WHAT NONPROFITS NEED TO LEARN FROM FOR-PROFITS
At last, volunteering is getting some of the respect it deserves. In its just-released seventh annual Volunteer Impact Survey, Deloitte reports a significant shift in corporate attitudes toward workplace volunteerism. Seen in the past by companies as little more than an employee perk, volunteerism lately is being dressed as a serious tool for social change. […]
LET’S TRY REAL CAPITALISM INSTEAD OF THE SOCIAL KIND
“We need to stop separating investment decisions from philanthropic giving,” writes Alexander Friedman, in an opinion piece in the “Financial Times.” Huzzah! At last! Someone has actually named the bridge that should have been built long ago. Friedman, who recently stepped down as CFO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and who also was […]
MUZZLED IS THE MESSAGE
My friend Sara recently sent news of a disturbing bit of research. Turns out that “less than a quarter of the people heard, seen or read about in mainstream broadcast and print news worldwide is female,” a finding dutifully and credibly recorded by a group called WIMN or Women in Media & News. “It seems […]
STEPPING UP
Increasingly, the survival and safety of women around the world are motivating American women to deepen their involvement. The result tends to be more focus, and more active engagement. Diana von Furstenberg fits that bill. In addition to being chief executive of her global fashion business, the veteran designer is also a mother, the wife […]
LET US NOW PRAISE WOMEN
Recently, at a private gathering to explore women’s giving. There were about 20 or so women, all stellar, all smart, all devoted and dedicated to admirable and challenging missions and all trading off lots of privileges and perks for their cause. Yet, for the most part, the mood of the evening, was questioning and modest. […]
IDENTIFY YOUR MONEY PHOBIAS
However high we jump to clear the hurdles and move into male domains, women are still tripped by up internalized messages from media, from bosses, from childhood and from family members: Women aren’t supposed to concern themselves with money. As a result, we often hand over the power that money confers to others, usually men, […]
WOMEN ARE NOT A NICHE ISSUE. WOMEN ARE THE MARKET
A just-released report from Ernst & Young and the World Economic Forum, entitled “Groundbreakers: Using the strength of women to rebuild the world economy,” offers yet deeper confirmation of the chorus that now includes Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women program, the UN, the World Bank and dozens of microfinance initiatives around the world. Says the report: […]
OVERLOOKED AND UNDERVALUED: GIVING BY WOMEN OF COLOR
During a recent energizing lunch meeting with Michele Minter, Vice President of Development, The College Board, we talked about the glaring lack of information, research and knowledge about how women of color prefer to give, the causes they choose and how they make their philanthropic decisions. For instance, we don’t really know if African American […]
WHAT MOTIVATES WOMEN TO GIVE?
Earlier this year, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Center on Philanthropy in Indianapolis commissioned me to write a report on the latest research and trends in women’s philanthropy. This report, just-published, sums up everything we know to date about gender influences on giving and what women do or don’t do when it comes to […]