ford**
1966-1967: Sarah Jane Cunningham**
1967-1968: Mabel R. McClanahan**
1968-1969: Hope Roberts**
1969-1970: Myra Ruth Harmon**
1970-1971: Ruth M. Easerling**
1971-1972: Osta Underwood**
1972-1973: Jeanne C. Squire**
1973-1974: Jean L. McCarrey**
1974-1975: Marie B. Bowden**
1975-1976: Maxine R. Hayes**/****
1976-1977: Jane Culbreth**
1977-1978: Piilani C. Desha**
1978-1979: Geraldine R. Eidson**
1979-1980: Julia K. Arri**
1980-1981: Dorine Chancellor**
1981-1982: Phylllis Harrison
1982-1983: Jeri S. Libner**
1983-1984: Polly Madenwald**
1984-1985: Winifred E. Lethbridge**
1985-1986: Anne Steinbeck**
1987-1988: Beth Wray**
1988-1989: Betty J. Forbes**
1989-1990: LaVerne F. Collins**
1990-1991: Elizabeth Athanasakos**
1991-1992: Pat Taylor**
1992-1993: Jo Etta Y. Wickliffe**
1993-1994: Dianne Studer**
1994-1995: Cindy L. Winckler**
1995-1996: Anna Vacca**
1996-1997: Candace G. Butler**
1997-1998: Joyce R. Hart**
1998-1999: Susan B. Dailey**
1999-2000: Robin J. Robinson**
2000-2001: Patricia Cornish**
2001-2002: Leslie R. Wilkins**
2002-2003: Cindy Patterson Young**
2003-2004: Carolyn V. Grady
2004-2005: Nancy L. Hurlbert
2005-2006: Roslyn R. Ridgeway**
2006-2007: Nancy Jackson
2007-2008: Barb Henton
2008-2009: Diane Polangin

The "*" denotes the following:
Chair of BPW Foundation**
International President***
International President-representing Australia Federation****

Notable Members 
 Amy Allbright, Member
 May Wallace Allen, Member
 Anne L. Anderson, Member
 Gertrude Thomas Arnold, Member
 Julia G. Babcock, Member
 Elizabeth Balderston, Member San Mateo
 Gladys H. Barndollar, founder and past president
 Annie Little Barry, Member San Francisco
 Grace Thorpe Bear, Member New Mexico Fed.
 Ruth Moench Bell, Member
 Elisabeth Sara Benton, recording secretary San Francisco League
 Myrtle Bernard, Vice-president
 Cecelia Mae Beyler, for 3 years a member of Oregon State Board
 Gertrude Richards Bliss, Member Los Angeles
 C. Louise Boehringer, National Vice-President (for Arizona), National and State MemberBl
 Pauline Suing Bloom, Member
 Ada Margaret Brayton, First vice-president of Calif. Fed., Member and president of Pasadena
 Imogen Harding Brodie, member of the Professional Woman's League of Portland
 Leta May Bryan, Member El Centro, California
 Emilie Henry Burcham, President
 Euna Pearl Burke, honorary member
 Nellie T. Bush, Member
 Mary Ryerson Butin, Member
 Sadie M. Callan, Member
 Lenore Sollender Campbell, Commissioner of Recreation of Los Angeles Club
 Mary Jane Canter, president of Federated League (1928-29)
 Lillian M. Carse, Vice-president
 Bessie Chamberlain, Member Pasadena Club
 Clara F. Chladek, President 
 Edna E. Christofferson, Member
 Zulu Clements, Past President California Federation , Director, Treasurer and First-Vice President San Francisco, former editor of "The Business Woman and Business Women's News"
 Felice Cohn, Member Reno Club
 Emma Coldiron, Member Walla Walla Club
 Anne D. Cooper, Member
 Inez Mabel Crawford, Member San Mateo Club
 Mary Sinclair Crawford, Member National Association
 Clara R. Cushman, Member
 Alma Jeannette Danford, Member
 Myrtle Ramey Davis, Member
 Naomi Deutsch, Member
 Allie Dickerman, National Member
 Eva Hunt Dockery, National Fed., State chairman legislation, Idaho Club
 Edith Daggett Rockwood, Organizer, Yuma, Arizona
 Jeannette M. Drake, Member
 Elaine Anderson Dudley, Member Goodwill Industries Club
 Nannie C. Dunsmoor, president of the Professional Women's Club
 Charlotte Penniman Ebbets, Member Santa Barbara Club
 Clarice McGlauflin Elliott, local, state and national Member
 Augusta Louise Eraser, president San Diego Club, honorary member San Diego Junior Club, Past state pres. Calif. Fed.
 Jessie A. Eraser, Member
 Letitia H. Erb, Member Lewiston Club
 M. Winnifred Feighner, Member
 Alice R. Fischer, Member
 Helen G. Fisk, president Pasadena Club, Member Los Angeles Service League
 Minnie Flanigan, Member
 Jennie Fortune, Member Capital City Club, National Fed.
 Abigail Keasey Frankel, first President of State Federation of Oregon
 Blanche Galloway, Member
 Helena M. Gamble, Member
 Florence Gardner, Member
 Mary E. Gartin, Member
 Mary Gervais, founder and first president
 Ruth Beatrice Gibson, Member
 Harriet A. Haas, Member
 Mozelle Hair, Member
 Carrie E. Hall, Member
 Ceil Doyle Hamilton, Member
 Winifred M. Hausam, for 2 years Vocational Guidance chairman, L. A. County Fed., Vocational Guidance chairman, California State Fed., Member Pasadena Club
 Alta L. Hawker, Member
 Bertha R. Hays, president and past secretary, Member National Fed.
 Grace Raymond Hebard, Member Wyoming Club
 Elizabeth Heinline, Member
 Mary Hughes, Member
 Mattie R. Hummell, President of Idaho State Club
 Emma W. Lillis Humphrey, Member
 Ruth M. Huntington, Member
 Sarah M. Jacobus, Member
 Lotta Hetler James, Hanford Club
 Kate L. Fick Jeancon, Member San Diego Club
 Amelia F. Johnson, State Chairman of Legislation California Federation
 Bessie M. Lill, One of organizers and first president of Madera Club, State Secretary (1928) of Women's Federation
 Adda Bradford Manker, Member Upland Club
 Retta F. Martin, Member Boise Club
 Rena B. Maycock, Member
 Ona F. Meens, Member
 Rebecca B. Mellors, Member
 Evelyn Melvin, Member Salmon Club
 Blanche Funk Miller, Member
 Eleanor Miller, Member
 Mabel Louise Mills, honorary member Glendale Club
 Mary Frances Mooney, Member
 Cassie C. Moreland, Member
 Rinda Shortridge Morse, Member San Mateo Club
 Estella Smith Mulliner, Organizer and first president, Idaho Falls Club
 Jacqueline Noel, Member
 Marion Campbell Orr, president
 Adelina Otero-Warren, Member
 Lillian McNeill Palmer, founder of the Women's Business and Professional Club in San Francisco
 Matilda Peterson, Life Member
 Kate Pier, was the only honorary member of the Milwaukee Business Women's Club 
 Julietto Pierce, Member
 Cornelia D. Plaister, State Chairman, Educational Committee
 Alma E. Plumb, Member
 Adelia Prichard, For two years National president
 Maude Hancock Prichard, Member Capital City Club
 Cornelia Douglas Provines, Member
 Ada E. Purpus, president of the Laguna Beach Business and Professional Woman's Club
 Mildred Chick Pyle, Member
 Frances Effinger Raymond, president Nationally Affiliated League
 Ida M. Reagan, Member
 Ethel Emily Redfield, Member
 Margaret Reeves, Member Capitol City Club
 Eve Richardson, president
 Charlotte Roberson, Member
 E. Ruth Rockwood, Member
 Mary McMillan Rodney, Member
 Frances Eastman Rose, Member
 Margaret Ruse, Member Santa Fe Club
 Rachel Irene Seibert, State Treasurer of the Chehalis Business and Professional Women's Club
 Elizabeth Seymour (publicist), one of the five founders San Diego Club
 Florence Elizabeth Shindler, First president Southern District California Fed.
 Orfa Jean Shontz, president
 Anna B. Smith, Former County Treasurer, Director, State Fed. Club, National Member
 Lucetta Amelia Smith, President of local club, Member National Fed.
 Mary E. Smith, Member
 Susan T. Smith, president 1921-23 Calif Fed.
 May Ella Hand Snow, Member
 Grace M. Sparkes, Member
 Lillian Spongberg, Member
 Mary Jane Spurlin, Member
 F. Josephine Stevenson, president of Pasadena Club, for one year, state organization chairman of the State Federation
 Grace S. Stoermer, Member
 Isabel Seal Stovel, Member
 Nina E. Steunenberg, Member
 Clara F. Strong, charter member and president
 Nora Early Summers, Member
 Jennie Lasby Tessmann, Member
 Monica B. Thompson, Member
 Margaret Todt, Member
 Jessie F. Treen, Member
 Helen Ella True, Member
 Miriam Van Waters, Member Los Angeles Club
 Dotha S. Varker, Member
 Fanny Maughan Vernon, chairman of Legislative Committee, state legislative chairman
 Frances Vogel, Member
 Margaret Ward, Member
 Ida V. Wells, president of the Professional Women's Club
 Lillian M. Wendemuth, Interested in the activities of Business and Professional Women, State Publicity chairman, Member National Federation League of San Francisco
 Sarah Elizabeth Wenk, Corresponding Secretary of Northern District Club and second Vice-President of California Federation, president
 Nina May Westmore, Member
 Anna Musselman Westover, Member
 Reah Whitehead, Member Seattle Club
 Marian Tracie Whiting, Member Service League
 Josephine Clancey Wice, Member
 Elsie K. Wilcox, For third term president of Culver City Club
 Emily D. Wilkie, Member Berkeley Club
 Mabel Walker Willebrandt, one year chairman of Legislation, Los Angeles County Club
 Bird M. Wilson, Member
 Edna Josephine Wilson-Olive, Former recording secretary, California Federation Club, Recording secretary Southern District California Fed.
 Una R. Winter, president Southern District Calif. Fed., president Upland Club
 Maude Wolff, Member
 Bessie J. Wood, president
 Belle Wood-Comstock, Professional Woman's Club of Los Angeles
 Dora Wright, charter member
 Emma Russell Yearian, Member Salmon Club
 Mary Yost, active member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Palo Alto

California Federation
The California sub-organization, the California Federation of Business & Professional Women's Clubs, has been especially large and influential. Zulu Clements was its president.