In 2018, The Doyenne Group launched its Evergreen Fund, moved into StartingBlock Madison and hosted events in Milwaukee, among other milestones the organization recapped recently.

As previously reported, the Evergreen Fund offers financial support to businesses led by women and people of color in the forms of grants, loans and equity investments. This year the Doyenne Group awarded $250,000 to businesses, including 20 grants and three equity investments.

In October, the Doyenne Group moved to a new office that provides more space for its programming and helps it stay connected to Madison’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. StartingBlock Madison is home to other organizations such as gener8tor and Bunker Labs.

As part of its expansion in Milwaukee this summer, the group met with local organizations to learn about the ecosystem and discuss potential collaborations, and it hosted numerous Milwaukee Connect Meetings in September, October and November.

“Several members have shared that Doyenne programming really helped them grow and expand their businesses,” Doyenne Group Co-Founder Heather Wentler said in a statement. “That’s why we know it’s important to continue to keep Doyenne programming affordable, and to expand Doyenne to other cities.”

Other organizational milestones include the raising of money to hire a local operations director. The Doyenne Group also announced it will launch a monthly digital magazine in 2019 that will include blogs, a guest expert feature and a funded company spotlight section.