DEATH OF THE ‘BAG LADY SYNDROME’
Women don’t need special handbooks to learn how to make a difference in lives around us because giving is what women always do. We nurture kids and relatives. We drop everything for friends in need. We form neighborhood associations, join walkathons, sit on school boards and give to clothing drives. Often as not, we also write charitable checks. So what’s this about?
A significant shift in power and money –- that is, something of a revolution. Increasingly, women are contributing time, skills and assets at levels that far beyond family and community.
If you think of society as a three-legged stool supported by business, government and nonprofit sectors, then women have already gone that long way in redefining their roles in the first two. It’s now the turn of the so-called “third sector.” Many more women are coming into the arena to ask, “What can I do?”
In the process, women are changing the face of philanthropy. They’re infusing new excitement, accountability and serious money into charitable goals and plans. They’re learning how to collaborate and leverage efforts in order to have greater impact. Women now demand greater impact and participation than they used to expect from volunteer work or social opportunities. Plus, women now read budget and P&L sheets while working to make the world a better place.
How did we get here? First, across the country, the extraordinary growth in women’s wealth, professional skills, confidence and financial decision-making has been rewriting rules about money and power. In the U.S., women now represent half of all investors in the stock market. Since we tend to outlive men, women control nearly half (48%) of estates worth more than $5 million. In addition, women are ever more comfortable in leadership roles, whether in business or in philanthropy, and in their rights of ownership.
With deepening experience and resources, women today want a larger, more-strategic stage. We want our money to be working for change. We’re defining focus and figuring how to give in ways that won’t deplete longer-term growth or potential assets. This is the death knell of the bag lady syndrome