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The Day Philanthropy Died: What Happened with Fearless Fund Ruling

As previously reported, the efforts, and perhaps the existence of the Fearless Fund have been the target of a lawsuit since July of 2023. We at Philanthropy Women have been tracking this case as it has significant ramifications for all marginalized populations receiving philanthropy dollars, including gender justice philanthropy.

On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a ruling that will prohibit the Fearless Fund from issuing its Strivers Grants. These are grants of $20,000 given to small businesses that have at least one woman of color in a leadership role.

Arian Simone, Co-founder and CEO of the Fearless fund described herself as “outraged” and said the fund is weighing its legal options going forward. They may take the case to the Supreme Court, or they could also take the route of taking the case to another district appellate court.

Expert Interview on the Fight for Women’s Bodily Autonomy

Vice-President Kamala Harris issued a stinging rebuke to the “hypocrisy” of conservatives in a speech delivered on the anniversary of the overturning of Roe v Wade, in which she pointed out that conservatives continuously seek to restrict access to health care. “How dare they?” she demanded.

Kamala Harris speaks out for women everywhere.(Image credit: ABC News video screenshot)

There are reasons for her charges. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a study showing that the number of women aged 18-30 choosing to undergo tubal ligation has increased dramatically since Roe was overturned. The rate of vasectomies has also increased, but only at half the rate of tubal ligations. It appears that, in the age of shrinking space for abortion rights, women are now much more fearful about their own bodily autonomy.

It IS Rocket Science: Astrophysicist Amber Miller New Hewlett Prez

The Hewlett Foundation has named Amber Miller as its new president. The selection of Dr Miller is a paradigm-changing move; she will be the first woman and the first scientist to hold the position, and she represents a new generation of leadership for the foundation. She will take up her responsibilities at the beginning of September.

Amber Miller has been named the incoming President of the Hewlett Foundation. (Image credit: Hewlett Foundation)

Dr Miller is an astrophysicist who is currently Dean of The Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California. In her role, Dr Miller oversees a staff of over 2,000 faculty who teach a wide variety of subjects. In addition, she previously served as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University.

New: Convicted Felon Trump Tries to Roll Back Climate Justice

Maya Angelou famously said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” She may not have been talking about Donald Trump, but the advice seems especially pertinent to him.

There is no distinction between social justice and climate justice. The poorest suffer from a deteriorating climate and the majority of those suffering are women. They are often women with children who do not have the means to relocate to a safer location.

Donald Trump has taken extreme positions on climate action both in the past and today. (Image credit: We Don’t Have Time)

We Don’t Have Time is the world’s largest media platform for climate action. The organization was created after the election of Trump in 2016. This event made it plain that world leaders were not going to take significant action that would even slow down climate degradation. “Trump digs coal” was a slogan and an election pitch that helped him get elected.

Halle Berry Gets Behind New $275M Bill for Menopause Research

A campaign led by prominent female lawmakers and boosted by the star power of actor Halle Berry has succeeded in gaining Congressional support for a major initiative for womens’ health. On April 30, 2024, legislative leaders unveiled a $275 million bill to boost federal research, physician training and public awareness about menopause.

Halle Barre and a bevy of legislators gathered to unveile the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act. (Image credit: Screenshot from Youtube video)

In a rare bipartisan effort, the Senate bill, the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act, is led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and has support from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and other lawmakers.

Janiece Evans-Page: Daring to Double Down on Racial Equity

With racial justice programs and DEI initiatives under threat, philanthropic organizations face an important decision – double down in the fight for justice or back down. Janiece Evans-Page, the CEO of Tides, is taking the harder road. She won’t back down, and she won’t let others shut her down. As the leader of an organization managing as much as $1.25 billion in assets at any given time, Evans-Page is carrying out a critical mission that other funders might want to emulate: upholding the American values of racial and gender equality.

Janiece Evans-Page, the CEO of Tides. (Image credit: Tides)

We were fortunate enough that Janiece Evans-Page was willing to share her time and her thoughts on the attacks on organizations like the Fearless Fund. Janiece shares her insights here on how philanthropy can prioritize racial and gender justice, and use core values as the building blocks to a healthier democracy.

Federal Government Agency Latest Target of Assault on Diversity

In the past few weeks, the conservative crusade against affirmative action has widened its scope to include various levels of government.

Jill Biden recently announced funding for the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. More information on this new funding is below. (Image credit: AP)

The first is aimed directly at the federal government. A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is guilty of discrimination. The agency was created during the Nixon administration fifty years ago to improve access to capital for minority-owned businesses. The judge, who was appointed by Trump, has ruled that such support is an illegal violation of the rights of all Americans.

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.

WPI Webinar: Women’s Political Giving Will Surge in 2024

On January 30, 2024, the Womens’ Philanthropy Institute (WPI) of Indiana University hosted a webinar to look into a crystal ball and discuss what members of the giving community believe is coming our way in the coming year.

Jeannie Sager of WPI kicked off the conversation with a thorough review of relevant topics. (Image Credit: WPI)

The moderator was Jeannie Sager, Executive Director of WPI. Panelists included

Elizabeth Barajas Romắn, President and CEO of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN);
Latanya Mapp Frett, President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA); and
Kiersten Marek, Founder and CEO of Philanthropy Women (PW)

To start, Jeannie Sager established five key trends as identified by research of WPI:

Attack on Fearless Fund Goes National in Time and Newsweek

As we reported both in October and December of 2023, the good work of the Fearless Fund has come under attack from right-wing extremists. The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) which is led by anti-affirmative activist Edward Blum, is the same conservative organization that convinced the Supreme Court to reject affirmative action criteria for college admissions in June 2023.

Since the Supreme Court decision, AAER has expanded its scope to target seemingly all efforts to promote social justice and equity. The Fearless Fund is a venture capital fund that provides pre-seed, seed-level, or Series A financing to businesses led by women of color. As their website states, “Our mission is to bridge the gap in venture capital funding for women of color founders building scalable, growth aggressive companies.”

Category: Activism