Women’s Funds Show Philanthropy the Way to Transparency, Diversity

women's funds

Happy Women’s History Month. There are only a few days left to this month of focusing on the value of gender equality and the arc of its progression throughout time. I spent a lot of time this month researching and thinking about how women’s funds feed social change. Most of what I learned reinforced the theory that women’s funds represent a unique approach to philanthropy that the rest of the sector would do well to replicate.

My last piece for Women’s history month on this topic is published at Daily Kos, a site dedicated to the larger sphere of progressive political change.

As Philanthropy Opens Up, Women’s Funds Show the Way

Something unusual happened recently in philanthropy: Bill and Melinda Gates opened their annual letter by answering 10 “tough” questions from the public about their philanthropy. The Gates’ Q&A is just one example of philanthropists becoming more responsive to the public. Funders are growing more aware of the value of engaging with the communities they seek to serve. The Fund for Shared Insight (FSI) which is dedicated to bringing more openness to philanthropy, is cultivating this trend; it added five new foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this past year: Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, James Irvine Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Omidyar Network, bringing the number of funding partners in the collaborative to 39.

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Don’t Miss the Prosperity Together Twitter Chat Tomorrow!

Tomorrow brings us another cool event for women’s history month.  From 3 pm to 4 pm EST tomorrow, Prosperity Together will hold a Twitter chat to celebrate the collective impact of their funding.

prosperity together
Prosperity Together is having a Twitter chat.

Prosperity Together is the coalition of 32 women’s funds across 26 states and Washington D.C., which has invested $58 million since 2016 for grassroots organizations growing gender equality and economic security for women.

Philanthropy Women will be there tomorrow, to hear about how these women’s funds are pushing for social change, particularly by using participatory grantmaking strategies and paying extra attention to diversity and inclusion. Women’s funds are also doing some of the most groundbreaking work with supporting youth-led grantmaking and youth-led social movements, so it will be great to hear more about that, too, since we are living in the midst of the largest child-led social movement in America, the movement for gun safety.

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#MarchForOurLives: Women’s Funds Support Youth-Led Movements

Thanks to Daniel Heimpel and The Chronicle of Social Change for publishing my op-ed on the student-led gun safety movement happening all around us today in the world. I am immensely proud of all the young people who are showing us the way today.

From the op-ed:

Ahead of the Curve: Women’s Funds and Youth-Led Social Movements

Are we finally listening to the children? An estimated 185,000 youth walked out of school and onto the streets on March 14 to protest the lack of adequate gun control in America. Thousands more will descend on Washington, D.C., today to raise their voices and most importantly lay out a responsible path forward. Youth-led social movements are demonstrating that they are the force to be reckoned with.

In key respects, many women’s funds have already done groundbreaking work for youth-led movements in recent years. Scaling these movements up could be an effective way to fight back against a government currently held hostage by the powerful moneyed interests of the gun lobby.

Funders ready to acknowledge and bolster youth-led movements are in the right place at the right time to help chart a new path for public safety. Among the funders who are well-positioned for this niche are women’s funds and foundations.

 The growth of youth-led advocacy supported by women’s funds started because they recognized the essential value of young women’s voices and experiences. This work was cultivated further in 2016 with the launch of Prosperity Together, a collaboration of 32 women’s funds across the country who have committed to investing $100 million over five years in improving economic security for low-income women, particularly young women.

Read the full text at The Chronicle for Social Change. 

Related:

Philanthropy Women’s Top 10 Posts for 2017

Funders: Step Up and Help Women Lead America

From Resistance to Renaissance: Women Must Embrace their Power for Funding Social Change

Kathy LeMay Shares About the Fine Art of Radical Listening to Donors

Martha A. Taylor: On Accelerating Social Change for Women

 

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#MeToo and the Power Shift Women’s Funds Helped Create

women's

Check out the Op-Ed piece I wrote recently for Inside Philanthropy, which explores the ways that the #Metoo movement — the mass uprising of sexual abuse and assault survivors seeking justice — is driving a shift in power and gender dynamics in our culture never before seen. With news of sexual abuse occurring for decades in children’s sports like gymnastics and swimming, and agencies like Oxfam facing major repercussions from reports of sexual misconduct of development staff, #MeToo is helping to open up essential litigation and public discussion on sexual behaviors and norms.

From the Op-Ed:

The #MeToo movement is challenging power structures that long enforced the silence of women who endured sexual harassment, abuse and assault. But while the start of this movement is often traced to revelations last October about Harvey Weinstein, it’s important to recognize that there’s a much deeper backstory, here—one in which philanthropy has played an important role. 

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Difficult, Disturbing Times at Oxfam, but Gender Equality Mission Endures

Oxfam has announced a new multi-faceted effort to prevent abuse and misconduct by its employees, in the wake of reports of misconduct of employees in Haiti and Chad.

If you follow the news on philanthropy, you have probably heard about Oxfam’s troubles. One of the oldest and largest global relief and development organizations, Oxfam is now facing heavy scrutiny due to sexual misconduct by some of its staff in Haiti in 2011. The Haitian government has suspended some of Oxfam’s operations in its country for two months while it investigates how the nonprofit handled the allegations of Oxfam’s sexual misconduct during their humanitarian response in 2011. An estimated 7,000 individual supporters have since abandoned the organization since the allegations were reported in February this year, although the nonprofit asserts that their corporate partners have not withdrawn support. (A helpful timeline of events about the Oxfam crisis is available at Third Sector.)

Crisis = Opportunity

As you might imagine, Oxfam is working hard to address the problems internally by strengthening systems that identify and respond to abuse and misconduct. Since 2011, a Safeguarding Team was created, equipped with a confidential “whistleblowing” phone line as part of that effort. On February 16, Oxfam released a statement outlining several other ways that safeguarding will now be enhanced: 

  1. New High Level Commission: Oxfam established a “new independent High-Level Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change.” This commission is comprised of women’s rights experts and other leaders who will have open access to Oxfam’s records, staff, partners, and communities where people have received Oxfam relief services,  who will work independently to investigate and develop new ways to hold abusers accountable and change the culture of the organization.
  2. Ensuring that References for Employees are not Forged: Oxfam has committed to creating “a new global database of accredited referees – designed to end the use of forged, dishonest or unreliable references by past or current Oxfam staff.” This was one of the issues that led to former Oxfam staff who were perpetrating sexual misconduct being hired by other agencies.
  3. More Financial Resources to Bolster Safeguarding Systems: Oxfam has pledged to more than triple the annual funding for safeguarding to £720,000 and double the number of staff dedicated to this work within the agency.
  4. Improve Agency Culture Throughout: Oxfam already has a Code of Conduct which all employees must sign. It will now work on improving its internal culture, ensuring that everyone, especially women, feel safe and able to speak up about problems and know that they will be listened to and the issue dealt with.
  5. Publishing Its Internal Investigation from 2011: Oxfam wants to clear its name in the question of whether it covered up any of the abuse. It has published the 2011 internal investigation into staff involved in sexual and other misconduct in Haiti and provided authorities in Haiti with the names of the alleged perpetrators that were part of its staff.

All of these measures provide reassurance that the agency is seeking to rebuild public trust and ensure that things improve going forward. Alongside these new efforts, it’s important to remember that Oxfam has been a long-standing ally for gender equality in development. As we’ve reported here at Philanthropy Women, Oxfam has invested decades into programming, research and advocacy to break down gender barriers and create a more just world for women. 

To learn more about this history and how it is co-mingling with the current crisis, we recently talked with Nikki van der Gaag, Director of Women’s Rights and Gender Justice at Oxfam GB.  We wanted to get van der Gaag’s take on how the organization is faring in its efforts to hold its ground as a leader in gender justice and women’s rights.

“The lessons of feminist movement-building are also the lessons of Oxfam internally. The strategies are not so different,” said van Der Gaag. “What women run up against again and again is the power dominance of men across all sectors.” In a blog post published by Oxfam on International Women’s Day, van der Gaag acknowledged that she was not feeling as celebratory about the day this year as she would normally, in the wake of “appalling” behavior of Oxfam employees in Haiti, and the widespread sexual abuse and harassment scandals emerging throughout the development and relief sector. “Instead, for many of us, it is a time for self-reflection, for listening and speaking out, and for recognizing what many feminists already knew – that in big institutions such as the UN and INGOs and other charities, men still hold the power as much as in the media or Hollywood, the Church or the judiciary.”

Indeed. This is one of the reasons the #MeToo movement has been so powerful — because it holds individual perpetrators of abuse accountable, and the court of public opinion is demanding action. #MeToo suddenly provides transparency, where, throughout time, acts of abuse have largely been shrouded in secrecy. One could argue that it is no coincidence that #MeToo preceded the emergence of sexual abuse and harassment scandals in the development sector, and that its power will have lasting implications for how the sector operates going forward.

Van der Gaag comes at the problem not from a policing approach, but from an approach that inspires the staff at Oxfam to see gender as integral to all that they do. The organization’s 2016/2017 Annual Report embeds its work for women within its overall strategy thusly: “Throughout all our efforts, we focused on water, women, work and inequality, because saving lives in disasters, advancing women’s rights and building fair livelihoods are the most effective ways to end poverty for good.”

So what does this look like on the ground? Oxfam’s work on gender takes many forms. “We have long been working with rural women in Colombia to earn a better living, understand their rights and influence the government,” said van der Gaag. ” We’re mobilising men in Zambia to condemn violence against women through a public campaign. In  the disaster-prone Philippines, we are working to increase women’s confidence and status by supporting them to lead their communities and  improve their income. In Iraq, we’re helping survivors of gender-based violence recover and create small businesses and earn income.” More details about each of these initiatives are available in the latest annual report.

“For me, interestingly, one of the unexpected outcomes of what has happened in the past weeks is much more staff engagement. I think this really gives us an opportunity to strengthen inspiration at all levels,” said van der Gaag. She sees “getting the systems right first” as an essential way to address the problems of sexual abuse and harassment in organizations. “You need people in every department to raise the issue of gender as a matter of course, and for everyone to understand their role in this.”

Van der Gaag also feels strongly that we need to use Oxfam’s sexual misconduct crisis in the development sector positively. “It provides an opportunity to redouble our efforts,” she said. She sees Oxfam’s troubles as part of the global movement to challenge gender norms in myriad ways, both in our personal relationships and our community institutions. “We need to challenge the individuals and institutions that perpetuate privilege, in order to ensure that those who exploit their power, whoever and wherever they are, do not get away with it.”

Much agreed. Perhaps all development and relief nonprofits should take a cue from Oxfam right now and double or triple their internal investment in employee training and supervision to prevent abuse and misconduct. Such action could accelerate gains for nonprofit organizational culture, which could have ripple effects that add to the gains being made for gender equality movements across the globe.

Related:

Making the Connection Between Gender Equality and the Environment

Geographical Sums Up Global Gender Quandaries in November Article

To Aid Gender Equality, Reward Work, Not WealthRead More

Newsflash: Funny Girls Featured on NBC Tonight at 6:30

funny girls
Funny Girls, the signature leadership development program of The Harnisch Foundation,  will be featured tonight on NBC Nightly.

One of my favorite programs, Funny Girls, is going to be getting some major attention this evening, as NBC Nightly featured the program, along with Harnisch Foundation Executive Director Jenny Raymond and program officer Carla Blumenthal.

One reasons I enjoy talking about Funny Girls is because of my own experience, watching my daughters participate Improv programs locally at The Artists’ Exchange in Cranston. I am a strong believer in the power of Improv to help people explore identity and develop key aspects of relationship-building. I also think there is great potential for using Improv to help all people, not just women and girls, enhance their social and emotional lives.

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#IWD2018 Recap: Women Rock for International Women’s Day

women rock
While Michelle Obama was First Lady, she launched Let Girls Learn, a global campaign to improve education for girls. Now the Obama Foundation has a new program targeting education for adolescent girls worldwide.

Yesterday, International Women’s Day, was packed with events  acknowledging the value of women in the world and calling for more women’s leadership across all sectors. It was also a great day to celebrate the role that gender equality movements are increasingly playing in social change that advances peace and justice for humanity.

How Women Rock

Here are just 5 of the philanthropy-related happenings that made #IWD2018 a significant day of partying for women’s equality:

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Big Doings in Feminist Philanthropy For Women’s History Month

women's history month

It’s hard for me to keep up with all the news these days on feminist philanthropy, which is a good thing. That means there are more stories every day, and especially during women’s history month, that are reaching people’s inboxes and getting the world thinking about turning further in the direction of a feminist vision of peace and justice.  The constancy of this news is why I publish a daily aggregate of news called Giving For Good, which I encourage you to subscribe to if you are a feminist philanthropy news junkie like me.

Sometimes the news is so big that it deserves extra attention, which is one of the reasons I created Philanthropy Women: to highlight the feminist philanthropy news that is truly game-changing and groundbreaking.

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Women’s Funds Deploy $58.4 Million in Funding in Two Years

Leaders of Dallas Women’s Foundation, California Women’s Foundation, The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, New York Women’s Foundation, Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham and Ms. Foundation on stage at the United State of Women Summit on June 14, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Despite an increasingly hostile climate for women and girls in the United States, with access to reproductive services being cut and campus sexual assault policies being rolled back, a partnership of women’s funds that started during the Obama administration is continuing to grow and deploy needed funds to grassroots organizations.

Now, the Partnership for Prosperity, a network of 32 women’s funds and foundations located in 26 states, has announced that they have already invested $58.4 million in their first two years. The Partnership’s commitment is to invest $100 million in 5 years, so they are already ahead of schedule with their funding of community organizations around the country.

According to a press release about the Partnership, in Year One (2016), Prosperity Together partners invested a collective $29,170,427. In Year Two (2017), partners invested $29,251,072. This means that 1,022 nonprofits received funding and 137,153 women and girls were impacted across 26 states and the District of Columbia.  You can visit Prosperity Together’s website to see the report.

The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island is one of the partners in Prosperity Together, and as it happens, my husband and I attended a very thought-provoking event they held last evening in our neighborhood, at a local nonprofit cafe and theater called Theater 82. 

“Local research indicates that many features of our economy could be improved for Rhode Island women. Workplace policy, government regulations, collective action and educational attainment are all areas that can grow access and opportunity for low income women and their families,” said Kelly Nevins, Executive Director of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. “We are pleased to be part of this national effort to further raise awareness of those approaches.”

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