In the spirit of the theme of this year’s Women’s History Month, “Our History is Our Strength,” I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the history of women’s philanthropy specifically, since it is a particularly important part of our organization’s history.
The relationship between women and philanthropy has evolved significantly over the past 250 years. Starting in the 1800s, women began aligning their philanthropy with their volunteering – a model that persists today. Early on, many women chose to donate their time to aiding soldiers and their families during times of war and disasters. Providing assistance to widows and children – especially the poor – began to grow in popularity in the 19th Century and wealthy women were devoted volunteers and donors to these efforts. Typically, however, women’s giving was usually tied to their husbands’ or family’s wealth and was more about “charity” and meeting the needs of the “less fortunate” than addressing the sources of those inequities.
The 1960s brought a significant amount of change and activism around civil rights and anti-war ideologies, changing the face of engagement, volunteering and activism in profound ways. In the 1970s, a number of organizations developed for and by women emerged; organizations that also started to challenge the status quo. At the same time, women were moving into the workforce and sought higher education as a means to better their economic and intellectual standing. Their power to gather together and promote women’s issues and interests increased and their desire to fund their own movements was a powerful motivator. As the late, great Audre Lorde said: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Being in control of their own resources was a critical piece of this model for change.
Women’s Philanthropy Today
Today, women own one-third of America’s private businesses and control more than 51 percent of the wealth in the United States. Among the nation’s top wealth holders, 43 percent are women, according to the Treasury Department.
No longer having to rely on spousal or familial resources, women with increased access to personal resources stepped into philanthropy with gusto. A recent study of women’s philanthropy found that women give 3.5 percent of their wealth compared to 1.8 percent for men and that single women are more likely to give to charity than single men. Women also tend to be the decision-makers in their family philanthropy (both individually and for family foundations). Given this, it is probably not surprising that both married men and married women are more likely to donate than single men.
The Six Cs
But not only are women giving more… they bring a new giving paradigm to their philanthropy. Sondra Shaw-Hardy and Martha Taylor – gurus of women’s giving – developed the six “C”s as a way to summarize women’s motivations for giving. These characteristics of women’s giving have been fundamental to the way that women give as individual donors, and in the development and operation of women’s funds.
#1: Create: Women want to create new solutions to problems. They like to be entrepreneurial with their philanthropy.
#2: Change: Women want to use their money to change the community. They want their giving to make a difference. They’re less interested in providing unrestricted support to preserve the status quo of an organization or institution.
#3: Connect: Women prefer to see the human face their gift affects. They want to build a partnership with people connected with the project they fund.
#4: Commit: Women commit to organizations and institutions whose vision they share. They often give to an organization for which they have volunteered.
#5: Collaborate: Women prefer to collaborate with others as part of a larger effort. They seek to avoid duplication, competition and waste.
#6: Celebrate: Women want to celebrate their accomplishments, have fun together, and enjoy the deeper meaning and satisfaction of their philanthropy.
Sondra Shaw-Hardy says that this paradigm of women’s giving has had significant results that she sums up in three additional C’s:
Control: Women are taking control of their lives, their finances and their philanthropy.
Confidence: They have gained the confidence to become philanthropic leaders.
Courage: Women have the courage to challenge the old way of doing things and take risks with their giving to bring about change.
Ours is a rich history of giving, and one that has overcome many obstacles along the way, yet, what makes history useful, and not just an exercise in nostalgia, is how we use what we have learned to shape our future.
Today, we are in greater need of philanthropy than ever and most of us feel competing priorities about what needs our attention. The truth is, we need many more of our resources – our time, talent and especially our treasure – to meet the needs abroad, and right here in our own backyard. And like so many arenas, in philanthropy we are not fully leveraging the power and solutions that women bring to the table. History has taught us not to underestimate the talent and resources that women can bring to the table.
Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals
It is estimated that $41* trillion in wealth will be transferred to Baby Boomers over the next forty-five years. Women will stand to inherit 70 percent of this wealth. That translates to $28.7 TRILLION. Think about what we could do if we could harness even a fraction of that wealth and put it in the hands of critical change-agents in our communities!
My colleague Donna wrote a blog post where she shared the recent return on investment from out Stepping Stones Initiative (our $270,000 investment yielded returns of $5.9 million!) and challenged us to see what we could do with the Macy’s million dollar makeover. Taking that challenge one step further, I think about our foremothers who dared to have B.H.A.Gs – big, hairy, audacious goals – and I want us to set our sights even higher! $41 trillion…people! Just imagine!
Our history is indeed our strength. It has taught us so much and prepared us for this moment. How we step into it is up to all of us. Let’s do our foremothers proud!
*In the interest of transparency, this was the number quoted before the recession, I am not sure what the impact of the economic downturn has been on this estimate.
Nicole Cozier is the Philanthropic Education Officer at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
