Harvesting Female Empowerment: Florence Reed, Sustainable Harvest International, and the Business of Food

Sustainable Harvest International Founder and President Florence Reed did not encounter many other women leaders in philanthropy when she started the organization in 1997. “I was flying by the seat of my pants. I literally went to a library and checked out a book on how to start a non-profit, and went through it chapter by chapter,” she recalled in a recent interview with Philanthropy Women. Who knew then how successful her initiative would be: Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) was recently named by Charity Navigator as one of the “six highest-ranking charities in the sector making major strides to increase sustainable food production.” The dearth of women in leadership positions in philanthropy has changed over the past twenty years, largely because women like Florence Reed have pushed hard to involve more women in their end