Philanthropy Women

A Dangerous Education Continued: Prudence Crandall at her Finest

I’m continuing to share excerpts from my novel draft, A Dangerous Education: The Story of Julia Williams Garnet, with the goal of sharing six sections in total from the beginning of the book.

Prudence Crandall (1803-1890), from a portrait in Uris Library at Cornell University. (Image source: Prudence Crandall: a Biography by Marvis Olive Welch)

These upcoming scenes feature Prudence Crandall, the teacher and founder of the first school that Julia Williams attends in the book, Canterbury Female Boarding School. Prudence Crandall is another woman leader in our history who deserves a whole novel about her life, as well as a film drama made about her. At a time when slavery was still in effect, the early 1800’s, Prudence Crandall was breaking all the rules by not only starting a boarding school for girls, but then populating that school with girls of color.

Remembering Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem: Who Will Preserve Our Feminist History?

I have been feeling an unexpected amount of grief over the deaths, just days apart, of Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan.

Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem. (Image Credit: Robin Morgan on Facebook)

Perhaps the grief is partly generational. These women’s voices were part of the landscape of my young adulthood. They helped create the feminist movement that shaped the way I came to understand myself, my work, and the world.

But my grief for Robin Morgan is especially personal. When I was in my twenties, I read Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist. I don’t remember every argument in the book now, but I remember what it felt like to read it. Morgan was giving language to experiences and ideas I was only beginning to understand. She wasn’t asking permission or making feminism comfortable. She was challenging assumptions about all sorts of things — women’s lives, sexuality, power, anger, work, all the ways women, and men, had been taught to see themselves.

Read A Dangerous Education in Progress and Give Feedback

I’ve spent the past year writing a novel about Julia Williams, a young Black woman whose determination to become educated carried her through three schools in the 1830s, two of which were destroyed by racist mobs. Before deciding what to do with the novel, I’d like to share the first several chapters with Philanthropy Women readers and hear what you think. Does Julia’s story draw you in? What makes you want to keep reading? Where do you want to know more?

For context, here is a draft of an email to potential agents, so you can get a sense of the backstory for the manuscript:

I am seeking representation for A Dangerous Education, a work of historical YA fiction about Julia Williams Garnet, a young Black woman whose determination to become educated carried her through three schools, two of which were destroyed by racist mobs.

In a Time of Escalation, Philanthropy Has a Choice: Invest in Peace

As tensions rise in the Middle East, many in philanthropy are watching closely and asking what, if anything, they can do in a moment shaped so heavily by state power and military force.

Philanthropy has never been irrelevant in times of conflict. In fact, it plays a critical role in shaping what comes next.

Because while governments fund war, peacebuilding remains chronically underfunded.

This imbalance is not new. Globally, vast sums are directed toward military capacity, while only a fraction supports the long, complex work of preventing violence, strengthening civil society, and rebuilding trust across fractured communities. The result is a persistent gap: we invest heavily in the machinery of conflict, and far less in the infrastructure of peace.

Dolores Huerta’s Truth, and How Donors Must Evolve From It

For decades, Dolores Huerta has stood as one of the most enduring and principled voices in American social movements. As co-founder of the United Farm Workers, she helped reshape labor rights, advance gender equity, and model what it means to stay with this difficult work for a lifetime.

Now, in an act of remarkable courage, Huerta, age 95, has disclosed about the sexual abuse she experienced from Cesar Chavez, a figure deeply revered by the very movement she helped build.

Dolores Huerta at The Summit on Race in America in April, 2019. Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and has spent decades advocating for laborers, women, and children. (Image credit: Jay Godwin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Her disclosure is not just personal. It is historic.

Global Power Still Belongs to Men: Where is the Funding for Women’s Leadership?

Only 2% of philanthropic dollars go to women and girls and a small fraction of that goes toward improving women’s political leadership. No wonder we’re stuck in neutral, if not going in reverse, with the battle for women’s autonomy and equality.

In 2026, only 28 countries are led by a woman head of state or government. More than 100 countries have never had a woman leader. Women hold just 22.4% of cabinet positions and 27.5% of parliamentary seats worldwide.

For decades, philanthropy has talked about women’s empowerment. But the global leadership numbers suggest that political power — the place where laws and budgets are decided — remains dramatically underfunded territory for gender equality philanthropy.

From Dream, Dare, Do to Now: What’s Changed in Women’s Philanthropy

I still remember walking into my first Women’s Philanthropy Institute conference in Chicago nine years ago. At the time, women’s giving felt like a promising subfield — important, yes, but still fighting for intellectual legitimacy. The room had a distinct charge and energy of mutual recognition and appreciation. Many in attendance had contended with a snow storm to get there (sound familiar?) and were expressing gratitude for making it there before airports started cancelling flights.

The upcoming Women’s Philanthropy conference offers new insights and conversations on how women donors and their allies are pursuing social change.

The room was filled with researchers, funders, and advocates trying to articulate something that many of us felt intuitively: that women’s philanthropy was not simply a niche category, but a force capable of reshaping the broader giving landscape. That gathering quietly shifted the trajectory of my work as a publisher. In many ways, it helped clarify the role Philanthropy Women would go on to play.

Philanthropy Women Responds to Bill Gates’ Apology to His Foundation

When a philanthropic leader as prominent as Bill Gates publicly apologizes to his own foundation staff, it is more than a personal moment. It is a governance moment. It is a power moment. And it is a signal moment for the broader field of philanthropy.

We discuss how Bill Gates’ recent apology impacts the philanthropy sector. (Photo of the Bill and Melinda Gates Building at Carnegie Mellon University by Jonathan Speek on Unsplash)

Philanthropy has long operated on a paradox: immense influence with relatively limited public accountability. Foundations steward billions of dollars in public-benefit assets, yet their internal culture, leadership dynamics, and decision-making processes often remain out of view. When those at the helm acknowledge missteps, the field has an opportunity to make meaningful change, finding ways to do differently next time to avoid future fallout.

Laughing and Linking Arms with Suffs, a Fierce Take on Women’s Rights

I had the great pleasure of seeing Suffs recently. What an amazing show and tribute to the women who changed the world by fighting for the right for women to vote. The songs of the musical riffing on marriage and questioning “Is it worth it?” to put your life and health on the line for women’s rights, and “How do we stay together as a movement?” were a joy to encounter — the writing being both tremendously insightful, and also quite funny.

Alice Paul and other 19th Amendment advocates share their stories in the musical number “I’m a Great American Bitch.” (Image credit: Suffs)

What made the most impact for me was not the history lesson, although I learned some new tidbits and details. More striking for me about Suffs was how much the show felt like it mirrored the contemporary struggles for women. Somehow, the players change, but the story stays the same.

Running on Urgency: A Calming Meditation for Women’s Advocates

There is a particular kind of tension that settles into women’s funding and advocacy spaces — a sense that everything matters deeply, immediately, and all at once. The work is urgent. The stakes are high. The calendar is full. Even the coffee tastes slightly stressed.

Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash

Funding cycles are short and seem to demand that we fill the hours with news-cycle-induced campaigns. Even well-intentioned conversations can carry a low hum of pressure, as if pausing too long might be wasting the precious minutes we feminist whirlwinds have available to save the planet.

Over time, urgency has a way of turning even our best ideas into sprinting marathons — a pace that no one can sustain, and that very few enjoy.