Astraea supporters and long-time couple Denise Kleis and Beth Salerno met each other through the women's movement in the mid-1970's.  They describe their relationship as having evolved from a friendship that itself was intimately connected to political activism.  In fact, Beth describes one of her earliest memories of her relationship with Denise as working together organizing buses for an ERA March on Washington.  Residents of northern New Jersey, both identify as feminists and tell of their commitment to social justice as beginning when they were young - Beth recalls collecting money for UNICEF as a little girl - and growing with their life experiences.  Little surprise, then, that as a couple they have continued to be actively devoted to the social justice causes that brought them together and about which they remain passionate.

Introduced to Astraea in the early 1980's through two of our early founders, Beth and Denise have been active as volunteers and donors for over two decades.  As their careers and means have progressed-Denise is a human resource professional and Beth is in charge of global philanthropy for a major corporation-so too have their financial gifts to Astraea and the many other organizations they support.  In addition to numerous volunteer service hours and regular membership donations, Beth and Denise regularly donate gifts of appreciated stock.  Such gifts are a way for them to support work they care about in a particularly meaningful way because it enables them to give more to Astraea and less to taxes.   Denise describes "Suppose you are in the 30% tax bracket and plan to contribute $1,000 to Astraea. If you make a contribution of 10 shares of stock, with a market value of $1,000 ($100 a share) and you paid $20 a share for the stock, you would have paid taxes on $200 (the purchase price) of your contribution, but you would never pay taxes on the $800 (the appreciation).  You would permanently avoid paying $240 of taxes ($800 x 30%) on the appreciation.  Alternatively, if you made a contribution of $1,000 of cash you would have paid taxes on the full amount of your contribution, the $1,000."

When asked why they have included Astraea in their giving over the years Denise and Beth echo many of the observations of other members: "Astraea represents a unique combination…It is a feminist organization that supports all women's issues, but focuses on the cultural, political, educational and cultural well being of lesbians.  It provides grants to many organizations and individuals that we know are outside of the mainstream…Over the years it has been wonderful to see it grow in size and scope and influence.."

print version / go to top of page