Kiersten Marek, Author at Philanthropy Women

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.

Pivotal’s New $250 Million Open Call for Women’s Health Globally

This past year, we saw how the Biden-Harris administration made large new commitments to addressing women’s health, particularly health research on women. Today, another milestone for change in this arena took place as Pivotal, a Melinda French Gates organization, launched Action for Women’s Health, a $250 million global open call that will fund organizations around the world improving women’s mental and physical health.

“To fully exercise power over their lives, women need to be mentally and physically healthy. And yet, women’s health is being neglected everywhere,” said Melinda French Gates. “More than 1 billion women and girls suffer from malnutrition. Reproductive health care is being denied in the U.S. and other countries. And globally, a woman dies in childbirth every two minutes.”

Raising the Value of Communities by Investing in Girls of Color

Editor’s Note: Happy Juneteenth! In celebration, we are sharing the words of Dr. Monique Couvson, president and CEO of G4GC and the author of six books, including “Charisma’s Turn” (The New Press, 2023), a graphic novel about girls and their gifts.

As we navigate through this pivotal moment in history of rollbacks to civil rights, gender justice, and social progress, we are also seeing a generational transfer of wealth boosting women’s economic power and women taking bold measures to move capital into the hands of other women.

*Dr. Monique Couvson, president and CEO of G4GC* (Image credit: G4GC)

While we recognize and applaud how women are poised to shape a new type of philanthropy, it is imperative that in this effort girls —and in particular girls and gender-expansive youth of color, receive a robust and intentional investment. These young people are at the forefront of all social justice movements, and yet their contributions go overlooked and erased. As we move funds to women-serving organizations, we must also move money explicitly to organizations that center and are led by girls of color. That is how we can combat the erasure of Black girls and girls of color, and create opportunities for their courageous activism and leadership to thrive.

Blaustein: Create New Global Systems by Funding Local Women

Dear Readers: This essay is written by Susan M. Blaustein, Founder/Executive Director, WomenStrong International.

As we witness the world aflame with conflict- and climate-fueled disasters, it is urgent this International Women’s Day that we support and strengthen the peacemakers, the healers, the teachers, advocates, the community-builders: of course, I mean the women.

WomenStrong International supports Projet Jeune Leaders in Madagascar. (Image credit: Projet Jeune Leader)

In climate-related emergencies, we see over and over that local women leaders and the organizations they lead are best-positioned to know who is most vulnerable, where those individuals and families are living, which forms of relief are most urgent, and where those relief services can be safely and reliably located.

Thankful to Keep Learning as a Quantic Executive MBA Scholar

Hello philanthropy friends! With Thanksgiving in our midst, it seems the perfect time to announce some big news! I am going to pursue an Executive MBA degree with Quantic, a highly selective MBA program that seeks to disrupt the business world as we know it. I am so excited to be going back to school!!!

Quantic MBA — I will be entering the 58th cohort for Quantic, which boasts an 89% graduation rate and very high scores for student satisfaction. (Image credit: Kiersten Marek)

One of the big reasons I am pursuing an Executive MBA is to better understand how to attract markets to feminism and gender equality. In going through the process of applying and interviewing at Quantic, I had the realization that I had already crossed two hurdles: I created a feminist product that people would pay money for and I created a sizable market for this product. Now I will figure out if this product can be expanded, and, beyond that, how to proceed in convening stakeholders in business to move the needle on equal rights for women and girls.

Author: Kiersten Marek