The Women's Funding Network and Collective Power

My daughter-in-law, Christina Shaw, and I recently had lunch in San Francisco with Chris Grumm, President and CEO of the Women's Funding Network (WFN).  We had a pleasant chat about the problems associated with owning an older home, the upcoming holidays and the past and future of women's philanthropy.

I asked Chris, based on all she has accomplished with and for women and girls, what four important programs remain to be done.  She said we need to:

    -provide women with surround services such as child and health care
    -increase the number of business development opportunities for women
    -help women with asset development
    -provide more training and education to help women become economically independent

These four important services will be the focus of the Network's fundraising for the future. But Chris says in a December 26, 2010 article in Women's eNews:

"To do that, we need a movement of people conducting research, identifying solutions and mobilizing opinion and lawmaking.

We also need an overall vision of the sort of balanced society that we seek, where women and girls have a chance to reach their fullest potential. Otherwise we are all left struggling with the deadening consequences of poverty and inequality across the board.

To serve this vision, leaders in women's philanthropy know we must scale up our movement building.

The Women Moving Millions Campaign -- our partnership with visionary philanthropists Swanee and Helen LaKelly Hunt – is just the start of what we can achieve through our collective power."

Chris has set the bar very high for all of us working with women and philanthropy.  I know how very different the world is now from even ten years ago because of the presence and activity of women's funds.  Attention has been created through the funds themselves, the WFN, and attention from the media.  Now we need to turn this focus into action so Chris' four  programs will be mainstreamed and funded, not only by women's funds, but by foundations, men, and everyone who cares about what our world should look like and be about.

New Research Shows that Women in Developing Regions are More Generous Than Men

Emma Turner
Head of Client Philanthropy
Barclays Wealth

A study just released shows that women in the emerging countries of South America as well as South Africa and the Middle East, give more than men and are taking the lead. 

The survey of 2,000 millionaires around the globe and authored by Ledbury Research on behalf of Barclays Wealth in London found that in these regions, “19% of wealthy women spend more than five hours a week on charitable endeavors, compared to just 7% of wealth men in their region or only 7% of wealth European women.”  The study concludes that it is wealthy women in the developing regions who are driving the growth of philanthropy.

After doing some more digging, I found that a July 2009 report from Barclay’s had this to say about women and giving from research of 500 net worth individuals in the UK and the US (all with investable assets of $5m).  This research complements the new research being released today by the Women's Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Women Rise to the Fore

Findings revealed that women are playing an increasingly important role in driving the charitable agenda and that women are more generous than men, giving away a higher percentage (2.3 per cent) of their net investable assets than their male counterparts (1.3 per cent). This trend was accentuated in the US where women give almost twice as much in percentage of their investable assets.

The report also suggests that women's role in the future of philanthropy goes beyond being more generous than men and that they will also play a key role in influencing future generations' attitudes towards giving. The findings showed that women (38 per cent) were much more likely than men (25 per cent) to involve their children in general conversations about charity. They would also be more likely than men to involve their children in the processes of choosing the charity their family contributes to." 

Kudos for all this great information goes to Emma Turner, Head of Client Philanthropy at Barclays Wealth.  Turner previously worked at Goldman Sachs where she held a similar position.