Sports Archives

How Women Lose Ground Right From the Start in Business

As if you didn’t know, women face a steeper climb when seeking initial funding for business ventures. Cindy Gallop is doing a fantastic job in tracking this. In a series of Tweets, she linked to a number of articles on the subject.

Sabina Matos, candidate for Congress from Rhode Island, will be supported with a large advertising buy from Emily’s List and Elect Democratic Women. (Image credit: Sabina Matos for Congress)

The top link below discusses the types of questions potential investors ask founders. It turns out that, to no one’s surprise, women are asked different questions than men. The questions for women generally focus on potential losses, whereas men were asked about the potential for gain. The takeaway here is that, right from the get-go, men are seen as more likely to succeed, so they are asked about aspirations, hopes, and ideals. On the other hand, women are quizzed about strategies for minimizing losses.

WPI’s Newest Research Shows a Rise in Funding For Employment

The question of how women’s funding is growing – or not growing – is the focus of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which produces its Women and Girls Index every year, to analyze the philanthropic giving for women and girls and see where it is going. One of the benefits of having this research is that it can quickly dispel any notions that gender equality has already been achieved and doesn’t need to be a priority for funders.

women's giving — (Image credit: WPI Research Brief, October 2022)

“It’s so important to have the data. Numbers don’t lie,” said Jeannie Infante Sager, Director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute. In a recent conversation with Philanthropy Women, Sager spoke in detail about the new data coming out about women and giving, and how it reveals important trends in philanthropy.

Michelob ULTRA $100M Pledge Shifts Marketing to be Gender-Inclusive

Michelob ULTRA has committed $100 million to make its marketing gender-inclusive, with the goal of increasing the visibility of women in sports.

Women beer drinkers may have more good news to celebrate as beer brands like Michelob begin to pay more attention to their marketshare. (Photo by Elevate on Unsplash)

As one of the top selling beer brands in the country, Michelob ULTRA believes that every athlete deserves to experience an equal level of joy in sports. But women’s sports don’t always receive the same level of coverage in the media, which is a critical factor in ensuring that female athletes are paid equally. That’s why Michelob ULTRA is committing $100 million over the next five years to increase visibility for women’s sports through:

Naomi Osaka’s Play Academy Branches Out to LA and Haiti

Play Academy with Naomi Osaka is expanding to Los Angeles and Haiti to continue to change the lives of girls through play and sport.

Play Academy with Naomi Osaka was launched in 2020 to create real change in the lives of girls. (Image credit: Nike)

Announced in August of 2020, Play Academy with Naomi Osaka was created in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good with the goal to help change young girls’ lives through play and sport. Building on its work in Japan, Play Academy is expanding to Los Angeles and Haiti, collaborating with local sport-based organizations that are helping encourage a new definition of movement for the next generation of girls.

Essential to Play Academy is Osaka’s personal experiences as an athlete, set by a rich transcontinental heritage that has shaped her views on sport, racial and gender equality and mentorship. With a mission so close to her heart, Osaka wanted to champion those causes in communities she knows and is deeply connected to – starting in Japan, where she was born, and continuing to Los Angeles and Haiti, where she currently lives and where her father is from, respectively.

Sports 4 Life Delivers Big Benefits for Girls of Color

Sports 4 Life is a national initiative co-founded by the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) and espnW. It was established in 2014 and seeks to increase participation of girls of color in youth sports. It has so far impacted over 60,000 girls of color, and its recently released report shows gains in girls’ leadership, self-esteem, confidence and perseverance resulting from their participation in the program.

2020 has been defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for racial justice. Improving the physical and mental health—and leadership capacities—of girls of color is one way to help them navigate COVID and beyond. The WSF and espnW (“a voice for the woman who loves sports”), Sports 4 Life partnership is funding local sports programs, filling in the gaps to access and opportunity that often confront girls of color.

Phaidra Knight Elected President of Women’s Sports Foundation

New York, N.Y. (September 30, 2020): The Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) announced today its president-elect and two new members joining the Board of Trustees. World Rugby Hall of Famer Phaidra Knight was voted in as president-elect, and is joined by newly-elected Board members Brett Goodman and LaChina Robinson. Knight has been serving as a WSF Trustee since 2018, and now Goodman and Robinson join the elite group of cross-sector experts that help guide the Women’s Sports Foundation’s operations as well as its mission, to unlock the possibilities in every girl and woman through the power of sport.

Phaidra Knight was voted in as president-elect of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and is joined by newly-elected board members Brett Goodman and LaChina Robinson. (Image credit: WSF)

“We are thrilled for Phaidra and excited to welcome Brett and LaChina – amazing professionals who are fellow game-changers in our fight for gender equity in sports,” said WSF CEO, Deborah Antoine. “Each brings a wonderfully diverse range of knowledge and experiences to WSF, and we look forward to working together, and advancing our mission, to unlock the potential of girls and women in sport and in life.”

Sports 4 Life Grants Aim to Increase Sports for Girls of Color

Sports 4 Life, a national initiative co-founded by the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) and espnW (“a voice for the woman who loves sports”), was established in 2014 to increase participation of girls of color in youth sports. Recently, Sports 4 Life announced their 2020 grants which will help African American and Latino girls overcome barriers to sports participation.

Twenty-five organizations based in 13 states and Washington, D.C. received the awards which totaled $175,000. The grants aim to augment and diversify sports opportunities for more than 7,700 middle and high school girls, and included funding for programs representing 23 different sports.

The impetus for Sports 4 Life is the recognition that the benefits of participation in sports—which include improved physical and mental health, as well as better grades and improved leadership skills—often disproportionately exclude African American and Latino girls. Historic racial injustices lie at the root of disparities in access to sports participation, and these gaps have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major League Baseball Commits $3 Million for Domestic Violence

NEW YORK (AP) — Six organizations that aid survivors of domestic violence are among groups that will receive $50,000 each from Major League Baseball and the players’ association as part of a Healthy Relationships Community Grant initiative.

MLB and the union committed to donating $3 million from their joint charitable fund in seven phases through 2021, they announced Thursday. Other groups receiving money advocate for positive mental health and relationship skills.

Lutheran Settlement House in Philadelphia will use its money for a bilingual domestic violence program; Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center Inc. in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for a children’s safety project; and YWCA of San Diego County for its Becky’s House domestic violence program.

Platforms for Good: Summer Sanders and Plan International USA

On February 20, 2020, global development organization Plan International USA announced its newest Ambassador, Summer Sanders Schlopy.

An Olympic athlete and most decorated U.S. swimmer in the 1992 Olympics, Summer is known for using her platform for good. She rose to precedence as a member of Stanford’s swimming team, taking on the 1992 National Championship and Olympic Games. In Barcelona, Summer became the most decorated U.S. swimmer with one bronze, one silver, and two gold medals.

In the early 1990s, Summer turned to television, commentating the NCAA Swimming Championships for CBS Sports, and hosting MTV’s surf-and-sun competition show Sandblast. Her numerous television accolades include correspondent, co-host, and host for a range of sporting events, TV series, and competition shows.

United for Girls: DICK’S Fdn Invests $5 Million in Girls Soccer

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert; actor, director, and producer Katie Holmes; sports journalist Christine Brennan; and best-selling author and journalist Elaine Welteroth, among others, joined DICK’S Sporting Goods today to discuss the challenges and opportunities girls experience accessing sports and the impact sports and fitness have had on their lives

DICK’S announced its 2020 Women’s Initiative highlighted by The DICK’S Foundation’s $5 million grant to U.S. Soccer Foundation’s ‘United for Girls’ Initiative

NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today, DICK’S Sporting Goods and The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation hosted a Here for Her Summit in New York City, a focused and collective effort to champion women and girls in sports and fitness.

Category: Sports