#GivingTuesday: The difference women’s and girls’ funds/foundations make

This Giving Tuesday, Women’s Funding Network (WFN) is celebrating the many ways in which our members — more than 100 women’s and girls’ funds/foundations and gender justice funders spanning six continents — leverage the power of philanthropy to strengthen and advance the intersectional feminist movement for equality, justice and power for all.

In a year marked by public health and economic crises that exposed and exacerbated existing inequities, a contentious election cycle, and a national uprising against systemic racism, institutional violence and other systems of oppression, women’s and girls’ philanthropy have stepped up in a big way to meet these unprecedented challenges as well as immense opportunities for change. After decades of deep relationship- and trust- building in their communities, WFN’s members have been able to mobilize in this moment faster and with more effectiveness than any other philanthropic sector. Our members know that the stakes have never been higher for philanthropy to get this right, and get it right now.

As leaders in philanthropy, women’s funds have taken action with fierce urgency to support our nonprofit partners as well as the people and communities hit hardest by the impacts of COVID-19, economic hardship, systemic racism and institutional violence of police brutality, mass incarceration and family separation. In response to these crises, women’s funds are applying a gender lens to funding decisions, so that even as our members face illness and financial challenges of their own as a result of COVID-19, women’s funds and funders have remained committed to their grantmaking and are mobilizing to advance community-based solutions to dismantle sexism, racism, xenophobia and all forms of inequity and oppression. 

As system change institutions, WFN’s members amplify philanthropic impact, multiplying any size gift by ten, primarily by supporting women of color-led organizations that are mapping an inclusive economy built on racial and gender equity and justice. On Giving Tuesday and all year long, we honor women’s and girls’ funds and foundations’ integral role in supporting and nurturing the leadership of women of color, as well as the grassroots organizations and movements that make systemic change possible. In this moment of complex and overlapping challenges impacting our country’s most marginalized communities most deeply, women’s funds have proven to be the ‘first responders’ of philanthropy, fighting on the front lines for change in their communities every day, while demonstrating the adaptability, responsiveness to community needs and nimble leadership necessary to quickly and effectively mobilize resources the people and places who need them most.

To join the movement and help leverage the power of philanthropy to address critical issues impacting equality and justice for people of all genders and races, visit the WFN Member Directory to find your local women’s fund and make a #GIVINGTUESDAY donation today.