WEEKLY NEWS // NOVEMBER 9, 2021

// A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO

A Universal Sign for Help, Powered by a Global Network

Dear Colleagues,

Women’s funds matter. Women’s Funds save lives. This past weekend, a teenage girl was rescued by Kentucky police by using a hand signal created by the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) and learned on TikTok. Known as the “Signal For Help,” this nonverbal hand signal provides a way to discreetly communicate when someone needs help.

Local innovations can become global solutions when amplified and supported by a powerful alliance. This is why women’s funds matter: women are changing the world by creating and sharing solutions with each other, fighting for progress through policy and advocacy work to create a world where every person can be safe, healthy, and powerful.

As women’s funds and gender justice funders, you know that violence against women is only one part of a web of interconnected issues that prevent us from all being able to be safe and independent. In the short term, resources like the #signalforhelp are a last resort meant to help survivors just before they go over the waterfall. In the long-term, many of you, like CWF, are committing resources and efforts much further upstream to change the material and systemic conditions that perpetuate gender-based violence in the first place.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation shows us what it looks like when women’s fund do what they do best: respond quickly, road test solutions, and then share what works generously across a global network for multiplied impact.

Thank you for joining us.

In solidarity,

Elizabeth

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

What is the Signal for Help?

The Signal for Help, created by The Canadian Women’s Foundation, a WFN member, is a nonverbal hand signal that provides a way to discreetly communicate when someone needs help. The #SignalForHelp campaign is an example of philanthropy in action, and is just one way in which WFN and our members are promoting justice and equality for women and girls.

Learn More About the Signal For Help

WFN Member News

The Women's Foundation of Colorado (WFCO) is hosting a virtual event, "The Great Resignation: Why Work Isn’t Working for Women." WFCO President and CEO Lauren Y. Casteel will chat with Katica Roy, gender economist, CEO and founder of Denver-based Pipeline, about the future of women’s participation in the workforce. What is truly needed for a full Shecovery?

November 30, 2021 | 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

Register here

New Hampshire Women's Foundation is hosting their 17th annual Women Building Luncheon, virtually. Join them for an exciting conversation about gender justice philanthropy, the future of the women’s funding movement, and the Women’s Foundation’s new strategic priorities. The program features special guests Teresa C. Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat, former President and CEO of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, as well as our She Change grant recipients, and several New Hampshire girls.

December 1, 2021 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Register here

January 18, 2022 will be the sixth annual National Day of Racial Healing. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation will be hosting a virtual event that begins at 3 p.m. EST / noon PST. More details to follow.

Congratulations to Women’s Economic Mobility Hub (WEMH) grantee, Lisa Sockabasin, 2021 Mainebiz Next List, which recognizes dynamic individuals, who are changing Maine's economy and making a significant impact in their industry.

Opportunities and Resources

NOMINATIONS DUE TODAY: As the deadline to nominate the next class of SOAR Fellows is today, please submit your nominations here.

By submitting nominees for this Fellowship, you are offering them an opportunity to transform their leadership and accelerate their impact in service of women, girls, and families in the US and around the world.

Join United Philanthropy Forum for their virtual Philanthropy + Policy Institute, a primary opportunity for regional and national philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs) to take a “deep dive” together over several days to strengthen their policy and advocacy work. Register here.

The New York Foundation and North Star Fund have released a new report, Streets to Statehouse: Harnessing the Power of the New Electorate, which examines the role of hyper-local grassroots organizing in building a multiracial democracy, particularly through the engaging of broader constituencies and bringing in new electorates with greater accountability to movements and their vision for a transformed New York. They will be hosting a webinar to discuss the report on November 16th at 1:00pm EST. Register here.

The Women’s Forum is opening 10,000 virtual passes to engage youth delegates from across the globe at the Women's Forum Global Meeting 2021, as well as 100 youth delegates in person in Paris. Young people aged 16-25 OR anyone currently in ongoing education and training (of any age) can participate.
November 15-19, 2021: Register here.

How can philanthropy adjust and respond to the new challenges facing our communities? Join Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) Bay Area for a dynamic conversation about responsive grantmaking and how local foundations have moved quickly to respond to the ongoing threat of wildfires in our state. Panelists include:Julia DeNatale, Napa Valley Community Foundation; Keytra Meyer, Humboldt Area Foundation; Jennee Kuang, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation.

November 17, 2021, 11:00am - 12pm PST. Register here.

The Obama Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2022 Leaders Asia-Pacific program, a six-month virtual leadership development program that aims to bring together emerging leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region.

Applications will be accepted until December 2, 2021 11:59PM (GMT+8).

Apply here

Frameworks Institute has released two new reports:

1) "Public Thinking About Care Work in a Time of Social Upheaval: Findings from Year One of the Culture Change Project."

2) How Are Children’s Issues Portrayed in the News? A Media Content Analysis

The Wallace Foundation has released a new report, "How Can State Policy Support Local School Districts as They Develop Principal Pipelines?," which describes a number of policy levers that states can pull to assist school districts in building effective principal pipelines.

VCs must do a better job of supporting Black women founders. — Tech Crunch

The National Women's Law Center finds that more than half of October's job gains went to women. — CNBC

Young women are leading climate protests, but guess who runs global talks? — The New York Times

Spain’s health minister signed an order making free fertility treatment available for women regardless of their sexual orientation or marital status, as well as for transgender people who can become pregnant. — The Washington Post

What We're Reading

"A New Paradigm for Justice and Democracy: Moving beyond the Twin Failures of Neoliberalism and Racial Liberalism"
by Kyle Strickland & Felicia Wong

What We're Watching

WATCH: Michelle Wu has been elected the next mayor of Boston, making her the first woman and first person of color elected in the city's history.

Have a story to share?

Email WFN Communications Director Ellen Moorhouse at [email protected]