Topeka ? Never underestimate the power of the coffee klatch.

It began in 2005 with a cake-and-coffee meeting of five women interested in pooling their financial resources for the betterment of Topeka.

From that origin, word rippled through other social gatherings to the point where today, Topeka’s Women’s Fund has 106 members who have generated some $225,000 in donations for philanthropic projects that improve the financial education of local women.

The Women’s Fund is Topeka’s example of a women’s giving circle — a long-standing tradition gaining momentum throughout America as women use the power of the collective to improve their communities.

“It was a grassroots effort that came out of women meeting over coffee who said, ‘You’ve got a little money, I’ve got a little money, let’s pool it together,”‘ recalled Kathy Smith, the executive director of Topeka’s Arts Connect program who attended that initial meeting.

With every woman in the group having a vote in the fund’s grants, the Women’s Fund — its money invested under the banner of the Topeka Community Foundation — bestowed $20,000 in 2008 and another $34,000 in 2009. The beneficiaries this year were three organizations with programs designed to improve the financial literacy of women.

El Shaddai Ministries of east Topeka offers classes for women on basic financial skills from budgeting to savings and credit management.

Let’s Help offers a year-round program addressing topics from securing credit reports to investing. Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. is about to complete its Women and Money Series, an eight-week program that addresses matters as diverse as tax issues to preparing wills and estate plans.

“We work in some cases with people who don’t have a clue on where to begin in financial planning. Some have never done a budget,” said Kellie Kemper, the director of agency programs for HCCI. “Others are women in higher income groups who’ve invested only through their husbands and want to learn more about doing it on their own. The demographics of the women attending are very wide-ranging.”