Centered on health, wellness and community bonding, 100 Women Charitable Foundation and Power4 Pilates studio partnered for a night of connection.
“Summer Nights,” on Aug. 21, brought members of both organizations to Power4 Pilates Los Altos location for food, games and conversation.
“We teamed up with Power4 Pilates because both groups are built on the same basic idea: women showing up for each other,” said Julie Sheehan, marketing and communications director for the 100 Women Charitable Foundation.
The 100 Women Charitable Foundation pools community donations across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, in order to provide more central and substantial funding for local nonprofits, Sheehan said.
2026 marks the foundation’s 20th anniversary, and in that time they have raised more than $2.7 million for local nonprofits.
“We can make grants big enough to actually move the needle for nonprofits serving those two counties, with a focus on education, family, and health and wellness,” Sheehan added.
Every year the foundation’s members nominate charities before voting on which ones receive funding.
“It’s philanthropy by committee, in the best sense: more voices, bigger impact, and a lot of women in one room deciding together where their giving can do the most good,” Sheehan said.
The foundation’s board president, Mary Ann Poulos, is a member at Power4 Pilates and knows the studio’s owner. Sheehan said the partnership seemed like a good fit.
“This partnership just formalizes a community that already existed,” Sheehan added.
Power4 Pilates CEO Jennifer Gaines said that this community-building is one of the main reasons that she wanted to start the studio.
“I think that ultimately we’re all serving a community and a purpose, and we want to help others. And so, you know, both of us coming from I think similar places and also from different perspectives are trying to do the same thing,” Gaines said.
Power4 Pilates focuses on health and rehabilitation through exercise, while also giving its team members the best possible opportunities for growth, Gaines said.
“It’s always been clear to us that our goal was first to create an organization where those who wanted to have careers in fitness could,” Gaines added. “We also then focus on the community aspect of building our members and introducing them to Pilates.”
The studio is celebrating its one-year anniversary in Los Altos next month, and in that year it has grown to include two studios and around 70 team members.
“We would like to give our members an opportunity to be exposed to a local organization who is doing really great work,” Gaines said. “We’re bringing a lot of strong people together, which we’re excited about.”
