Join Our Pledge to Protect Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice

Dear Colleagues,

In May, we witnessed multiple mass shootings, rising COVID cases, baby formula shortages, extreme weather, and other national and global events that left many of us filled with grief.

During this same month, a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision was leaked suggesting that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. Though attacks on abortion access and bodily autonomy are not new, this draft decision has highlighted how critical reproductive justice work is at this moment. In times of crisis, we must stand together.

In this spirit, I am writing to invite you to join us in signing on to our pledge titled, The Time is Now: Join Bold Philanthropic Pledge to Protect Abortion Access and Reproductive Justice. This sign-on outlines five immediate actions that philanthropy can take to protect abortion access and bodily autonomy.

As background, it was created by a coalition of funders and other stakeholders, including Funders for Justice, Funders for Reproductive Equity, Groundswell Fund, Ms. Foundation for Women, and the Women's Funding Network. Our goal is to use this letter as a tool to affirm our commitment to this work and also as a guidepost for our broader efforts. Individuals or organizations are able to join us by signing here (Please note that there will be a delay between when you complete the form to sign on the pledge and when your name and/or organization appear on the pledge).

As Black Queer poet and activist Audre Lorde once reminded us, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” Our liberation is bound to one another’s, and the surest way to freedom is to follow, and fund, those who know the way. Join us on the path forward.

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

WFN President and CEO Elizabeth Barajas-Román is slated to speak at an upcoming event hosted by Participatory Grantmakers: PGM, Traditional Funders, and the U.S. National Landscape, on June 15, 2022 from 4:00pm-5:00pm BST. This session will look at how three organizations evaluated their use of participatory processes and decisions, specifically, whether and to what extent these contributed to strengthening the community organizing and movement building efforts of each organization, as well as their respective issues (LGBTQ+, racial, disability, and environmental justice).

Register Here

WFN President and CEO Elizabeth Barajas-Román and Founder of I Be Black Girl Ashlei Spivey co-authored a piece for HealthAffairs: Prioritize Doulas in Black and Brown Communities. Read the op-ed here.

WFN Member News

Learn More about our Members

Welcome Alicia! The Women's Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation has named a new Executive Director, Alicia Miller. Miller’s background as a public defender, combined with a deep passion for gender and racial equity makes her equipped to further advance the organization's mission.

WFN Member Shruthi Jayaram and Linda Calhoun co-authored an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review on why the STEM field struggles to recruit and retain women—especially women of color—and strategies for change: Leaky Pipelines or Broken Scaffolding? Supporting Women’s Leadership in STEM.

The New York Women's Foundation is soliciting proposals from qualified consultants to prepare an in-depth landscape analysis of disability justice and inclusion efforts that center women and gender expansive people of color across New York City and State. The Consultant will also advise on recommended opportunities for advocacy and policy change needed to advance disability justice. To learn more about the opportunity, click here.

Opportunities and Resources

Today marks the beginning of the Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) Leadership conference from June 7 - June 9, 2022. Learn more about their speakers, sessions, and site visits and register to join them virtually.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced in April the creation of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. The Department is now seeking their first Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Officer to lead the new office. To learn more about the position, click here. Applications will be accepted through June 30, 2022.

Listen in to the most recent episode of Submittable's Impact Audio podcast to hear from Storme Gray, EPIP Executive Director. In this interview, Storme discusses how to support true equity and make space for the full human experience in our organizational cultures.

Third Wave Fund is hosting an event to mark their 25th anniversary: Radical Journey, Powerful Futures. Join them to learn from incredible grantees on the frontlines of struggles for racial justice, LGBTQI+ liberation, reproductive justice, and more. This event will have live captions in English and Spanish as well as interpretation in Spanish and ASL. Learn more and register here.

Rise Up, based at the Public Health Institute, is hiring a new Deputy Director, to grow programs and execute their new gender justice strategy. The Deputy Director will play a critical role working in collaboration with Rise Up’s Executive Director and Leadership Team to ensure Rise Up’s continued success and growth.

Classy has released a new report, The State of Modern Philanthropy 2022, which is your guide to the most relevant fundraising insights for nonprofit professionals.

The Lily Family School of Philanthropy has released a new report, Women Give 2022: Racial Justice, Gender and Generosity, which explores how gender and demographic factors affected giving to racial justice causes in 2020.

Civis Analytics’ Creative Focus message testing tool empowers political and advocacy campaigns to optimize their ad spend, using randomized control trial experiments to identify which ads are most persuasive among specific audiences.

Candid and Center for Disaster Philanthropy released a new report, Philanthropy and COVID-19: Examining Two Years Of Giving, examining $1 billion in philanthropic funding for COVID-19-related efforts to see how donors responded in the 2nd year of the pandemic.

What We're Reading

How Can We Stem the Rising Tide of Gun Violence
— The California Wellness Foundation

Sheryl Sandberg's Advice for Working Women. — The New York Times

More women than ever own guns. Could that change gun laws? — The Washington Post

Male Executives Control 99 Times More S&P 500 Shares Than Women. — Bloomberg

What We're Watching

Between April 2020 and August 2021, donors and partners of the Canadian Women's Foundation have moved over $43 million in emergency pandemic response grants to communities all over the country. That translates to over one million lives positively impacted for gender justice.

Watch the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s interactive and informative Canada-wide Digital Town Hall. Learn about what’s happening in different regions and what needs to happen to end the rising risk of gender-based violence, build economic security, amplify the voices of women, girls, and gender-diverse people, and spark systemic change at a time we need it most.

Have a story to share?

Email Ellen at [email protected]

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