Category: Philanthropy Women

Welcome to Philanthropy Women, a New Home for Donor Activists

Hello again, world. It’s me, Kiersten. I’ve decided to develop a new website to help you become a healthier, more peaceful, and more secure place. It’s called Philanthropy Women. 

philanthropy women
That’s me! Kiersten Marek, Founder and Editor, Philanthropy Women

For the past two years, I have been writing about women in philanthropy for Inside Philanthropy. It has been a wonderful and eye-opening experience, and has inspired me to take my own interest in women and philanthropy to a self-sustaining level.

More women are discovering the value of their perspective in philanthropy and are leading the way with better solutions to big social problems. Philanthropy Women seeks to magnify and amplify these women and their allies, so that we can help guide efforts at making our world more sane and whole.

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Helen LaKelly Hunt: Feminism and Giving in New Relationship Culture

If you spend time reading about women and philanthropy, you will invariably come across Helen LaKelly Hunt. Along with her sister, Swanee Hunt, these two feminist philanthropists are major players in the women’s funding movement, which hit the big leagues in the past decade as high-net-worth women began to make gifts of over $1 million dollars to fund causes for women and girls.  

helen lakelly hunt
Helen LaKelly Hunt

While researching for her dissertation on the origins of American feminism, Hunt discovered that 19th century women didn’t fund the suffrage movement. Instead, they funded things like their husband’s alma maters, churches (where they had no voice) and the arts. Years later, when women began pledging and making million-dollar gifts to women’s funds, Hunt captured that history in a book called the Trailblazer book, which was circulated to other women donors. This compilation of women’s testimonies helped catalyze the founding of Women Moving Millions.  

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How Lumos Empowers Social Change for Orphans Worldwide

Ten years into her signature philanthropic endeavor, Lumos, author J.K. Rowling has grown increasingly vocal about her disdain for developing world orphanages that do nothing to address the underlying needs of children and families.

lumos

Readers here at The Chronicle of Social Change know about the damage that child welfare systems can do to children, but perhaps even more damaging are money-driven orphanage systems, where children can suffer extreme neglect and lifetime attachment issues. And parents, often because of poverty, are deprived of the opportunity to raise their children.

“Globally, poverty is the no. 1 reason that children are institutionalized. Well-intentioned Westerners supporting orphanages perpetuate this highly damaging system and encourage the creation of more institutions as money magnets,” tweeted Rowling in late August, when expressing her fury at a voluntourism charity that was offering young adults the “CV-distinguishing” opportunity to volunteer in an orphanage in Moldova, where they could “play and interact” with children” in desperate need of affection.”

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Why Give for Women and Girls?

Do you ever wonder what motivates someone to give money? Obviously, the answer is “yes” if you’re a professional fundraiser. But those who give may also wonder what’s really causing them to reach for that checkbook.

give for women and girls
Photo by Valentina Conde on Unsplash

Research from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute sheds light on this area, particularly as it pertains to women at every level of society. Now, WPI has released a study showing for the first time that women are motivated by personal experience to give to causes that benefit women and girls specifically.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, it’s actually significant, useful information. Women’s tendency to donate money to specific causes based on experiences like having a child or discrimination suggests that philanthropy might take off in new directions as women become primary asset-holders in society and further increase their giving.

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