Philanthropy Women

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 about claiming their power 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.

Too Vulnerable? The Unaddressed Flaws in Women’s Organizing

I can’t say I’ve seen it all, but I’ve seen enough over the past 10 years in feminist movements to make some comments that might prove useful to big picture thinkers and organizational leaders in the sector. I’ve seen:

movements diluted by demands to serve everyone, causing them to lose sight of the core constituency of women
organizations with a lack of fiscal planning and/or oversight
reactive, fear-driven decision-making from women’s rights leadership
mission drift
underprepared boards
exhausted women leaders
funders who like the idea of feminist work but won’t invest in infrastructure
unsophisticated or non-existent budgets

We all know it’s not pretty out there for women looking for a better tomorrow. We are currently facing severe political and social backlash. On top of that, many women’s organizations struggle mightily with internal issues.

Who Cares? What to Do About Our Careless Care System

Summary: Feminism has struggled to gain broad, durable support. This is not so much because people oppose women’s freedom, although some still do, but primarily because our society has failed to replace the caregiving labor women historically provided. Philanthropy, in prioritizing empowerment narratives over care infrastructure, has unintentionally deepened this anxiety—undermining feminism’s legitimacy among those most dependent on care. The following discussion offers five philanthropy-forward ideas to enhance the synergy between feminism and caregiving in a world that still wants and needs caregivers.

Here on Philanthropy Women, we have discussed the importance of caregiving in many posts, mostly in the context of philanthropic funding for health care and childcare, but today I want to talk about caregiving more explicitly as a labor issue that may be getting in the way of feminism becoming more mainstream.

How Structural Inequality for Older Women Thwarts Social Progress

As I spend more time reflecting on my own life course, I have come across some startling, and very grounding, realizations for older women that I want to take the opportunity to share. At the end, I will circle back to philanthropy and how we can build out a funding ecosystem to address the issues I discuss in this post, but let’s start first with synthesizing some of the existing knowledge about women’s life course. What happens when women age and are further removed from whatever positions of power they may have gained over their earlier lives and careers?

Happy Holidays if you celebrate, and triple the good wishes if you don’t.

Men’s Power Consolidates While Women’s Power Diminishes in the Final Career Phase

For men, the research tells us that their earnings often peak in the period from age 40 to 60. Their leadership roles persist longer than women’s leadership roles. And society in general as well as workplace cultures allow their progression to be linear.

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again: Philanthropy Women Lives On

Sometimes it seems like I’ve tried so many times and so many ways to reimagine Philanthropy Women into a place where it would have sustainability and the opportunity to grow in its capacity to move the needle on women’s rights. So, for many of you who have followed Philanthropy Women over the years, I want to share an update that clarifies where things stand now:

Kiersten Marek, MSW, MBA, still here, still feminist, get used to it.

I didn’t disappear.
I didn’t give up.
And I still believe more than ever in the power of women’s giving to drive real systems change — the kind of change the world needs most.

Like many independent media platforms, PW has experienced both tremendous growth and real structural challenges. Along the way, I’ve explored multiple paths, including potential partnerships that could expand its reach and deepen its impact. One such opportunity remains in limbo, having moved from conversations to a detailed proposal. While nothing is finalized yet, I remain hopeful that a strong forward path is emerging.

Thank You for Seven Incredible Years

Since 2017, Philanthropy Women has been a home for critical reporting, analysis, and conversation at the intersection of philanthropy and gender equality. Over the past seven years, we’ve published more than 1,200 original articles, built a database of over 700 funders for gender equality, hosted multiple webinars and events, and fostered a global community of readers, funders, advocates, and changemakers.

This work has always been a labor of love — powered by a small team, the support of visionary funders, and a community of subscribers who believed in the importance of shining a light on gender-focused giving.

As the funding landscape has shifted, many original supporters have redirected their focus, and I’ve found it increasingly difficult to sustain the site at the level of quality and frequency it deserves. At the same time, the site’s impact remains — in the archive, in the field, and in the conversations it helped catalyze.

Beyond Philanthropy: Mobilizing Feminism in an Authoritarian Age

Editor’s Note: The following Op-Ed by Yifat Susskind, Executive Director of MADRE, helps to shine a light on the setbacks being faced by feminism in today’s authoritarian world, and offers some key insights on how feminist movements might become more self-sufficient and remain powerful in today’s hostile political environment.

Yifat Susskind, Executive Director of MADRE, offers timely and relevant thought leadership for funding and sustaining women’s rights organizations. (Image credit: MADRE)

2025 will be remembered as the year that transformed both philanthropy and the global women’s movement as we know it. All around the world, women’s rights organizations are caught between an increasingly emboldened right-wing opposition and an unprecedented funding shortfall. Until recently, these gathering threats were treated as separate problems. But democratic backsliding and donor retreat are not merely trending together: they are twin symptoms of the same malady, which has reached epidemic proportions with Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Health Care Donors Urged to Take a Stand Amidst Ongoing Funding Cuts

Editor’s Note: As a healthcare provider myself, this statement from Cara V. James, President and CEO of Grantmakers in Health, struck a deep chord. Now is the time for funders to do what they can to mitigate the damage of the US government’s extreme and unprecented withdrawal of funding for health.

Cara V. James, President and CEO of Grantmakers In Health and former Director of the Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), urges health care funders to take action to protect health care nationally. (Image Credit: GIH)

This week marks 100 days since the start of the current administration. In that time, we have experienced a wave of harmful policies; devastating funding cuts; significant federal workforce reductions; and direct threats to freedom of speech, democracy, and the rule of law. As a country, we have witnessed the use of unlawful executive actions to intimidate, restrict, or punish organizations for addressing important societal challenges. While much remains uncertain, it is clear these changes will not make us healthier, and they threaten the foundation of our democracy. In the end, it is people—especially the most vulnerable—who will suffer the consequences.

Don’t Stop Believing and Fund Like a Feminist: Together Women Rise

I believe it was Elizabeth Barajas-Román who I first heard use the compelling phrase “fund like a feminist.” I’d like to borrow that phrase to talk about a number of things going on in the women’s funding hemisphere in the midst of the national and international cuts to services for women, people of color, and many other marginalized groups.

Children in Nepal participating in a rural health programs funded by Together Women Rise. (image credit: Together Women Rise)

It’s never been more important to fund like a feminist, and that’s why it gives me hope to share about Together Women Rise and its grants to support women in the Global South.

Starting May 6th, Together Women Rise will be accepting applications for its Featured Grants to be awarded in 2026. (Guidelines here.) Together Women Rise’s Featured Grants program funds 12 grants per year, ranging from $35,000 to $50,000 each.