Guest Feature: Lauren Casteel, President and CEO, The Women's Foundation of Colorado
// GUEST LETTER // December 6, 2022
From the Desk of Lauren Casteel
President & CEO, The Women's Foundation of Colorado
Dear Colleagues,
“The data is undeniable,” reports WFN’s Landscape Study of Women’s Funds and Foundations, Part I. “In study after study, pilot after pilot, mounting evidence demonstrates that women are fundamental drivers of economic growth – and women’s funds have the most intrinsic value to scale that growth, though they are continually undervalued by traditional philanthropy.”
As a Black woman CEO, it’s important to state that women’s funds haven’t always been committed to gender, racial, and economic equity. But the movement that struggled with inclusion and avoidance of controversy and uncomfortable conversations has learned and matured. If, as Melinda Gates recently said, “The agenda of our lifetime is making sure that women can take their full power in society,” then why do funders and major donors still not see that we are worthy of sustained, significant investment?
To own our rightful and deserved space within the philanthropic landscape, I offer the following recommendations to sister women’s foundations and funds and encourage you to add your own.
1. Hold seats at local and national philanthropic decision-making tables. Ensure that conversations about wealth gaps, housing, healthcare, climate, education, care work, and food security include the perspectives of intersectional gender identities. Be visible and engaged in the halls of capitols working as credible, nonpartisan, and informed advocates for policies and coalitions that move women, children, and families forward. Initiate research, but also serve as constant reminders that gender is a criterion for all research and so is intersectional disaggregated data.
2. Rigorously inform and adopt best practices of philanthropy. We’ve worked hard to position The Women’s Foundation of Colorado as a uniquely and equally valuable community foundation, although it took several years for our board and staff to embrace that identity. We met the criteria: the public support test, a place-based approach, community-led grantmaking, and holding donor-advised funds. Using all the tools available to a community foundation has earned us gravitas as a philanthropic institution and deep donor appreciation. Start where you can.
3. Risk innovation and deep self-evaluation. Be curious if you are breaking the inherent imbalance of power rooted in transactional relationships. Ask grantee partners what they REALLY need and… trust them.
Read Full Letter and Recommendations
If there’s anything we’ve learned since 2020, the fight for gender, racial, and economic equity is not yet won. I ask for your partnership in prosperity for generations to come. Trust us to know what’s best for the communities we represent. Trust us to lead, innovate, collaborate, and build power alongside you. The data is undeniable.
Lauren Casteel
President & CEO
The Women's Foundation of Colorado
Exclusive for all WFN current members a free MasterClass annual membership. Please join by completing this form. We are grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and MasterClass for partnering and creating this opportunity for our network’s members. This offer is exclusive to WFN’s current membership and we appreciate not sharing this link outside of our member network.
The Women's Foundation for the State of Arizona invites you to a virtual conversation on gender equity. Guided by their four strategic priorities of research, advocacy, philanthropy, and innovative solutions, they will honor leaders and partners who are transforming communities for a better future for women and girls of all identities. Hosted by WFSA CEO Dr. Amalia Luxardo, this summit features keynote speaker, mother, author, and activist Nicole Lynn Lewis. December 14, 2022 | 11:00am-2:00pm PST | Purchase tickets here
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is hiring for a Human Resources Associate. To learn more about the position, click here.
Opportunities and Resources
The results of the US mid-term elections revealed: we are angry, we are fed up, and we can make change. Millions across the US that were most impacted by the Dobbs decision (Hispanic women under 50, Black women under 50, voters under 30, to name a few) showed up and made their voices heard. And democracy prevailed. What happens now? Join Collective Power for Reproductive Justice for a conversation with Lexis Dotson-Dufault and Kate Castle about the future of abortion rights, abortion access, and reproductive justice. December 15, 2022 | 6:00pm-7:00pm EST | Register here
What We're Reading
Pregnant and desperate in post-Roe America. — The Washington Post
Afghans See Women Treated Worse After a Year Under Taliban - Gallup
‘I have a smaller margin of error’: How 4 women of color are navigating C-suite leadership at work. — CNBC
The FT’s 25 most influential women of 2022. - The Financial Times
What We're Watching
‘Five people went to a space that was supposed to be safe for them and came out in body bags’ — Here’s how mass violence in queer spaces affects the LGBTQ+ community, according to Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. (warning: distressing themes)
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