Feminist News and Information
WEEKLY NEWS // SEPTEMBER 25, 2025
// A LETTER FROM THE DESK OF PARKER E. FOSTER, FEMINIST PHILANTHROPY RESEARCHER, WOMEN'S FUNDING NETWORK
Strength of Collective Practice
Dear Colleagues,
Research is always a shared endeavor and WFN’s new report would not exist without the participation and trust of our network. Each response tells a part of a bigger story of how shared values become shared practices, and how those practices create a culture of community accountability and power-sharing across the network.
The findings remind us of the strength of community. Members overwhelmingly believe in the interconnectedness of racial and gender justice movements. Ninety-three percent of members agree that without racial justice, there can be no gender justice. Longstanding traditions of participatory practice place community and care at the center of decision-making. Two-thirds of members with endowments invest through a gender lens. Seventy-five percent of member organizations advocate for local policy, many of whom are guided by in-house research.
For more than 40 years, members of WFN have shown what’s possible when funders co-create with community. The impact is clear. Women’s funds and foundations have not just been resourcing movements; they are a movement unto themselves. Previous research has shown that women’s funds move money nine times faster than average in philanthropy, simultaneously responding to crises while also advocating for policy change.
Our full report showcases the power of our members’ collective practices. It is both a reflection of that legacy and an invitation to ensure that women’s funds and foundations have the resources and infrastructure they need to support their communities, through this current moment and beyond.
Sincerely,
Parker E. Foster
Women's Funding Network
Feminist Philanthropy Researcher
News from WFN Members
MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Women's Foundation of the South (WFS) has released its Shift the South 2025 Legislative Recap, which captures the policy wins and setbacks for women, families, and gender-expansive people that came out of this year’s legislative sessions across the seven Southern states in WFS' programmatic footprint.
MEMBER EVENTS
Register for The Women's Fund Miami-Dade's virtual event, an expert panel that will demonstrate the clear connections between investments and ethos in maternal health and fetal health. Hear solutions that save lives and create smarter, healthier investments for Miami-Dade families.
October 2, 2025 | 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EDT | Register here
The Women’s Foundation California is celebrating the publication of The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid, a book that traces the lifelong tab women of color are forced to pay, and the systems that insist this debt doesn’t exist. Join to hear a conversation between Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, the author of The Double Tax, and Anna Malaika Tubbs, a two-time New York Times bestselling writer and Women's Foundation California Board Member.
October 5, 2025 | 7:00 p.m. PDT | Register here
Join the Women's Foundation of Greater St. Louis for lunch and a panel, Hot Topics in Workplace Policy and Practices for Working Women. Explore workplace policies and practices that support women through all stages of their careers, from early career and motherhood through to menopause and beyond.
October 9, 2025 | 11:30 a.m. CDT | Register here
Join The Women's Fund Miami-Dade's CEO, Marya Meyer at the ThriveWell Retreat: Empowering through Perimenopause & Beyond—a restorative experience designed for women navigating the perimenopausal and menopausal transition.
October 10-11, 2025 | Register here
Join How Women Lead for Power Your Pivot, a weekend retreat in Mill Valley, CA. Learn tools to clarify your vision, connect with your values, release what no longer serves your purpose, and build an action plan.
November 1-2, 2025 | Register here
Opportunities and Resources
United Philanthropy Forum has announced the Census 2030 Mini-Grant Program, a small-scale, high-impact grant opportunity for our regional and national philanthropy-infrastructure organization members to launch their census engagement ahead of the curve. Learn more and apply here. Applications close November 2025.
Register for CHANGE Philanthropy's Unity Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gather, as funders, organizers, and community leaders, to strengthen movements, increase investments in communities, and advance strategies for building power, solidarity, and justice in philanthropy. Registration closes on October 1.
October 27-30, 2025 | Register here
Save the date for ABFE’s 2026 Harambee Annual Conference in San Francisco, CA. Pre-conference activities begin on April 19, followed by three days of powerful sessions, connections, and strategy. Registration opens this fall.
April 19-22, 2026 | Learn more here
What We're Reading
On women in the military, Pete Hegseth takes yet another step backwards — MSNBC
A President’s ‘Surreal’ Advice Worries Pregnant Women — The New York Times
What We're Watching
The Women's Philanthropy Institute published Women and Philanthropy: A Literature Review, an updated synthesis of the past decades' research on gender and philanthropy. Building on WPI's landmark 2015 review, this updated report offers a more nuanced picture of women's giving and leadership, affirming women's growing influence in shaping the philanthropic landscape.
Dr. Young-joo Lee, Eileen Lamb O'Gara Chair in Women's Philanthropy and lead author of this report, joined Jacqueline Ackerman, Director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute, in a conversation to discuss the new research and their major takeaways.
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