Each of the lawyers, accountants, CEOs, small-business owners, and other professionals who make up the Women's Philanthropy Fund of the Orange County United Way in Irvine, California, donates at least $10,000 annually to belong to the group, which has contributed about $3 million to charity in the three years since its founding, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The fund, which has nearly doubled the number of United Way donors in Orange County who give more than $10,000 annually, is distinctive, said United Way spokeswoman Sheila Consaul, because women make up nearly half of those donors. Nationally, only 7 percent of United Way donors who give $10,000 or more annually are women.

By virtue of its size and the hefty donation minimum, the Orange County group is one of the most powerful women's giving circles in the country; most of the seven hundred giving circles in the U.S. only require $5,000 annual donations and are not affiliated with the United Way. About half of the $3 million raised by the group to date has gone to the United Way, with the balance earmarked for specific causes. In addition to contributing to the arts and women's shelters, for example, the group has allocated $400,000 to educate disadvantaged women about finances and is researching how it can extend loans to help fledgling businesswomen prepare a business plan and apply for loans.

"This is about women's power," said fund member Janet Davidson, a retired partner of a local law firm and board chair of Children's Hospital of Orange County. "From the beginning, we wanted to do more than write checks."