About Philanthropy Women

Philanthropy Women launched in January of 2017 to become a new home for women donors and their allies to read about, understand, and amplify feminist philanthropy. Our articles on progressive women’s philanthropic activity have garnered thousands of page views, and our content is frequently featured on larger venues in the sector including Giving Compass, Inside Philanthropy, and The Chronicle of Social Change. We have published over 1,100 articles, a funder database with over 700 gender equality funder listings, and are ranked number one for key search engine terms in the subject area including “feminist philanthropy.” Our traffic increased by double over the first year and we have over 4,000 subscribers to our post updates, including top leadership in the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors.

Philanthropy Women discusses funding for gender equity in all sectors of society including health, education, the arts, science and technology, music and entertainment, politics, and sports. By amplifying women donors’ activities in all of these social sectors, Philanthropy Women seeks to significantly shift the public discourse, particularly in philanthropy, toward increased action for gender equality.

From Editor and Founder, Kiersten Marek:

Philanthropy Women grew out of my desire to see more platforms for discussion and research on the role of women in philanthropy — both its definition, and its functioning. There is news almost every day of breakthroughs in philanthropy for women, such as the $90 million commitment from The NoVo Foundation to support research and advocacy for women and girls of color — the largest single private commitment to this particular population. Meanwhile, women are quietly growing networks of influence in government and the private sector, and are turning the attention of public policy toward a wide range of issues that empower not just women and girls, but whole communities.

We want to track all this progress, as well as any backward movements, in the long fight for women’s equality. We know we are not there yet, but it seems like now we are really gaining steam. Thanks for joining us!

502 posts
Kiersten Marek, LICSW, is the founder of Philanthropy Women. She practices clinical social work and writes about how women donors and their allies are advancing social change.
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194 posts
Maggie May is a small business owner, author, and story-centric content strategist. A Maryland transplant by way of Florida, DC, Ireland, Philadelphia, and -- most recently -- Salt Lake City, she has a passion for finding stories and telling them the way they're meant to be told.
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Tim Lehnert is a writer and editor who lives in Cranston, Rhode Island. His articles and essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Providence Journal, Rhode Island Monthly, the Boston Herald, the Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere. He is the author of the book Rhode Island 101, and has published short fiction for kids and adults in a number of literary journals and magazines. He received an M.A. in Political Science from McGill University, and an M.A. in English from California State University, Northridge.
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62 posts
I often cover innovations in science, the arts and social justice. Find my work with NPR, Discover Magazine, APR and Earth Island Journal, among other publications. My portfolio is at jtravers.journoportfolio.com.
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Kimberly Pike is a writer, artist and self proclaimed cat lady living in Rhode Island. She is passionately writing about women's issues and helping to teach others about it.
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14 posts
Ariel Dougherty is a teacher, filmmaker, producer and mentor for women directed media/culture of all stripes. SWEET BANANAS (director, 1973) and !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION (Producer, 2010) are among the hundreds of films she has worked on. She writes at the intersections of women-identified media, especially film production, women's human rights, and funding for film. Currently, she is working on a book entitled Feminist Filmmaking Within Communities.
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Abigail DelVecchio, MSc, is a freelance copywriter and writer focusing on women's mental health and the sociocultural contexts that affect their well-being.
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9 posts
Laura Dorwart is a writer with bylines in SELF, The Guardian, The New York Times, VICE, and many others. Follow her work at www.lauradorwart.com.
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I am a pioneer in online activism. Am helping to rebuild our democracy. I am Vice Chair of the national board of NARAL: Pro Choice America Foundation.
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Emily is a donor-activist engaged in promoting human equality, justice, and peace around the world. She is particularly passionate and engaged in the nexus of faith, gender, and development and working to mobilize faith traditions to more fully and unambiguously embrace gender equality. In her role at the Imago Dei Fund, Emily has helped the foundation adopt a “gender-lens” in its grantmaking with a particular focus on partnering with inspired female change agents, locally and around the world. Emily is actively engaged in the women-led philanthropy movement, is the author of numerous articles, and is a member of Women Moving Millions, the Women's Donor Network, and a newly forming Refugee Funders Alliance where she is working to create a COVID19 fund focused on getting funding to women’s groups on the front lines of the refugee response. Emily is also a trained spiritual director who enjoys talking with people about their spiritual journeys. Emily serves and has served on the boards of New England International Donor Network, the Boston Women’s Fund, Union Theological School, Nomi Network, Girl Rising, Tostan, and Sojourners Founders’ Circle.
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S. Mona Sinha is an advocate for gender equality in business and society. She is the Board Chair of Women Moving Millions, a community of women who fund big and bold ($1 million+) to create a gender equal world. She is also the Board Chair of the ERA Fund for Women's Equality. She is a trustee emerita of Smith College, where she was Vice Chair of the Board and led the Women for the World campaign that raised $486 million to support women’s education.
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With more than two decades of experience in the non-profit sector, Yolanda F. Johnson has successfully led fundraising operations for a wide range of non-profit organizations, launching creative event, sponsorship and marketing initiatives that produced new streams of both contributed and earned income. Her fundraising expertise includes securing foundation, corporate, and government funding and cultivating a diverse major gifts portfolio. In addition to leading YFJ Consulting, LLC, Yolanda is the Founder of WOC, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy®, the Allies in Action™ Membership Network, and is President of Women In Development (WID), NY, the NYC area's premier professional organization for women in fundraising and philanthropy. Yolanda has also had an outstanding career as a performing artist, as a composer, as a producer, as an educator, and she has used her background as a performer to become a sought-after fundraising expert. Her leadership roles include: serving as an International Advisory Board member and the former Representative for the Foundation for Post Conflict Development to the United Nations; a member of the board of directors of the Lehman College Art Gallery; a member of the board of trustees of the Hudson River Museum and a member of the PowHerNY board of directors. A trailblazing figure on the national fundraising landscape, Yolanda is the first African American President in the 40-year history of WID. She co-established the WID Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and is often a featured expert on incorporating DEI initiatives into organizational culture. She has appeared as a panelist at Fundraising Day in New York, the Women’s Alliance National Conference and CASE events among others. Yolanda is also a member of the Chronicle of Philanthropy Advisory Committee of national leaders in the non-profit sector. Tying together her life as a successful performing artist and a non-profit leader, she developed All the World's A Stage, a special workshop using performance practice for get-ting what one wants out of fundraising, philanthropy and life. She presents All the World's A Stage to audiences across the United States. Yolanda is the Worship Leader/Music Director at the church she attends, a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Women’s Music Fraternity and is on the artist roster for Random Access Music/Queens New Music Festival and the newly formed Westchester Chamber Soloists Orchestra. She holds a B.A. in Voice (Music Performance) and an M.A. in Arts Administration with a focus on Fundraising and Events and is the author of various publications and articles on fundraising.
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Paula Hodges is founder of Anchor Strategies, which works with individual donors and organizational funders to re-think their philanthropic giving by layering on political and advocacy funding, building more robust, state based progressive infrastructure donor alliances. She was the founding Executive Director of New Hampshire Progress Alliance, New England's first pooled investment fund for incubating durable, permanent progressive infrastructure.
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Kalliana Marek is currently a chemical engineering student at The University of Rhode Island. She previously served as Chief of Staff for State Senator Cynthia Mendes and Operations Coordinator at Flux Marine Ltd.
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Cheyenna Layne Weber is a Brooklyn-based writer, community organizer, and educator pursuing solidarity economy solutions that elevate the needs of people and the planet over profit.
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Nancy Gendimenico is a writer and consultant based in New York City. Before pursuing her writing career, she spent several decades as a business executive in apparel and fashion. Nancy had her initial exposure to the non-profit sector as an Encore.org Fellow in 2016. Since then she has done work for several small organizations in marketing communications, grant writing and event/program planning. Nancy’s personal essays and articles have been published in Narrative Magazine, Art Papers, and The Villager, a local New York newspaper. More info about Nancy is available on her website: nancygendimenico.com.
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Cynthia Reddrick has 20 years of experience in fundraising, communications and marketing within government and nonprofit sectors. Her expertise in major gifts, donor stewardship, and campaign planning/strategy has contributed to raising over $200 million in new gift pledges, with special emphasis on developing planned giving support for civil rights and social advocacy causes.
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Diana is an abolitionist with a mission to eradicate human trafficking in her lifetime. Diana actively champions for change, and her visionary skillsets have urged Nomi Network forward into enormous growth and success. She is a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar, New York Academy of Medicine Fellow, and co-chaired the Nexus Human Trafficking Modern Day Slavery Work Group from 2013-2019. She currently serves on the White House Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking. She received the 2018 Pioneer Award from Asian Americans for Equality and 2018 Recent Alumni Impact Award from New York University (NYU).
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Radha Ruparell is a global cross-sector leader committed to transforming human potential. Radha is the Head of Leadership and Learning at Teach For All - a global network that is working to develop collective leadership in classrooms and communities in more than 50 countries around the world so that all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Radha has also led work across many continents with McKinsey & Company, World Bank, Pratham India Education Initiative, Acumen Fund, and UNDP.
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Elizabeth Barajas-Román is the President & CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, the largest philanthropic network in the world devoted to gender equity and justice. For more than 20 years she has been a leader in progressive movements, including advocating at the national level for the health and rights of immigrant women and their families. She was previously a manager at The Pew Charitable Trusts, and before that, the Director of Policy at National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Elizabeth serves on the national Board of Directors for Emerge and is on the steering committee for the New England Women’s Policy Initiative. She is a member of the External Advisory Board for the University of Massachusetts-Boston Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, and the Massachusetts Treasurer appointed Elizabeth to serve on the state’s Economic Empowerment Trust Fund Board, and the statewide Advisory Board on Wage Equality.
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Sonya Passi has been working to end gender-based violence since she was 16 years old and is the founder and CEO of FreeFrom (www.freefrom.org), a national organization in the US working with and for survivors to build an ecosystem that supports financial security and long-term safety for all.
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Marcia Coné, PhD, is Chief Strategist and responsible for all Women's Funding Network programs and initiatives. Prior to WFN, Dr. Coné led the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island for more than a decade, during which she developed and spearheaded the organization’s flagship programs and strategic investments. The Fund's transformation to a cutting-edge gender equality think-tank, continuously advocating for policy changes with a gender lens, resulted in more than two dozen legislative wins. In addition, the Fund produced reliable research on women’s representation across all sectors and provided policy recommendations designed to promote equity and strengthen the local economy. Under her leadership, through its Women’s Policy Institute, Women's Fund of Rhode Island led the state advocacy for paid family leave (Temporary Caregiver Insurance), positioning Rhode Island as a national leader in family and workplace policies.
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Helen LaKelly Hunt is one of a small army of women who helped to seed the women’s funding movement. She co-founded the Texas Women’s Foundation, The New York Women’s Foundation, Women’s Funding Network and Women Moving Millions. Helen is the author of Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance, and her latest book, And the Spirit Moved Them, The Lost Radical History of America’s First Feminists, shares the inspiring story of the abolitionist feminists. With her partner, Harville Hendrix, Helen has also authored several books on improving relationships. They are now working to disseminate Safe Conversations, a process that can help anyone shift from conflict to connection.
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Tory Dietel Hopps is Managing Partner of Dietel & Partners, managing portfolios for clients with both domestic and international interests, while assisting grantees with their strategies, resource development and capacity building. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Health Care Without Harm, the National Advisory Board of Wholesome Wave, the Development Committee of Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project in Uganda, and the Development Committee of RefugePoint. She’s the mother of two grown children and lives with her husband in Maine.
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Indrani Goradia is a philanthropist and activist focussed on ending Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence. She has spoken at the UN, Women Deliver and at various other conferences.
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M.A. Sheehan is a fiction writer whose mission is to explore the complex roles that women play in society and to unearth new narratives about gendered experiences.
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Chantal Bonitto is the Director of Inclusive Philanthropy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, an organizational leader in the space of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a seasoned fund development expert in the nonprofit sector. Her career has been dedicated to identifying and creating resources for institutions that benefit the most marginalized communities in our society. As a fundraiser she has fostered many skills including, Major & Principal Gifts, Direct Response, Community Engagement/Stewardship and Fundraising Events Planning. Currently, Chantal is using her talents and experience to spearhead a new fundraising program at Planned Parenthood Federation of America as the director of Inclusive Philanthropy. She is leading this work with an intentional focus on next-gen philanthropists and donors of color. Learn more at www.developmentchangeagent.com
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Jessica Houssian is Co-CEO of the Equality Fund. She fell in love with feminism as a little girl and has focused her career on advancing women’s equality ever since. Jessica is a Senior Advisor at Women Moving Millions, a global community of women philanthropists who invest boldly with a gender lens. Jessica currently serves on the Board of Directors of RefugePoint and as Co-chair of The Houssian Foundation. In 2019, Jessica co-founded the Equality Fund, a Canadian-led collaboration that combines international feminist philanthropy and grantmaking with an innovative investment component to its work.
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Melissa Jenkins Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist and clinical assistant professor at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
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