There’s a little-known group of local women quietly giving away millions of dollars in the St. Louis metro area. Their nearly 240 members include both outspoken liberals and hard-core Republicans.

They call themselves the Spirit of St. Louis Women’s Fund, or SOS for short. Together, they’ve donated more than $2.5 million since 2007 exclusively to small nonprofits in the metro region. At a time when political divides are fraught, many people’s volunteer efforts and charitable giving reflects their ideological values. This makes SOS’ stealth philanthropy to a diverse array of causes even more remarkable.

The group is part of a “collective giving” trend that has skyrocketed since 2007. The idea is simple: Members recognize that they can make a bigger impact by pooling money and donating larger grants than by giving smaller amounts individually.

Shelby Schagrin brought the idea to St. Louis in 2006 after seeing a successful model in San Diego. She recruited her friend Susan Block to join her in trying to launch the same thing here. They started the fund by asking 100 friends to join them by committing to give $100 a month for at least a year.

At first, they weren’t sure if anyone else would be interested. The organization was designed to fly under the radar, and hasn’t had a single fundraiser since it started 13 years ago.

“We didn’t want to fund buildings or have big events,” Block said. “We just wanted to help people.”

 Any woman who commits to the monthly donation can join. There are no other requirements for membership. No one has to sponsor or invite a new member. There are no volunteer requirements, although many of the women do become involved with the groups they end up funding.

They solicit grant applications from area nonprofits with operating budgets under $1.5 million. They have a team of members who commit to reviewing proposals, doing site visits and going over operating budgets. Then, they put around 20 organizations on a ballot and let the members vote on how to divvy up the funds.

“The point is to make it equal,” Block said. “Every vote counts the same.”

They’ve supported more than 80 local organizations with grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 each.

Studies show that women at all income levels give more to charity than men. A 2018 U.S. Trust study found that 93% of high-net-worth women -- those earning more than $200,000 or having a net worth greater than $1 million, minus the value of their home -- give to charity. Of the same group, 56% volunteer, 6% participate in impact investing and 23% serve on nonprofit boards. That’s compared to 87% of male donors and 41% of men who volunteer. The same gender disparity holds true at lower income levels, and the proliferation of women-led giving circles may be a contributing factor.

Amy Inman, president of SOS, says her giving patterns reflected what other studies have shown: Women tend to give more spontaneously, in group situations and with their hearts, as compared to men. Before she got involved with SOS, she describes herself as a “knee-jerk giver, willing to donate to whoever is asking and whoever you are standing closest to.”

After seven years with SOS, she has learned to become more intentional about her giving, studying how to achieve the best outcomes for the most pressing needs.

Inman, who is self-employed, said she’s also discovered causes she never would have known about, and she’s developed relationships with women outside her usual circles that she wouldn’t have met otherwise.

The organization does not make donations to political or religious groups. In fact, they try to avoid conversations about politics or religion altogether, Inman said.

“We talk about issues that are for the good for our community that we can agree upon,” she said.

Shawntelle Fisher, CEO of the SoulFisher Ministries (not a religious organization), is one of their favorite success stories. Fisher’s organization serves the needs of youth with incarcerated parents. She applied for a $14,000 grant in 2014 when her nonprofit was launching a pilot project. She was formerly incarcerated and struggling to raise money.

Inman said SOS decided to take a “calculated risk” after they got to know Fisher.

They gave her $10,000 in 2015 to help start up the nonprofit.

“They gave us our first substantial grant, and because of that, it positioned us for others to take a chance on us,” Fisher said.

Her organization has since blossomed: It got a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Education, and now employees eight full-time staff, 12 part-timers, four AmeriCorps Vista volunteers and several students from nearby universities.

Fisher was so moved by the work SOS does that she became a member herself.

“It just feels great. I’m changing lives in my own community through this network of powerful and compassionate women,” she said.

Five other women whose nonprofits were funded by SOS later ended up joining as members in order to help fund the next round.

“Nobody does anything like a woman,” Fisher said. “Having a whole group of us together is unstoppable.”

When my daughter became old enough to go to parties unattended but still needed a ride to get there, I had a captive audience. I used this drive to revisit the dangers of opioids, pills and alcohol abuse. Even when her friends were riding with us, I’d talk about the issue while they all rolled their eyes.

“No one is passing out opioids at the eighth-grade dance,” she told me a few years ago. I often shared chauffeur duties with another mom, who had her own drive-time PSA campaign.

“She talks about sex trafficking the way you talk about opioids,” my daughter said. It seemed like a low-level risk to warn our girls about in this middle-class, suburban town in the middle of America.

In fact, it’s a bigger deal than many parents realize. The St. Louis County Police Department investigated 191 cases of human trafficking between 2016 and 2018. The St. Louis metro area is often used as a “stop-off” point because of its location in the center of the country. Some groups of children are far more vulnerable, such as homeless and runaway teens, but anyone can get entrapped. Recruitment typically takes place over a period of time and involves brainwashing, manipulation and grooming tactics before the abuse begins.

A window into this sick world opened when federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged billionaire Jeffrey Epstein earlier this week with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. He faces a maximum of 45 years in prison if convicted. The indictment alleges that he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls” between 2002 and 2005. Epstein allegedly lured girls as young as 14 to come to his homes in New York and Florida and sexually exploited them. Some of the children were used to recruit other minor victims.

The indictment describes an actual child-sex ring operation run by a man who is part of the wealthiest and most politically connected Americans. The case reveals how privileged men can avoid consequences for the most depraved acts.

In 2008, Alex Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Florida who made a secret plea deal with Epstein that allowed him to escape federal charges and a potential life sentence after being accused of sexually assaulting dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion. The Miami Herald reported last year that the plea deal essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein’s sex crimes. Acosta’s office broke the law by not telling Epstein’s victims of the sweetheart deal, a judge later ruled.

The investigation involved at least 40 teenage girls. Epstein's plea allowed him to serve 13 months in jail, during which he was allowed to leave for work during the day.

Think about that: He was allowed to leave jail during the day to go to work. Did the lives of 40 traumatized girls matter so little?

And yet, there are those who have expressed more outrage about a black actress playing a fictional Disney mermaid.

Epstein’s social circles reached the highest levels of our government. President Donald Trump had called him a "terrific guy" he had known for 15 years and told New York magazine in 2002 that “(Epstein’s) a lot of fun to be with ... It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Former President Bill Clinton also had previously praised Epstein and had traveled on his private plane on multiple occasions. In the past several days, both men have distanced themselves from Epstein.

Senators knew about the secret sweetheart deal when they approved Acosta as Trump’s labor secretary.

Meanwhile, Trump picked an odd focus for his sympathy. “I feel very badly actually for Secretary Acosta,” he said to reporters.

Who feels very badly about the dozens of children who were sexually abused?

Meanwhile, Acosta has proposed 80% funding cuts for the government agency that combats child sex trafficking.

Parents can warn their children about all the potential dangers and risks they might face. But there’s no way to explain an even darker truth: Some adults are more invested in protecting predators than children.

Mia Daugherty, 36, is directing vendors where to set up free books and snacks, explaining how she ended up co-leading a volunteer organization, and rattling off the elementary school test scores and infant mortality rates of various impoverished St. Louis neighborhoods -- from memory.

One thing she knows for sure: Her 4-year-old daughter, Zara, running around the YMCA in a black tutu with sparkly bows in her hair, was not going to be one of the statistics.

Daugherty, who lives in one of the highest-poverty neighborhoods in St. Louis, joined forces last year with a handful of other moms from similar city neighborhoods to give other parents the same vision she has for her baby girl.

They call themselves Village of Moms.

Last weekend, they were attempting their biggest event yet. The O’Fallon Park YMCA Recreation Complex was bustling with activity. Nonprofit organizations filled the gym with tables to connect families with resources. A storyteller was set to perform. Free books and boxes of food would be given away. Their mission is simple: Tackle the city’s literacy challenges and set up more children to succeed in school.

Daugherty, who was raised by her father, has a single-minded belief in the power of education. She graduated from Jennings High School, then Lindenwood University. She’s raising Zara by herself and knows the challenges that single parenthood brings.

When she found out she was pregnant, she started reading to her unborn baby. She played Mozart for her. The day she brought her home from the hospital, alone in her home, she sang the ABCs to her. She did that every day until Zara could sing it back to her. She decided she would only expose her to characters in books and shows who looked like her and who were portrayed as positively as the white characters. Everything has been focused on learning.

“I didn’t let her watch ‘entertainment TV,’“ she says. She put her into an early Head Start program. She met with different preschool directors, asking about their curriculum and teaching approach.

They faced their biggest test -- literally -- last fall, when Zara took an IQ test to see if she could attend preschool at a gifted elementary school across town.

“I had to groom my daughter from the womb to pass that test,” Daugherty said. When she got the email results, she cried and called her father: Zara had passed.

He knew his granddaughter would, he said.

Before her daughter starts preschool in the fall, Daugherty met with the principal, her future teacher, the cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

“I wanted to talk to everyone who will be in contact with my child,” she said. Her daughter runs track and takes gymnastics and swimming lessons. Daugherty wants this for other children in her neighborhood, as well. Very few children from their part of the city will attend a gifted magnet school.

Daugherty understands that generational trauma plagues many people living in underserved neighborhoods. The fatal police shooting of Michael Brown shook her and led her to study the systemic and historical conditions that have led to such inequities in the black community. She took a tour with Generate Health, a local nonprofit, that highlighted the routes used for redlining, the practice of denying services and housing loans to poor, predominantly black areas.

She knows part of raising a strong black daughter also means building her confidence and equipping her to deal with racism. So as soon as Zara could talk, her mom had her repeat these words back to her: I am beautiful. I am black. I am smart.

That’s the message Daugherty and her Village of Moms want to share with the hundreds of children who will visit the YMCA for their free event. The test scores, which she rattles off so easily, for her local school break her heart. She wants more neighborhood kids on that long bus ride with Zara to her diverse, gifted school.

There a lot of organizations that come in to serve high-poverty areas, she said. But the community responds differently when it’s their own residents trying to make a change.

“We are the community,” she said.