Gender Equity Funding Archives

From Dream, Dare, Do to Now: What’s Changed in Women’s Philanthropy

I still remember walking into my first Women’s Philanthropy Institute conference in Chicago nine years ago. At the time, women’s giving felt like a promising subfield — important, yes, but still fighting for intellectual legitimacy. The room had a distinct charge and energy of mutual recognition and appreciation. Many in attendance had contended with a snow storm to get there (sound familiar?) and were expressing gratitude for making it there before airports started cancelling flights.

The upcoming Women’s Philanthropy conference offers new insights and conversations on how women donors and their allies are pursuing social change.

The room was filled with researchers, funders, and advocates trying to articulate something that many of us felt intuitively: that women’s philanthropy was not simply a niche category, but a force capable of reshaping the broader giving landscape. That gathering quietly shifted the trajectory of my work as a publisher. In many ways, it helped clarify the role Philanthropy Women would go on to play.

Laughing and Linking Arms with Suffs, a Fierce Take on Women’s Rights

I had the great pleasure of seeing Suffs recently. What an amazing show and tribute to the women who changed the world by fighting for the right for women to vote. The songs of the musical riffing on marriage and questioning “Is it worth it?” to put your life and health on the line for women’s rights, and “How do we stay together as a movement?” were a joy to encounter — the writing being both tremendously insightful, and also quite funny.

Alice Paul and other 19th Amendment advocates share their stories in the musical number “I’m a Great American Bitch.” (Image credit: Suffs)

What made the most impact for me was not the history lesson, although I learned some new tidbits and details. More striking for me about Suffs was how much the show felt like it mirrored the contemporary struggles for women. Somehow, the players change, but the story stays the same.

Who Cares? What to Do About Our Careless Care System

Summary: Feminism has struggled to gain broad, durable support. This is not so much because people oppose women’s freedom, although some still do, but primarily because our society has failed to replace the caregiving labor women historically provided. Philanthropy, in prioritizing empowerment narratives over care infrastructure, has unintentionally deepened this anxiety—undermining feminism’s legitimacy among those most dependent on care. The following discussion offers five philanthropy-forward ideas to enhance the synergy between feminism and caregiving in a world that still wants and needs caregivers.

Here on Philanthropy Women, we have discussed the importance of caregiving in many posts, mostly in the context of philanthropic funding for health care and childcare, but today I want to talk about caregiving more explicitly as a labor issue that may be getting in the way of feminism becoming more mainstream.

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.

In the Midst of Political Disarray, Fund Anti Pay-Discrimination Work

In these times of extreme political turmoil, it might make sense for donors to go back to basics and focus on the ongoing battle to close the gender pay gap. According to US News & World Report, the typical American man earns $12,000 more per year than the typical woman. Perhaps moreso than other factors, this stubborn disparity is still hurting women where it counts: in the pocketbook.

US News and World Report ranks Rhode Island Number One for closing the gender pay gap. (Image credit: US News and World Report)

A recent call to attend to this issue comes by way of EqualPayToday.org. Each year they publish new information on what they call “Equal Pay Day” on March 25th. This the date in the new years when a typical woman makes as much as the typical man did by December 31 of the previous year. This year the typical woman had to work until March 25, 2025 to make as much as her typical male counterpart did by December 31, 2024. This represents an extra 84 days into the new year.

CARE’s Astonishing 900% Return on Investment for Global Women

CARE recently released the 2024 report of its Women’s Economic Justice (WEJ) team. Entitled Her Money Her Future, the report confirmed that women are both good investors and a good investment.

Savings group members in Malawi, part of the Digital CARE Package program
with Mudzi Wathu Village Bank. (Image credit: CARE Report, Her Money, Her Future)

While CARE is famous for its aid programs, outside resources alone will not end global poverty. That will require internal resources created by the people who need the help. Most often women who suffer disproportionately from endemic poverty. Therefore WEJ works directly with women to help them start and run their own business.

The report shows that the results have been spectacular. CARE’s savings groups generated $9 in women’s income for every $1 invested.

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.”

New Initiative Launches to Bolster Support for Local Abortion Funds

The Frontline Repro Freedom Lab (FRFL) has been launched to provide critical funding and resources to abortion funds in neglected states. This new initiative was founded in response to the overturning of Roe being overturned by the US Supreme Court.

The Frontline Repro Freedom Lab has launched. (Image credit: FRFL website)

FRFL announced its first ventures in an exclusive article in The New Republic. This initiative will partner with Arkansas Abortion Support Network, Prairie Abortion Fund and the Wild West Access Fund of Nevada. These three funds provide desperately needed care for five states.

These organizations will receive grants, resources, and first hand practical expertise designed to build the organizational capacity of each group, which will allow them to maximize impact within their respective areas. The goal is to call for a collective effort that will allow more sustainable investment.

The Fearless Fund Has Been Taken Down. Who’s Next?

The Fearless Fund (FF) made the heartbreaking decision to end its grant program for companies owned by Black women. The program has been under attack from right-wing activists who claimed the program was discriminatory.

On June 3, 2024, the 11th Circuit Court ruled that the program was discriminatory and forced FF to suspend its Striver’s Grants program.

Ariana Simone and two young volunteers make the point about the impact of this ruling. (Image Credit: Fearless Fund Twitter Page)

As of September 11, 2024, Fearless Fund has chosen to settle the lawsuit by shutting down that program completely. Given the conservative super-majority on the US Supreme Court, with its record of hostility to Affirmative Action, FF decided that the best path forward was to find other ways to accomplish its mission.

Philanthropy Women and Kiersten Marek Featured in Time Magazine

In case anyone had doubts, Philanthropy Women is one of the world’s leading authorities on feminist giving. Time Magazine recently ran a story on the topic, and one of their major sources for the story was Kiersten Marek and the Philanthropy Women website.

Screenshot from Time Magazine, August 6th, 2024 edition.

The information presented in the opening paragraphs will be familiar to regular readers Philanthropy Women. The article cites both the World Bank and a McKinsey Report that have found that directing grants to women and girls can boost the overall world economy.

In addition, progressive-thinking countries like Sweden, Canada, and France have recently implemented feminist agendas to their giving in order to advance the cause of humanity.

Category: Gender Equity Funding