In The News

100 Black Business Women Selected for $25 K from American Express

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, American Express (NYSE: AXP) revealed the 100 Black women entrepreneurs selected for its “100 for 100” program, which will provide each with grants of $25,000 and 100 days of business resources, including business education, mentorship, marketing, virtual networking, WorkSpaces by Hilton hotel reservation credits and more.

100 black-women-owned businesses receive $25,000 each to grow their impact. (Image credit: American Express)

American Express created this program in partnership with IFundWomen of Color, the leading platform for women of color to raise capital, to support Black women entrepreneurs as they work to jump start and grow their business ventures. The initiative is part of American Express’ recently announced $1 billion action plan to enhance diverse representation and promote equal opportunities for its colleagues, customers and communities.

Dance Equity: Extra Tough Times for Women Dancers in COVID

Northfield, IL | November 19, 2020 Dance Data Project® (DDP) today announces the social media campaign, Connecting the Dots – #YesThisIsAnArtsStory, designed to draw attention to the catastrophic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in dance and the performing arts in general. The campaign will begin on Monday, Nov. 23 and run for three weeks, ending on Friday, Dec. 11.

*Dancers Terez Dean Orr and Ben Warner perform Poetry of Being by Nicole Haskins. (Photo by Keith Sutter, courtesy of Smuin Contemporary Ballet)*

“While NPR, and business publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Forbes have documented the asymmetric impact of the pandemic on women economically, we haven’t seen similar work by arts reporters, looking at the industry as a whole,” said DDP President and Founder Liza Yntema. “Our campaign is designed to ‘connect the dots’ between layoffs and furloughs at the lower tier of performing arts not for profits where women typically work, the already existing gender pay gap, and the crushing pressure women feel due to child and elder care duties resulting in what is being termed the ‘Shecession’.”

Hive Fund Gets Huge Gift from Bezos Climate Pledge

The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice is among a group of equity-focused climate re-granting organizations that received grants from the Jeff Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion effort to fight climate change. We are thankful for this investment in our grantmaking program. These grants signal the beginnings of a shift as many philanthropists start to recognize the critical role that frontline groups and leaders of color play in addressing the climate crisis.

The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice is one of the first recipients of funding from the Bezos Earth Fund. (Image Credit: Bezos Earth Fund)

The grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, totaling $43 million over three years, will help The Hive Fund expand grantmaking to organizations led by Black, Brown, and Indigenous women and other frontline leaders. The work these groups do is essential to addressing the intersecting climate, gender, and racial justice crises in the U.S. Hive Fund grantee partners are engaging a record number of people in democracy; elevating climate, racial, and gender justice issues to the top of policymakers’ agendas; and bringing creativity, culture, joy, and power to growing social movements.

Black Women’s Leadership Boosted by $1 Million Gift to Howard

WASHINGTON (November 12, 2020) – Today, Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick announced a $1 million gift from Heather and Jim Murren to launch the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership at Howard University. The gift kicks off a multi-million fundraising effort for what will be an interdisciplinary, student-centered, faculty-led institute that works with professional programs in health, business, communications and law, as well as majors in the arts and sciences.

Jim and Heather Murren made a $1 million gift to Howard to create the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership (Image credit: Howard University)

“We are extremely grateful to Trustee Jim Murren and Mrs. Heather Hay Murren for this generous $1 million gift to create the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership at Howard University. Our students’ college experiences will be significantly enriched through this program, which will empower Black women to continue to take their rightful place as leaders in every facet of our society and the global community,” says President Frederick.

Uncoupled Bezos and Scott Join to Give $13 Million for Maternal Health

Boston, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) announced today that it has received $13 million in philanthropic funding to support scaling access to the Centering model throughout the United States.

New multi-year grants from the Bezos Family Foundation and MacKenzie Scott, along with reinvestments from Valhalla Charitable Foundation, Imaginable Futures and Overdeck Family Foundation, will provide the organization to continue its multi-year growth strategy and make necessary technology pivots to design and offer the Centering model of group care in virtual formats. This increased accessibility will allow for the expansion of the model to reach the most vulnerable populations and continue to provide relationship-based care that improves health outcomes.

Stop the Lies! WDDP to the Rescue Ongoing for Women in Politics

(Nov. 12, 2020) — The Women’s Disinformation Defense Project, a coalition of gender and racial justice groups spearheaded by UltraViolet, that led a $1.2 million campaign to combat online disinformation about Kamala Harris in key battleground states, will not only remain active during the Biden Administration but will double down on their efforts.

What we saw during the campaign is just the warm up act. We know the attacks will only get worse and more prevalent as Harris becomes the first-ever woman and woman of color to occupy the Vice Presidency.

Specifically, the Women’s Disinformation Defense Project, which includes organizations like ACRONYM, BlackPAC, Color of Change PAC, EMILY’s LIST WOMEN VOTE!, GQR, Higher Heights Political Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood Votes!, and SumOfUs will:

Women’s Fund of Rhode Island Wins Diversity, Inclusion Honors

PROVIDENCE, RI — November 9, 2020— Women’s Fund of Rhode Island (WFRI) is honored to be awarded PBN’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion honoree in the category of Nonprofit. This award recognizes companies and leaders who have made significant strides implementing diversity and inclusion within their organization or which influence others in the community to do the same.

Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, a leader in the movement to improve policies that impact women and girls in Rhode Island, is committed to women’s equity. WFRI believes it is a must to push for broader change through legislation and policy that tackle the systems of oppression that cause/contribute to racial, economic, leadership and health inequities. The organization produces original research on the status of women and girls and uses that information as the basis for their advocacy efforts.

Biden Likely to Win, Thanks to Women and Women of Color

UltraViolet: Biden on Track to Win, Thanks to Women and Women of Color – Now We Need to Count the Votes

WASHINGTON, DC -— As we await the results of the 2020 presidential election, Shaunna Thomas, executive director of UltraViolet, a leading national women’s advocacy organization, issued the following statement:

“Let’s be clear, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the popular vote and very likely the electors needed to win the electoral college vote thanks to the work of women, and specifically women of color across the country who have been organizing to protect our democracy from day one. From the beginning we knew that this election would be unprecedented and it would take time to count the votes – we need to do just that now to ensure that every vote cast is counted.

Giustra Foundation Powers Women Entrepreneurs with New Fund

VANCOUVER, British Columbia– (10/29/20) Today, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), in partnership with The Giustra Foundation, announced the creation of a bursary fund, easing access to game-changing mentorship and education for women entrepreneurs across the country who need it most.

The new fund, which will launch with $150,000 over three years through a major donation from The Giustra Foundation, will provide much-needed tuition bursaries for women entrepreneurs to take FWE’s programs. With the goal of ensuring that impactful programming reaches those women entrepreneurs who need it most, the bursary will support women who – due to financial difficulties or belonging to a marginalized group – would otherwise not be able to access FWE’s programs.

New Campaign: Supporting Sandberg a Mistake, Bad for Women

BREAKING: UltraViolet Says it Was a Mistake to Support Sheryl Sandberg for Facebook’s Board in 2012, Ahead of Election, Says Her Tenure Has Been “Bad for Women and Democracy”

Women’s Group Launches New TV Ad Campaign Featuring Women Speaking Directly to Sandberg About Abuse on Facebook and Demanding She “Lean In” to Fix It

Sheryl Sandberg at the World Economic Forum in 2011 (Image Credit: Wikimedia)

UltraViolet Says Facebook is Powering Violence That Harms Women

SAN FRANCISCO (10/30/2020) — In a strong reversal, UltraViolet, a leading national women’s group that in 2012 lobbied aggressively for Sheryl Sandberg’s elevation to Facebook’s Board of Directors, is now saying that decision was a mistake and that Sandberg’s tenure at Facebook has been bad for women.

Author: Gender Equality Funding News