WFN Above The Fold

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

WOMEN FUNDED 2021: THE FEMINIST FACTOR

Thank You for Joining Us

“We can transform our world by imagining it differently, dreaming it passionately via all our senses, and willing it into creation. As we think inspiring, positive, life-generating thoughts and embody them in every act we perform, we can gradually change the mood of our days, the habits of years, and the beliefs of a lifetime…”
-Gloria Anzaldúa

Together, with almost 400 participants from 24 countries, representing all inhabited continents, and participating in three languages, we embodied the positive thoughts and life-generating actions necessary to will a new world into creation. A new world where our evolving feminisms unites and drives us toward a more just and equitable world for all.

More than 51 percent of Women Funded 2021 participants were women and gender expansive people of color – the most ever in WFN conference history. Collectively, we represented a wide range of ages and identities, and our collective funding capacity represented more than $5.9 billion in annual grantmaking dollars.

Thank you for joining us to share insights, knowledge, best practices, policy developments, groundbreaking research initiatives, and strategies for long-lasting, structural change.

We’ll soon add recorded segments and plenaries on the conference website. If you missed the opening, you can view it now. Top highlights like the Women’s Economic Mobility Hub videos are also now live on a WFN YouTube Playlist. Visit the #WomenFunded2021 hashtag on Twitter or Instagram to see all of the updates from the day.

This event was created by you, for you, and with you. Thank you to the WFN members, funders, and allies, who joined us from across the world. Thank you to the WFN Board of Directors, Women Funded 2021 conference planning committee, and the generous support of our sponsors and hosts.

Women Funded 2021 is in our rearview and the world we transform daily lies ahead.

In solidarity,

Elizabeth Signature

Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO

p.s. To help us continue to provide powerful support to women’s funds and gender justice funders across the globe, donate here.

p.p.s. Did you attend WomenFunded2021? Complete a quick feedback survey here and get a free conference T-shirt.

WFN IN THE NEWS

WFN President and CEO Elizabeth Barajas-Román's latest opinion piece in The Hill anticipates upcoming #genderequity policy recommendations from the White Houses' Gender Policy Council, and makes the case for why local women's funds can lay the groundwork for national policy transformation.

Read the Op-Ed

The Women’s Funding Network (WFN) and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) announced a partnership to quantify the pandemic’s economic impact on women—and to identify evidence-based policies for a gender-equitable recovery. The first-of-its-kind partnership will allow for the development of both place-based and national data-informed solutions that advance a gender-equitable recovery. Learn more.

WFN MEMBER NEWS

Partners working together at WomenStrong International’s Girls’ Education and Empowerment Retreat.
(Image credit: WomenStrong International)

Dr. Susan M. Blaustein, Founder and Executive Director, WomenStrong International, penned a powerful essay featured in Philanthropy Women: To Grow Women’s Rights Globally, We Must Invest in Women Locally

The Iowa Women's Foundation is having their annual luncheon on Thursday, October 7, 2021. Organizations or individuals are welcome to join virtually via the live stream. Chris Grumm, former WFN President/CEO, is the keynote speaker. Learn more and register here.

Join CHANGE Philanthropy for the live Unity Summit experience from October 25-28, followed by a week of interactive experiences, and six months of access to over 50 hours of content featuring philanthropic and movement leader voices sharing practices, case studies and tools for our shared work to ignite the sector to advance equity.

Julienne Lusenge, Executive Director of Fund for Congolese Women, received the Peace in Progress Award in a public ceremony in Barcelona. Lusenge has been granted for her work on the “prevention and reduction of sexual and gender-based violence, and the strengthening women’s participation in peacebuilding” in the Republic of Democratic of Congo. Congratulations to Julienne!

The Victorian Women’s Trust's podcast, The Trap, released their eighth episode, titled "Government, Policy & Power".

Check out The Women's Foundation of Colorado's Q&A with Colorado's first Latina state historian, Nicki Gonzalez.

OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES

Join The SoCalGrantmakers for their 2021 virtual conference, RISE UP: Closing the Racial Wealth Divide. This year, their annual conference will be held across two mornings and will focus on the forces upholding the racial wealth divide and the strategies needed to confront our country’s legacies of inequity.

September 28-30, 2021 | Register here

MADRE has created a toolkit to address domestic violence under the COVID-19 pandemic. The toolkit is tailored to the current environment of physical distancing, social isolation, and lockdowns, including guidance on using social media in domestic violence prevention campaigns. It also includes specific sections on addressing violence towards LGBTIQ people and people with disabilities and on working with men as allies.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has released this year's Goalkeepers Report, which presents surprising new data and inspiring human stories. Last year, we feared the worst when it came to the Global Goals. But even amid the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen that hope can grow from seeds planted years earlier. Unpack the learnings and data from this interactive Gates Foundation report.

Join The Funders' Committee for Civic Participation for their Quarterly Redistricting Funder Briefing, where you will learn about what is happening on the redistricting front, including national-state partnerships on data analysis, community organizing, communications and more. The briefing will shed light on field strategies and how the funder community can support fair and equitable redistricting.
September 23, 2021 | 3:00pm EST Register here.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research released a new report, "Lost Jobs, Stalled Progress: The Impact of the “She-Cession” on Equal Pay," which finds the annual gender wage gap for women and men working full-time, year-round narrowed slightly during the pandemic at the same time as the wage gap for all women and men widened because of the disproportionate impact of cutbacks and job losses on women in low-wage jobs.

WEEKLY READ

What We're Reading

We need to pull every lever for gender justice

by Elizabeth Barajas-Román

India's Supreme Court has cleared the way for women to be admitted to the country's elite defense academy for the first time, potentially opening the door for females to achieve high-ranking military positions. - CNN

Read an opinion piece about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's healthcare.

A new report finds that at least 10 women and girls are murdered every day in Mexico. - The Guardian

Read an opinion piece on the recent abortion ban in Texas: "We Are Women Who Came of Age Before Roe v. Wade."

Afghanistan’s new government is likely to severely restrict education for girls and women despite the Taliban’s claims that schooling will eventually resume. - New York Times

WATCH: (Warning: Distressing themes) Olympic gymnasts testified about the FBI's failure to investigate Larry Nassar.

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