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Women Philanthropists
by Carol Pencke

Traditionally, women were not philanthropists. You did not see college buildings, hospital wings and theaters named after women donors. Instead, women served as volunteers, often working more than 40 hours per week as hospital guild and museum docents, and in education support roles. Their names were largely unknown, their gifts often unrecognized and their legacy, if any, was that the institutions they supported thrived on their free labor. Those roles for women are changing. While still lagging far behind men as CEOs and in the board rooms of Fortune 500 companies, their earning power has dramatically increased. Women are some of the inheritors of the current intergenerational transfer of wealth, estimated at $41 billion, which began 10 years ago and will continue for at least the next 20.

“Women today need to be financially educated and comfortable with managing their money,” says LeAnne Moss, executive director of the Washington State Women’s Funding Alliance. “Their financial planning and investments, their purchasing power as well as their giving can all make a huge impact on the world.”

When Ms. magazine founders established the Ms. Foundation for Women 32 years ago, they wanted the profits from magazine sales to benefit women and girls. Well, magazine profits never materialized, but the moment that the Ms. Foundation for Women opened its doors, women across the U.S. — hungry to support women’s issues — began to send money. The Ms. Foundation for Women now has an endowment of $28 million, and President and CEO Sara Gould says that its impact is not just as a funder but as a force within the philanthropic community. Gould states that giving to women’s groups is critical to supporting equity and democracy.

Similar funds have developed, such as the Global Fund for Women which supports international women’s issues, and the Third Wave Fund which focuses on the needs of younger women and girls. In addition, local, state and regional women’s funds have grown dramatically. In 1997, there were 50 such funds, awarding grants of less than $13 million annually. The Women’s Funding Network states that there are now 120, funding at $50 million annually. This is one of philanthropy’s fastest growing sectors, with estimated contributions last year of more than $106 million. As public charities, these funds are open to all contributors. Locally, in 11 years, the Women’s Funding Alliance has grown from an annual budget of $400,000 to $1.5 million. Local activist Cheyla McCornack-Axtell says that the real test of WFA’s merit will be the group’s willingness to recruit the $5 donor with the same enthusiasm as the $5 million donor — and to include voices from all sectors in decision-making.

Colleges and universities have also begun to recognize that while they have equal numbers of men and women graduates, women’s giving has lagged far behind that of men. In 1992, UCLA took the initiative to find out why by forming several women’s alumnae focus groups. Many of the participants believed that they made “joint” decisions about giving with their spouses or partners. However, when asked to check “family” donations, women often found that their spouses or partners simply wrote checks when solicited for gifts, without consulting them first. The women decided it was time to take control. UCLA convened a women’s advisory board for fund development and has since seen gifts from women soar. Other schools, as well as hospitals and civic institutions, have followed suit.

Women seek out successful role models for giving, and peers often provide the best mentors. Donors’ circles, local and regional women’s funds, family donor-advised funds, even funds created among groups of friends have all served as routes to learning philanthropy while practicing it. The Women’s Funding Alliance and Washington Women’s Fund are two local examples. This partnering could extend much further. “Women of wealth need to collaborate in our giving to create real social change,” says McCornack-Axtell. “If a group of women approaches a bank with $35 million to invest, we bring the clout to demand that the bank fund low-income housing loans and micro-enterprise lending. We benefit, so does the bank, and so do low-income women buying first homes and starting businesses.”

Do women address philanthropy in ways different from men? Hard to say. Most women speak of passion as well as hard business decisions directing their choices. Several address racism and sexism as issues they feel need to be directly confronted, including asking nonprofits to address those issues within their own structures. “We need to change the business model for philanthropy,” says Moss. “Giving is not just for the superrich; women can give at all levels, and all gifts matter. We promote giving to organizations that specifically benefit women and girls because we believe that by helping them, we raise the standards for all.” McCornack-Axtel agrees. “Issues are interconnected,” she says. If you just fund anti-domestic-violence work and do not address eliminating racism, poverty and homelessness, you will never succeed. Women need to fund strategies that help organizations to work collaboratively.”

To date, more than 50 percent of foundation program officers are female, yet leadership roles are still predominately held by men, and major public gifts still tend to come from men. Several studies on women and giving suggest a reason. Women, even those with significant personal wealth, sometimes see themselves as potential “bag ladies.” They tend to hold on to more of their assets while living, but to make very generous bequests for distribution upon their deaths. Men often make larger gifts while living, seeming to believe that should their current resources disappear, they are fully capable of rebuilding them. While nonprofits certainly welcome bequests, those who make them miss the joy of giving while living and seeing the progress their gifts engender. This trend may be changing, however, as women achieve more earned wealth. One donor, who sold the family business with her husband, stated that they could not enjoy their newfound financial security unless they also gave generously to the community. Since then, she has been involved in gender and racial justice work both as a donor and as an activist — using her time and talent, as well as funding, to support her values in the community.

What are the key issues facing women who want to start or expand their giving? Most of the women interviewed for this article talked about funding sustainability — rather than just providing Band-Aids. Food programs and emergency shelters matter and deserve support; so do organizations that work to create living-wage jobs and low-income permanent housing. The dramatic increase in the numbers of nonprofits in the U.S., from just over one million in 1996 to almost 1.5 million in 2006, can be daunting to a donor who wants to make responsible choices about where to direct her money. To offset these concerns, Judy Pigott, a Seattle author and philanthropist, states that an apparent duplication of efforts may actually be positive, providing agencies with enough money to substantially address needs/issues from different angles.

Moss suggests that women also need to move beyond traditional “charity.” A part of their giving needs to support the non-tax-deductible contributions, such as those made for political issues and campaigns. Parity for women’s voices at all levels of government matters, and financial support is one path to accessing political power.

Many current donors note that, once a woman makes a significant gift to any nonprofit, and especially one in the local community, her name will become public. One woman suggested volunteering in an organization prior to giving money; to get to know the group from the inside, as people, without the strings of funding attached. Another stated that, once known, a donor will be solicited by other groups, and that she will need to accept that challenge with grace and goodwill. Finally, said a third, “Don’t let guilt run the show. Make grants that feel good and do good and allow you to participate, at whatever level you can afford and want. Your gift is also an opportunity to participate in causes that you value. ‘No, thank you’ is an appropriate reply to any solicitation.”

The growing role of younger women in nonprofits and philanthropy presents its own challenges. “Young women often start as volunteers for events, then attendees and finally as supporters,” says Moss. “We need to provide valuable opportunities for donors to engage with the group and participate.” She acknowledged that her organization, with its small staff, makes limited efforts to reach young donors. Many larger groups, especially colleges and universities, begin to cultivate their alumnae as they graduate. Annual funds are easy ways to give back, and larger institutions have the resources to track their givers over time, research their capacity, and hire professional staff to solicit them.

Within families, a common strategy is to establish donor circles or donor-advised funds that include children. Contributors within these groups vary in age from as young as 8 to late teens, and many also include next-generation spouses and partners. Some of them use collective decision-making; others provide an annual amount for each member to award to worthy causes. Families with such funds want to educate their next generation in being generous, teach them to fund effectively, and pass the torch of stewardship smoothly. However, some younger donors report that taking charge, and funding differently than their parents, can cause conflict. One large family fund switched from supporting the arts to funding only native issues as the next generation took over. These changes can be a bounty for one organization and a disaster for another. As women take on power roles in their family foundations, women’s organizations stand to reap some of the benefits.

Women’s roles in the nonprofit sector are shifting. We used to bake the cookies, fold and stuff the envelopes and deliver the food baskets. While we still do many of those tasks, we also fund action- oriented programs, serve on boards, and use our investments to influence issues we care about. We are visible participants as funders and leaders now, and it is time to celebrate that change.

Carol Pencke is director of Organization Solutions, a consulting firm for the nonprofit, philanthropic and educational community in Seattle. She is also a senior development and training consultant for the Applied Research Center in Oakland, Calif.

©2007 Caliope Publishing Company