Women Inspire Corporate Philanthropy

According to a new paper from Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee of the Harvard Business School, companies with more female senior managers give more money to charity.  The same study showed that companies with more female board members give more money.

Their conclusions are that since women tend to give more in general, women board members and senior managers are in a position to influence their company's giving.  Also, that women board members are more likely to come from the nonprofit world than are male board members and are more aware of nonprofit initiatives and the impact of corporate giving.

Because, according to a study from the Center for Women's Business Research found that half of women business owners with companies of more than $1 million in assets give at least $10,000 to charity annually compared to only 40% of men, a question remains as to whether women CEO's would give more money to nonprofits.  But unfortunately there are not enough women in this position yet to do a statistically accurate survey.  We have to believe that not only will there be more women CEO's but the research will show those companies with women CEO's also will give more.

The study, conducted with Fortune 500 companies to see which factors influence their generosity, is a very positive indicator of the ways women are changing philanthropy.