Donate to the Sho-Ping Chin Women's Leadership Summit Grant!

Donate to the Sho-Ping Chin Women's Leadership Summit Grant! image

About Sho-Ping Chin

Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA was a principal at Payette and in 2009 the founding leader of the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS). In 2017, following Sho-Ping’s untimely passing, a group of colleagues, family members, and friends created a memorial fund in her name focused on supporting the development of future women leaders in architecture.

Across the architecture profession, women continue to face barriers to advancement despite their growing numbers in school and early career stages. While nearly half of architecture students in the U.S. are women, fewer than one in five firm principals are. The Architects Foundation’s Sho-Ping Chin Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS) Grant directly addresses this inequity by sponsoring emerging and mid-career women architects to attend the American Institute of Architects’ annual Women’s Leadership Summit—an event designed to accelerate leadership, mentorship, and professional growth.

Why This Grant Matters

  • Expanding access to national leadership networks
    Many talented women professionals—especially those in small firms, underrepresented communities, or early-career positions—lack the resources to attend WLS. The grant removes this financial barrier, ensuring that leadership development opportunities are accessible to all, not just those with employer funding.
  • Driving equity in architectural leadership
    By investing in women’s participation at WLS, the Foundation supports the pipeline of future firm leaders, educators, and civic changemakers. Grant recipients bring back tools and mentorship models that ripple outward through their firms, communities, and local AIA chapters.
  • Aligning with the AIA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals
    The Foundation’s grant program amplifies the AIA’s national commitment to a more equitable and resilient profession—transforming the annual summit from a single event into a movement for systemic change in representation and leadership.

Impact and Outcomes

Since its establishment, the WLS Grant has funded recipients from across the country—representing a range of firm types, geographic regions, and cultural backgrounds. Past grantees report measurable career advancement, including:

  • Expanded leadership roles within their firms and AIA components
  • Increased visibility as speakers, mentors, and advocates
  • Strengthened peer networks and cross-generational mentorship

These outcomes demonstrate how an investment in one woman’s leadership potential can multiply through her professional and community networks, advancing the field as a whole.

Your Role in Shaping the Future

Donors to the Women’s Leadership Summit Grant become partners in rewriting the story of architectural leadership. Your support:

  • Funds directly provide travel and registration stipends for women architects to attend WLS
  • Builds a national network of empowered women leaders committed to inclusion and innovation
  • Sends a visible message that equitable leadership is both a moral imperative and a strategic advantage for the built environment

Every contribution helps expand the cohort of women architects who can access this transformative experience—ensuring that leadership in architecture looks like the communities it serves.

Questions? Contact us at development@architectsfoundation.org
The Architects Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 59-3819154. Learn more about the Architects Foundation at architectsfoundation.org