Feminist News and Information
WEEKLY NEWS // MAY 18, 2023
// FROM THE DESK OF BIA VIEIRA
A Letter from the Women’s Fund of California’s first Latine CEO
Dear Colleagues
As I prepare to become CEO of Women’s Foundation California in September, I pause to reflect on how much we have grown to meet the opportunities and challenges of the last 40 years. Over the last decade, Surina Khan positioned WFC as the go-to voice on gender justice issues in California. While the political and socioeconomic landscapes evolve, so will WFC as we partner with movement leaders to co-create a racial, gender, economic, and climate just future for all Californians.
Looking ahead, I am focused on leading through my own lived experience as a queer, Latine, immigrant, alongside leaders of color, to organize philanthropy to move more dollars directly into the communities most impacted by injustice and oppression. I see WFC’s role as leader, co-conspirator, and ally to movements and leaders of color, as we fundamentally shift power and resources toward our collective feminist future.
That is why I am also calling on philanthropy to join us in funding women, women of color, and gender expansive-led organizations who are on the ground, doing the work, day-in and day-out. As the brutal attacks on gender and threats to our reproductive freedoms continue to escalate, we need every philanthropic leader to work together to amplify the power of women and gender expansive people. Let’s advance solutions to establish an inclusive society where we can all thrive with health, safety, and prosperity together.
Bia Vieira
CEO of Women's Fund of California
EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNT ENDS JUNE 1ST
We look forward to connecting with you at Feminist Funded 23: Rising, the largest convening of gender-focused philanthropy, dedicated to creating a more just, equitable, and safer world for all. Register by June 1, 2023 to claim your early registration discount.
WFN News & Events
WFN's Communications peer community meets Wednesday, May 24 from 2-3 p.m. EDT/6-7 p.m. UTC. Sarah Wexler and Jihan Thompson from Flamingo Communications will join to present about effective storytelling. WFN members can register for the 2023 meeting series below.
May 24, 2023 from 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT. Register here
WFN MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS & NEW MEMBERS
Our network is only as strong as the people and organizations who are a part of it. Join us in appreciating Equality Fund and WomenStrong International who have renewed for 2023. If you have questions about membership or would like additional information, please contact us.
Please join us in welcoming new WFN members Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), Fundo Agbara, and Megan Radavich.
If you have questions about membership or would like additional information, please contact us.
WFN Member News & Events
MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation is hiring for a new Digital Strategist and a Grants Manager.
Twenty-two years ago, the African Women’s Development Fund was born out of a need to demonstrate that African feminists and women’s rights activists are resourceful, trustworthy and capable of changing our own circumstances for the better.
Urgent Action Fund is excited to share the English version of the innovative report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution?''. Published by the Urgent Action Sister Funds, the report spotlights collective care practices for feminist activists and movements globally. The report features interviews with 141 activists in 63 countries speaking about care as an essential piece of sustaining feminist movements.
MEMBER WEBINARS & WORKSHOPS
On behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration and Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, the International and Philanthropic Affairs Division (IPAD) of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) invites you to join for an upcoming philanthropic roundtable to discuss the intersectionality of gender-based violence prevention and housing. This virtual event will feature live remarks from HUD’s Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, Karlo Ng (HUD’s Director on Gender-based Violence Prevention and Equity), Debbie I. Chang (President & CEO, Blue Shield of California Foundation), and Elizabeth Barajas-Román (President & CEO, Women’s Funding Network).
May 23, 2023 from 2:00pm - 4:00pm EDT. Register here
Join The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade for an Advocacy 104 Training in collaboration with the FIU Maurice A. Ferré Institute for Civic Leadership. Attendees will learn from Yolanda Cash Jackson and Dr. Agatha Caraballo, experts in the field of advocacy and government affairs, how to advocate for issues affecting their communities by learning the necessary skills, tools, and strategies to be successful advocates. This will be a hybrid event hosted at the FIU CARTA, Mana Wynwood venue, and virtually via Zoom. Registration and breakfast start at 8:30 a.m. for in-person attendance and the Zoom session begins at 9 a.m.
June 1, 2023 | 9:00am - 12:00pm EDT | Register here
Opportunities & Resources
A recent session of the ECFC/Raising Child Care Fund Power Building Series focused on this question: What can Early Childhood Learn from Power Building for Reproductive Justice? The session included perspectives from organizers and a foundation leader in the reproductive justice movement. Long before the Dobbs decision, a group of philanthropists began pooling resources to support power-building in states. Last year, those efforts and the hard work of local activists resulted in surprising wins even in deep red states.
The 2023 Landscape of Collective Giving Groups in the U.S. Research Initiative is designed to capture the growth, diversity, and impact of collective giving groups including, but not limited to, giving circles, network chapters/affiliates, giving projects, SVPs, and fundraising/donor circles. This research will update an earlier study published in 2016, which showed that the collective giving movement in the U.S. has been largely led by women. Take the survey by June 30 to help see how the movement has grown: http://collective.giving
Third Wave Fund is currently in search of their next Co-Directors and Development Officer. To learn more about the positions, click here.
Save the date for the upcoming Rosa Summer Conference 2023 which will be held on June 28, 2023. The free, one-day online event will feature a wide range of influential speakers and engaging panel discussions, all led by experts from the UK women and girls sector. To reserve your spot, click here.
Visual Capitalist shared a new resource: Mapped: The State of Democracy Around the World.
Cornell University, ILR Worker Institute, and Lois Gray Innovation Initiative have released a new report: Equity in Focus: Job Creation for a Just Society.
WINGS released a new publication, Moving from Reflection to Action: a Guide on Transparency and Accountability for Philanthropic Organisations’. This modular guide, suitable for organisations of all sizes, from small local non-profits to large global organisations, provides practical steps to help design and implement effective transparency and accountability plans.
Join The Opportunity Agenda to hear from National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) about documenting the impacts of border militarization. In this virtual conversation, NNIRR will be presenting the Spotlight report on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and their digital border map. The report highlights the detrimental and often lethal effects of an increasingly militarized border on migrants, refugees, and communities living on the border.
May 19, 2023 | 11:00am PST | Register here
What We're Reading
Conservative Muslim Women Helped Erdoğan Win Previous Elections. Now Some Are Turning Against Him. — TIME
Biden and López Obrador reiterate commitment to ‘humane and orderly’ immigration management as Title 42 expires. — El País
Thousands of pregnant women in Sudan worried about where to deliver, United Nations officials seeking help. — CBS News
Italy’s pro-choice gynecologists reel from post-Roe shockwaves. — Coda Story
What We're Watching
The New York Women's Foundation recently supported From Food Dependence to Food Sovereignty, an event at NYU with visiting women leaders from the Caribbean and Pacific Island diasporas. The panel was moderated by journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and guest speakers include Sommer Sibilly-Brown, Founder and Executive Director of Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition; Crystal Diaz, co-founder of the PRoduce! app, Puerto Rico; Ursula Herrera, sustainable farming and åmot (traditional medicines) advocate, Guåhan (Guam); and Rica Dela Cruz, MPH, Public health researcher & advocate, Northern Marianas. Watch the recording here.
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