Philanthropy Women

A Leader in Women’s Health Urges Donors to Lean Into Discomfort

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Dr. Anu Kumar, President and CEO of Ipas, an international reproductive health and rights organization.

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

That the issues that I have chosen to work on, reproductive health and rights including access to abortion, are ones that will take generations to resolve. I naively thought that since Roe v. Wade was decided well before I came of reproductive age and the public health data were so clear about the health benefits of contraception and abortion for women, families, communities, and countries that logic would prevail and I would simply be running programs to scale up these programs. Little did I know that I would become a warrior for abortion rights!

Spotify Launches New Campaigns to Amplify Women Creators

Spotify, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing music streaming platforms, believes that music and audio have the power to change the world. As a catalyst for that change, Spotify aims to empower women creators by giving them a place to share their content globally. The company is committed to fostering equity for women and has recently launched two new campaigns, Frequency and EQUAL. These new campaigns will work to amplify the voices of emerging female creators who in the past have been under-appreciated and underrepresented.

Raising the Frequency

Frequency is an extension of Spotify’s ongoing commitment to and investment in Black voices. The new global initiative cultivates a holistic destination for celebrating Black art, entertainment, creativity, culture and community both on and off-platform. Through a rollout of new content, cultural partnerships and an ambassador program, Frequency aims to further connect the Black community to established and emerging Black artists, all while fostering community and appreciating the culture that has made an impact across fashion, tech, business, and music.

Eco-Feminism and Fossil Fuels: It’s Time to Shift the Narrative

What would happen if we helped communities get deeply engaged in the conversation around fossil fuels? Climate Access, a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating the dialogue around climate change, seeks to answer this question through the power of collective advocacy.

Cara Pike is the Founder and Executive Director of Climate Access, an organization dedicated to fighting climate change through community and legislative action. (Image Credit: Cara Pike / Climate Access)

Founded in 2011 to be driving force behind shifting societal awareness, Climate Access generates political and public support and involvement in the fight against climate change. Where other nonprofits focus on on-the-ground solutions, Climate Access works to guarantee that legislature and logistics are in place for grassroots organizations.

Trevor Project Granted Amazing $100K from NFL Player Carl Nassib

NFL Player Carl Nassib has come out as gay and is donating $100,000 to The Trevor Project to support LGBTQ+ youth at risk of suicide.

Statement from Amit Paley, CEO & Executive Director of The Trevor Project:

“The Trevor Project is grateful to Carl Nassib for living his truth and supporting LGBTQ youth. This generous donation will help us scale our life-saving crisis services to reach the more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth who seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S.

Carl Nassib has come out as gay. (Image credit: Associated Press)

“Coming out is an intensely personal decision, and it can be an incredibly scary and difficult one to make. We hope that Carl’s historic representation in the NFL will inspire young LGBTQ athletes across the country to live their truth and pursue their dreams.

Blake Bailey and the Rise of Survivor Activists in Academia

Over 200 faculty and alumni at Old Dominion University have signed a statement denouncing the school’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct by Blake Bailey. UPDATE: Since this post was written, Old Dominion has announced they will do an independent investigation of Blake Bailey’s alleged sexual misconduct while holding the Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair for Creative Writing at Old Dominion University from 2010 to 2016.

Blake Bailey, who wrote a biographer of Philip Roth which was removed from print by Norton, stands accused of multiple acts of sexual misconduct. (Image credit: Norton)

From 2010 to 2016, Old Dominion University in Virginia hosted a visiting professor by the name of Blake Bailey. In addition to being a teacher, he was an author and the biographer for several esteemed male literary figures including John Cheever and, more recently, Philip Roth. But upon publication of his biography of Philip Roth, much has come to light about Blake Bailey’s history of alleged sexual misconduct, both during his time as a professor and in his professional life outside the school. As a result of some of these accusations, Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth was removed from print, his literary agent dropped him, and the biography’s original publisher, Norton, has pledged six-figures for sexual assault survivor advocacy.

New Fund for LGBTQ+ in Arkansas, From Alice Walton & Walton Family

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation have create a new statewide fund to improve life for the Arkansas LGBTQ+ community.

The Walton Family Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation have launched a new statewide fund, which will be overseen by the Arkansas Community Foundation (Image credit: Walton Family Foundation and Alice L Walton Foundation)

A new statewide fund will support organizations working to improve the quality of life for LGBTQ Arkansans. The initiative is launching with philanthropic support from the Alice L. Walton Foundation and from Olivia and Tom Walton through the Walton Family Foundation. Organizations offering legal, health, education and advocacy services, along with other high-demand needs will be eligible for grants. Arkansas Community Foundation will oversee the fund with support from a grant selection committee.

Plan Awarded Sizable Grant to Fight Child Trafficking in Burkina Faso

On June 1^st, Plan International USA was granted $2 million in funds to aid child trafficking survivors in Burkina Faso. The project, aptly named Strengthening Assistance for Child Trafficking Survivors, is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Plan International USA is joining forces with a local NGO in Burkina Faso, The Keoogo Association, to implement this much needed undertaking.

*Plan International USA will work to keep children attending school in Burkina Faso, where child sex trafficking is prevalent. (Photo credit: Plan International USA)*

The project to end child trafficking

Strengthening Assistance for Child Trafficking Survivors aims to not only assist those victims of child labor and sex trafficking but also to stop it from happening in the first place. Dr. Tessie San Martin, President and CEO of Plan International USA, states, “due to underfunded education systems, poverty and a lack of employment opportunities, children in Burkina Faso are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, forced labor and recruitment by armed groups.”

Brown’s Pembroke Center Receives $5M and New Director

The Brown University Pembroke Center, hub for research on gender, has received a $5M donation, bringing in a new director, Leela Gandhi.

Leela Gandhi will begin a three-year term as Director of the Pembroke Center on July 1st, 2021 (Image credit: Nick Dentamaro/Brown University)

On the eve of its 40^th anniversary, which it will mark during the 2021-22 academic year, Brown University’s Pembroke Center already has two big reasons to celebrate.

The Pembroke Center, a hub of research on gender and sexuality that brings together scholars from multiple fields of study, received its largest gift to date this spring. In July, it will welcome an accomplished humanities scholar as its new director, a role endowed for the first time ever by the new gift.

Announcing $540K To Fund Women Ascending In States’ Legislatures

The Ascend Fund has committed $540K to nonpartisan nonprofits in Michigan, Mississippi, and Washington working to advance women in politics.

Donate Now | The Ascend Fund by Panorama Global — The Ascend Fund works to increase the number of women in U.S. politics, committing $540K to organizations helping women in states’ legislatures. (Image credit: The Ascend Fund)

The Ascend Fund, a collaborative fund dedicated to accelerating the pace of change toward gender parity in U.S. politics, announced $540,000 in available grant funding to nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations in Michigan, Mississippi, and Washington state to increase the number of women serving in the states’ legislatures.

“Critical policy decisions are made by state legislators. By investing in women, we are not just creating a more reflective democracy, we are investing in the health and stability of our political institutions,” said Abbie Hodgson, Director of The Ascend Fund. Women are more than half the population, but less than one-third of elected officials. At the current rate of change, women won’t reach political parity in the U.S. for nearly 100 years. To accelerate the rate of change, organizations selected to participate in this two-year, three-state pilot will receive up to $100,000 in funding to:

Sex Workers in India Need Our Help. Here’s What Donors Can Do

Editor’s Note: The following post from Katarzyna Rybarczyk, a Political Correspondent for Immigration News, details the increased danger for sex workers in India, and provides ways for donors to step in with support.

Despite India being home to some of the most significant populations of sex workers globally, sex workers in India have very few protections and are alienated from the government’s responses. Even before the pandemic, sex workers in India would face unfair treatment, discrimination, and poverty. Now, these problems have intensified to the point where for the majority of sex workers every day is a struggle to survive.

The Pandemic Exacerbated Sex Workers’ Vulnerabilities

Because of the nature of their profession, sex workers rely on physical contact and in-person meetings with clients to earn a living. As red-light districts have been recognised as one of the primary sources of new COVID-19 infections, they have experienced repeated closures and a significant decrease in the number of people using sex workers’ services. Their former clients not only fear contracting the virus, but many have also lost their jobs because of the pandemic and thus can no longer pay for regular meetings.