Category: CEO Women

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. 

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G4GC’s Dr. Monique Couvson Listed a Prestigious ‘Closer’ by TIME

G4GC’s Dr. Monique Couvson Named to TIME’s 2025 List of ‘The Closers’

Philanthropy Women is thrilled to announce that Dr Monique Couvson has been recognized and honored by TIME Magazine. She has been placed on the magazine’s list of “The Closers”. This prestigious award recognizes 25 Black leaders who are driving powerful change by working to close gaps in racial equity.

Monique Couvson, president and CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color. (Image credit: G4GC)

Dr. Couvson is the president and CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC), the primary national philanthropic intermediary organization with an explicit focus on girls and gender-expansive youth of Color in the U.S. and territories. In the short span of four years, she has helped convene 100 funders, moved more than $26 million to 400 organizations, and developed four signature funds such as The Black Girl Freedom Fund, The New Songs Rising Initiative for indigenous girls, the Holding a Sister Initiative for trans girls of color, and the Love Is Healing Fund. In addition, she co-founded the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign.

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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.

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Why Kendra Scott Gave $13.25 Million for Women Entrepreneurs

“This gift is about supporting the next generation of women entrepreneurs,” said Kendra Scott, philanthropist, designer and professor of practice at University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts. Since 2019, when Scott first started an institute for women’s leadership in business at the school, she has enjoyed seeing women expand their horizons. “I’ve loved seeing UT create a space where women are inspired and motivated to be leaders in business and to use their knowledge, skills, and energy to keep changing the world and outdated business stereotypes.”

Kendra Scott, pictured at the women’s leadership center she founded at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center has now been endowed with $13.25 million from Scott, in order to expand education, space, and resources for women in business. (Image credit: Kendra Scott)

Kendra Scott started her company in 2002, just three months after her first son was born. With $500 and a love for dynamic design and good quality materials, she grew a start-up jewelry business into a company with over 2,000 employees (96% women) and expanded the product line to include home décor and beauty. 

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Domestic Violence Needs to Be Everybody’s Business

Editor’s Note: The following commentary on domestic violence is by Debbie I. Chang, MPH, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation.

domestic violence
Debbie I. Chang, MPH, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation. (Image credit: Debbie I. Change)

Throughout a career advocating for the health and well-being of children and families, I thought I knew a lot about domestic violence and its impact. I knew that trauma, including exposure to domestic violence in childhood, has a deep and lasting effect on health. Like many people, I thought what happened in people’s homes was a private matter. In fact, some would narrowly say, “It’s not my business.” 

Now I know domestic violence is all of our business. It is truly a public matter. And it is preventable.

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Cannabis One of Best Industries for Gender Parity, Says AskGrowers

Irene Stepanenko, CEO of AskGrowers, reflects on gender equality in the cannabis industry as a celebration of Women’s Equality Day.

AskGrowers is a community of people working in the cannabis industry to provide trusted product advice and information. (Image credit: Unsplash)
AskGrowers is a community of people working in the cannabis industry to provide trusted product advice and information. (Image credit: Unsplash)

Women’s Equality Day is celebrated annually on August 26 to commemorate the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states and the federal government from denying citizens the right to vote based on sex. The right of women to vote and participate in society and various industries was first enshrined at the state level. In practice, women still continue to struggle for equal opportunities and privileges. This sentiment was echoed in former President Obama’s Proclamation on August 25, 2016, “Today, as we celebrate the anniversary of this hard-won achievement and pay tribute to the trailblazers and suffragists who moved us closer to a more just and prosperous future, we resolve to protect this constitutional right and pledge to continue fighting for equality for women and girls.”

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Black Women Philanthropists Honored by New WPI Initiative

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) has launched a new initiative to honor black women and their contributions to philanthropy.

Sharlene Kemler, CEO of the Loveland Foundation, is among the 10 women on WPI's Black Women Give Back List for her contributions to the mental health of black women. (Image credit: IUPhilanthropy)
Sharlene Kemler, CEO of the Loveland Foundation, is among the 10 women on WPI’s Black Women Give Back List for her contributions to the mental health of black women. (Image credit: IUPhilanthropy)

On August 31st, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI), part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, announced the honorees of the Black Women Give Back List, a new initiative to spotlight the important work and contributions of Black women philanthropists. Created in partnership with The Women Invested to Save the Earth (WISE) Fund, the backbone organization for Black Philanthropy Month, the list spotlights 10 outstanding Black women philanthropists from diverse backgrounds who use their time, talent, treasure, testimony and ties to make the world a better place.

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How Carmen Randolph and WFS Will Transform Philanthropy

As the Founding President and CEO of Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS), Carmen James Randolph will create huge change in philanthropy.

Carmen James Randolph, former VP for Programs of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, will take on a new role as the Founding President and CEO of WFS. (Image credit: Women's Foundation of the South)
Carmen James Randolph, former VP for Programs of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, will take on a new role as the Founding President and CEO of WFS. (Image credit: Women’s Foundation of the South)

Carmen James Randolph, noted philanthropy leader and former Vice President for Programs of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, has been announced as the Founding President and CEO of Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS), a revolutionary first-of-its-kind foundation founded by and created for women and girls of color in the South to advance gender and racial justice. As President and CEO, she will stand up this exciting new entity, build its team, broker partnerships with women of color leaders across the South to inform WFS’ work and investments, and oversee the strategic direction and day-to-day operations.

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Marguerite Casey CEO on Resourcing Abolitionist Feminism

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Dr. Carmen Rojas.

carmen rojas
Carmen Rojas, courtesy of Carmen Rojas

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

I spent a lot of time in this sector trying to make sense of power relationships — specifically, those with undue influence, limited imaginations and proximity to the people who have long been excluded from our democracy and economy. I wish I had known that this is a feature in the design of philanthropy, and that it doesn’t need to be this way. I spent so much time trying to convince people in positions of power and people closest to the most resources that the communities I care about lack power in our democracy or representation in our economy, not as a result of individual choices but as a result of systemic design.

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Pop Culture Collaborative Leaders Discuss Funding Narrative Change

Editor’s Note: This dual interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Bridgit Antoinette Evans and Tracy Van Slyke, who are, respectively, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of the Pop Culture Collaborative, a philanthropic resource and funder learning community.

Bridgit Antoinette Evans and Tracy Van Slyke, courtesy of Bridgit Antoinette Evans and Tracy Van Slyke

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

Bridgit Antoinette Evans: I wish that I’d been introduced to Octavia E. Butler much earlier in life. Octavia wrote about this concept of “positive obsession,” which she described as “not being able to stop just because you’re afraid and full of doubts.” My mother and her siblings were leaders in the Civil Rights movement in Savannah, and while she fiercely believed that her daughters could be anything we wanted to be in the world, she was very clear that we needed to be improving the world while doing it. I wanted to be an artist, and so, as a teen, I became obsessed with one question: “What is the relationship between a great story and widespread cultural change?”

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