Global Philanthropy Archives

We Are Changed By the People We Love, and Other Feminist News

Greetings, my dear friends in the feminist giving community and beyond. I’m here to talk to you today about a very serious problem: editors and publishers who will not allow women to have their own voice.

The Everyday Feminist, by Latanya Mapp Frett, will be released for publication on March 8,2023. (Image credit: Wiley Books)

I think part of the issue comes down to the fact that we are changed by the people we love. Along with being changed by the people we love, I also believe we are changed by writing that impacts us emotionally. In the editorial world, that translates into being changed by a piece of writing because it is written in a new way and does not adhere to outdated concepts. Margaret Atwood is famous for saying something to the effect of, “if your writing is not making anyone angry, you’re not really writing,” and I tend to agree. Real writing makes both friends and enemies because real writing can change the game. It can cause people to think differently, to make new connections in how their thoughts align with their behaviors day-to-day.

What’s New for Feminist Giving in February 2023

Greetings friends and feminist giving peeps! Welcome to February of 2023, which promises some big new things for gender equality funding.

Before we get into the top happenings in philanthropic giving for women, I want to call attention to a new gender lens investing product. We all know philanthropic giving matters, but there is also a great deal of progress that can be made by bringing gender lens thinking to the realms of business and finance.

A New gender lens ETF is available from Hypatia Capital. (Image credit Hypatia Capital)

New Gender Lens ETF: WCEO

On that topic, I’d like to share about Hypatia Capital’s new exchange-traded fund (ETF), WCEO. This ETF is specifically designed to generate revenue from companies led by women. The fund and its founder, Patricia Lizarraga, recently had a feature in Fox Business discussing the ETF and its potential to impact gender equality. “You can’t change the world, but you can reach gender equality in your domestic equity allocation today,” Lizarraga said in the article. In its first month, WCEO outperformed the S&P 500.

New Partnership: Alliance Providing 50% Discount to PW Subscribers

One of the reasons I started Philanthropy Women in 2017 was because I was so impressed by the NoVo Foundation and its commitment of $90 million in new funding for women and girls of color. It seemed to me that if mainstream philanthropy could make that big and sudden of a footprint on helping women and girls of color, there was hope for the world after all.

As part of our new philanthropy journalism partnership, use code PHILANTHROPYWOMEN to get 50% off your subscription to Alliance magazine.

Now, five years and over 1,100 articles later, I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between Alliance magazine, the first and only major philanthropy magazine with a global focus, and Philanthropy Women. I believe Alliance magazine has the potential to be an important ally to Philanthropy Women, since Alliance takes the most inclusive lens with which to view the complex problems of humanity — the global lens — when providing journalism about donors and social change.

Exposing The Say-Do Gap for Racial Justice Giving: WPI’s New Report

Well hello my philanthro community! It’s great to be back at my Philanthropy Women dashboard, ready to share some insights on feminist giving and dive into the latest news on gender equality.

This week, I’d like to discuss the newest report from Women’s Philanthropy Institute entitled Racial Justice, Gender and Generosity. The report explores the giving trends of a sample 2,073 US households surveyed in May of 2021, and asks them questions about their involvement with and giving behavior related to racial justice causes.

The latest report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute explores racial justice, gender and generosity. (Image credit: WPI)

The report uncovers some significant findings, including that more than 4 in 10 U.S. households (42.0%) supported or were actively involved in racial justice protests of 2020. This was a surprisingly high number in my mind, one that gives me renewed hope for our country and the shared value we place on racial equality.

Prioritizing Gender Equality: A Response to the Gates Annual Letter

Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this post on February 17, 2020, and it is an interesting study in how questions from the past about the Gates Foundation are now being answered as the couple finalizes their divorce and their two paths diverge.

When one of the richest women in the world decides that gender equality should be more of a priority, what impact does that have? Should we cheer, or fear, this development?

more gender equality — Melinda Gates devotes much of her part of the Gates Annual letter to discussing her agenda for bringing gender equality to the fore as a social issue. (Image Credit: Gates Foundation website)

For two decades, Bill and Melinda have spent $53.8 billion on philanthropy, all for the purpose of making the world a better place. Now, for the first time in that twenty years, Melinda Gates has planted a stake in the ground and declared gender to be a topic of high priority for the foundation’s work, and for her own work happening separately through Pivotal Ventures. From the letter:

International Funders for Gender Equality

Mujeres en Acción: A New Way to Support Latinx Abuse Survivors

In February 2021, 18-year-old Úrsula Bahillo was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, an officer in the Buenos Aires police force. The femicide led a group of Argentine women to create the organization Mujeres en Acción, an entirely volunteer brigade of women providing support to survivors of gender-based violence in the Latin American region.

Úrsula’s untimely death was the 44th femicide registered in Argentina in the first two months of 2021, and its occurrence prompted immediate outrage in the country. After all, the 18-year-old victim had followed all the recommended steps: she reported her attacker to the police stations and the courthouse. She got a restraining order that made it illegal for him to come near her, but he broke the restraining order numerous times. One major way the system fell apart for her: Úrsula requested a “panic button” from the police, but she never got one. Her last message to her friends read: If I don’t come back, tear everything down.

The Tech Accelerator Aiming to Address the Climate Emergency

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving In Real Life series features Elodie Read, Program and Community Partnerships Lead at Subak, the first global non-profit tech accelerator dedicated to combatting the climate emergency.

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

I’m pretty early on in my career so this is quite a tricky question to answer. At university and grad school, everyone is full of conviction, zeal and a healthy dose of naivety about how the world is and how it should be. When you start working, it can be easy to get bogged down in reality, but I think it’s important to remember why we got into this kind of work and to keep working with our values and goals at the front of our minds.

Women-Led Synergy for Justice Advances Accountability for Syria

Work being done abroad by Synergy for Justice and its executive director Christy Fujio is enhancing justice and accountability for sexual violence and torture.

Christy Fujio ( Image Credit: Synergy for Justice)

The conflict in Syria has been going on for roughly ten years now, with little sign of it ceasing. American media coverage has more or less moved on from shedding any light on the topic. Although the general populace has moved on, certain organizations and individuals remain hyper focused on what they can do to help ensure that survivors are supported and justice is achieved.

Synergy for Justice is one such organization. For more than six years, the organization has been working with local partners and lending a hand to the crisis. At the height of the violence, torture and detention in 2015, the organization was founded by Christy Fujio, Dr. Ingrid Elliott and Dr. Coleen Kivlahan.

Plan Report: Girls Fear For Safety from Misinformation Online

As our young women come up in the world, they face a deluge of information online, much of which is contributing to their sense of safety, or lack thereof. A new report from Plan International helps to break down the ways that online disinformation is impacting the lives of girls ages 15 to 24 around the world.

The Truth Gap, a new report from Plan International, helps identify the ways that young women and girls are being impacted by online disinformation. (Image credit: Plan International)

The report, The Truth Gap, helps to explain how girls and young women in 33 countries are experiencing information they find online. The report discovered that one in five girls (20%) feels unsafe due to false information that comes from the internet.

Category: Global Philanthropy