I love this time of year for the magic it produces.  There is a sense of hope and possibility abounding.   At Imagine Philanthropy, I think of all the worthy nonprofits that are coming to their year end and awaiting donor’s gifts which will bring joy to their clients, their team, their Board and you, the donor!   One of my fun tasks next week is to process some yearend gifts and I encourage you to join me. 

Kudos to Tracy Gary and her team at Inspired Legacies for creating a list of deserving groups that are doing transformational work.  I invite you to spend some time reviewing Tracy’s list and making a gift that matters to you – that moves you and inspires you.   I am adding to her list three groups that make my heart sing as I feel strongly about their leadership, and their important work in transforming cultures, systems, and policies for women.   Know that either as an advisor or Board member to these groups, I have been immersed in their planning and feel strongly about the impact they are making in shifting humanity.   As well, any and all of the clients that Imagine Philanthropy works with on this list are doing incredible work and are deserving of your support.   

Tides is a values based, social change platform that leverages individual and institutional leadership and investment to positively impact local and global communities.

Women Win is recognized as a leading global organization using sport as a strategy to advance women's rights.  Women Win envisions a world where women and girls are strong leaders and agents of change in their communities.

Women Effect Investments is a field-building initiative that seeks to mobilize more investment dollars toward improving the condition of women and girls worldwide.

So - with the energy and passion that hopefully pervades the work of the organization and its leadership, come on out and tell your stories - then true Fun Raising can happen and campaigns can be launched.  Feel free to read another blog I wrote on this from a philanthropist's perspective. 

 

 

I got three ballots to vote for Board members for companies that I own stock in.   Normally they would go in the trash but why not take action?  I know that Linda Tarr Whalen in her book has spoken about the 30% rule of needing at least 3 out of 10 underrepresented individuals in a decision making body to make an impact.  I found this sample letter that seems easy enough to produce for each company and as soon as my executive assistant gets hired, she and I will tackle this!  

Joe Keefe and Jacki Zehner have written and spoken about the impact a letter can make on institutional investors and how we can use our voice to shift the dynamic of Board rooms.  Feel free to read more about why this might matter according to Catalyst and others. 

I remember in the early days of advocating for more sports media and a coach or athlete would write the network or paper directly.  The producers and editors would show us the letters with a sense of awe – that people actually cared about the lack or quality of coverage and took action!  Your voice does matter.

So I will be taking a sample letter from PAX to my good friends at Northwest Mutual and also TIAA CREF to see where and how they see the use of this.  Keep speaking your truth - they will listen if we all commit to taking action. 

 

photo © 2006 Riza Nugraha  | more info (via: Wylio)

Seriously, how fun is it to celebrate and dance and how often do we do either of these things?  I love Emma Goldman’s statement – “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be part of the revolution.”  At the Women Moving Millions session we heard from the co-chairs, donors and leaders – all who danced as they came on stage to share their stories and ideas.   

 One of many highlights for me was the dancing!  Chris Grumm, Helen LaKelly Hunt and I dancing with the audience as we all took ‘back’ the word REVOLUTION moving to Tracy Chapman.  Next session we will be moving to Miriam Makemba’s Pata Pata.  

After hearing updates and perspectives on the campaign from the leadership and a distinguished panel of women, including Dobkin Family Foundation founder Barbara Dobkin, Mama Cash Executive Director Nicky McIntyre, Women Moving Millions Co-Chair Jacki Zehner, ACCION USA's Elizabeth Bueno, and Women's Foundation of Greater Kansas City President Dawn Oliver, I encouraged people to check in with our own individual experience of philanthropy and “moving millions” in our own lives.  

I believe that a key aspect of a good leadership is the practice of consistently looking at our own motivations and experiences around giving and receiving.  Spending time to reflect on what it is that keeps us open to receiving and to giving and understanding the conditions or environments that help us feel more generous is a good growth opportunity.    

Feel free to take some time to look at an exercise that I created that examines – “What is it that allows me to give time, talent or treasure with joy and ease? And how can we move towards this?”

I had the honor of being part of the Women’s Funding Network Worldwide Conference where women from Serbia, Mexico, Australia, Scotland, Nigeria, Canada, and every place in between, descended upon Brooklyn, New York for three days of convening and learning.  We spent time together skills sharing, relationship building, and listening to impassioned speeches from some of the world’s most dynamic female thought leaders. 

From the opening keynote featuring Marjora Carter, eco-entrepreneur, MacArthur Genius and founder of Sustainable South Bronx, to the closing keynote featuring Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and first Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, we all were in the presence of the power and resiliency of women leaders and the global women’s movement.  Being part of this ‘movement’ to me means that we choose to reassert feminine perspectives (also known as ‘a gender lens’) wherever it can heal cultures and communities.   

One of the panel discussions was hosted by filmmaker, scholar and founder of the Daphne Foundation, Abigail Disney. Abby spoke about the ways in which the feminine perspective has been erased from the media coverage of war across the world. Her documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell and her four part series called Women, War and Peace, which documents war through the eyes of women in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Columbia and the Congo, shows women’s contributions to war efforts on both the front lines and back lines. 

When we think about war, we think about combat. We think about the front line. Abby’s work showcases the role that women play from the back lines in conflict and the impact that these conflicts have on women’s lives.  The work shows how women are targeted with systematic violence in wartime and how, with incredible fortitude and strength and little support, they hold their families and communities together.  Abby and her team are successful in bringing visibility to the tragedy of their invisibility and dismissal from their solutions and peace building work. 

After showing the series trailer, Abby talked about how rape is being used as a strategic tactic of wartime violence. She recounted stories of deliberations by the United Nations Assembly about whether or not to try rapists as war criminals when the acts are being perpetrated as a tactic of war.  Abby’s series, Women, War and Peace is scheduled to debut on PBS this fall. I hope you’ll all find some time to watch it and extend your role in the movement in any way that works for you.

(Photo credited to Pray the Devil Back to Hell.)

When we think of human rights activists, we are often challenged to name five women across the globe who have fought for those in their community, state, or nation.   Roots to Resistance is bringing forth the images and stories of 12 remarkable women activists, bringing their stories to life via a web based platform, postcard distribution to schools and organizations, and a four city touring exhibit with Denise Beaudet, the award winning visual artist and creative activist. An art and activism project featuring the portraits of 12 women doing activist work in the world, the project is a political postcard campaign that will link people around the globe.

These incredible 4x9 foot portraits are done on recycled wood, wrapped in and connected to plants and nature. Denise portrays these women in their true activist flame and spirit; sharing the stories of their communities, their hearts and the extraordinary effect that their powerful life forces have had on the planet.

 Featured Activists include:

Natalia Estemirova-Chechnya-Murdered Human Rights Journalist
Malalai Joya-Afghanistan-Woman's Rights Activist
Chouchou Namegabe – Congo – Journalist/Women’s Rights Activist
Zapatista Woman-Mexico Environmentalist/Indigenous Rights Activist
Vandana Shiva-India-Eco Feminist/Environmental Activist
Rebecca Gomperts-Netherlands-Environmentalist/Reproductive Rights Activist
Dita Indah Sari-Indonesia-Labor Activist
Aung San Suu Kyi-Burma-Human Rights Activist
Wangari Maathai-Kenya-Environmentalist
Marina Silva-Brazil-Environmentalist
Yvonne Margarula-Australia-Civil Rights Activist
Maria Gunnoe - U.S. -Native American Human Rights Activist

Denise and selected installations were presented at this year’s Women’s Funding Network Conference in Brooklyn. To learn more about the Roots To Resistance project and the global political postcard exchange visit: http://www.facebook.com/rootstoresistance.

Looking at all the inhibitors to sport participation for women – sexism, patriarchal systems, sport segregation,  homophobia – they sought partnerships with funders and organizations that understood these issues to elevate their work.  Within this environment, three key lessons were gleaned that can help you as you continue your work as leaders in social change.

1)  Be inclusive of all generations in your work.  

Involving next-generation leadership in your work as social change leaders is critical for success.  Having and listening to voices of youth and from the perspective of naïveté / innocence but mostly passion feeds both sides of the age continuum. 

Each year Billie Jean King spoke to the Women’s Sports Foundation interns - they got to learn from her lessons and ask her advice on everything from pay equity to co-ed sports and she got to learn about new technology and their dreams for working in women’s sports.    

As you move forward in your social change work it is essential to make sure you are inclusive of other women; hearing from one another the lessons and ideas from a continuum of people who've lived through different experiences and in differing cultures in sport as allies or as gay, lesbian or transgendered athletes. 

2)  Demonstrate the need for change with statistics and a compelling message.

Continuing on the idea about successful social change occurring with leadership, message, resources and hard work. “Message” is the critical need to make your case with memorable statistics, data and/or case studies that tell a compelling story about how your work is changing the system and changing people's lives.   If you are lucky enough to have your message delivered by a popular icon, your visibility will increase and often your resources will be easier to get.   
Within your presentations think about how your research could be distilled to a phrase or simple story about why further work is needed on policies, visibility or resources.  As social change leaders, consider asking one another for advice about the best way to express your message or to suggest a practical application of your research.  

3)  Be able to recognize overt discrimination tactics and speak up about them 

As protections’ increase -- the Lilly Ledbetter law, legislation against hate crimes, legal decisions that classify decisions against LGBT as harassment – it is important to understand that legislation doesn’t prevent discrimination from happening. In reality, it drives overt discrimination underground where it becomes more covert, more difficult to identify, and often, harder to talk about. 

As we are successful in getting the legal systems in place, we must also increase our vigilance over the expression of more subtle and covert forms of discrimination.  

For more information about the Women’s Sports Foundation, please visit http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/

The Women’s Funding Network – a great convener of thought and networks of people working in the women’s funding movement - has spent more than 30 years researching and promoting social change work.   They have identified how we can really measure what we are doing in these long struggles for social justice.  They have demonstrated that the evidence of change really occurs in the form of five shifts.

1. There is a Shift in Definition - the issue is defined differently in the community or larger society.  A clear example of this was defining sexual harassment – previously unnamed and unheard of until the Anita Hill hearings or ‘trial’.  Homophobia has been well defined although I might suggest we now reframe it to just call it ‘heterosexual supremacy’ and it would probably get more attention. 
2. There is a Shift in Behavior - people behave differently in the community.  Through education of the ‘definition’ of an issue, people understand where and how they can change their behavior.   All the smart efforts of the ‘green movement’ have families and businesses purchasing materials that are reusable or recyclable.
3. There is a Shift in  Critical Mass or Engagement - where now groups of people in the community are more actively engaged in the issue.  There are formations of social clubs, groups, events – think of what President Obama’s campaign did for political organizing.   
4. There is a Shift in Policy - a change in organizational, regional, state, or national policies or laws.  This is a critical place where the GLBT movement is at right now and there are several issues we are all aware of – Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, marriage laws, and Employment Non-Discrimination Act.  Ideally employment protection would pass at the federal level but imagine if every athletic department or sports league implemented an employment non discrimination policy based on sexual orientation and identity? 
5. And finally, sometimes a Shift can simply mean "Holding the Line" – maintaining earlier progress on the issue in the face of opposition.  An example of this would be the undeniably strong efforts of the choice movement to protect Roe v. Wade or all the organizations in the Coalition for Women and Girls in Education upholding Title IX through repeated attempts to weaken or amend the law.

So within the context of these shifts, there are key elements that we can identify as requirements for success.  No social justice issue is moved forward without strong leadership, resources, a good message, and passionate hard work.   Sometimes this is wrapped up in one person – like Martin Luther King and  civil rights or Gloria Steinem and the women’s movement or Donna Lopiano and gender equity in sports.

Sometimes, it is wrapped up in a belief, as in the words of Margaret Meade: “never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

For more information about the Women’s Funding Network, please visit http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/

What is at the core of your giving?  What factors motivate your decision making?  What is it that you would need to be more strategic in your philanthropy?  These are questions that help build a foundation for conversations around personal giving.  Before one can truly understand the impact or focus of any gift, it is helpful to distinguish between the types of organizations the gift supports.  There is a significant difference in the characteristics of “Charity” versus “Social Change” Philanthropy and understanding these differences may make a difference in deciding the type of organization your gift supports:   

Charity Philanthropy                                               Social Change Philanthropy
Short-term fixes                                                          Long-term solutions
Social services                                                             Social change
Reactive                                                                      Proactive
Individual responses                                                    Collective, organized responses
Dependent communities                                             Empowered, independent communities

This distinction is important as it helps people understand and ‘name’ the focus of their giving and whether they wish to address systemic or structural issues of discrimination, access, or equity through changing society or more immediately help those that are the victims of such issues.   No matter what type of work a donor chooses to support, there should be an assessment of the effectiveness of the organization, always seeking to support the human talent and capacity of organizations that make the bold changes happen.

Women’s funds have been at the forefront of social change philanthropy for decades.  The Women’s Funding Network (WFN) is the largest women’s philanthropic collaborative network in the world and lifts up the work of more than 150 women’s funds.   WFN has been a global champion for the investment in women led solutions to the most critical issues; economic security, access to education and health care, and freedom from violence.   Successful programs of WFN focus on leadership capacity, outcome measurement, and philanthropic engagement with the most public of these efforts being the recent Women Moving Millions campaign.  A recent study by the Foundation Center demonstrated that women’s funds have been delivering impact through effective coalition building and a bottom up / top down strategy.  The report also shared the work of women’s funds as leaders in the democratization of philanthropy and as social innovators working across sectors..

Now we are on the brink of a sea change as philanthropists begin to focus on investing in women as a solution to resolving or healing key issues in communities and society. Innovative and determined women’s funds  have led such smart investing for the past 30 years and are thrilled to have more folks joining the movement.  We welcome the social change investment to be directed towards women’s funds – a proven model that works.  To learn more about where a women’s fund may be near to your philanthropic focus, please visit the Women's Funding Network.  

This post is shared with gratitude to the smart women from Wellesley who did this fabulous summary of what is happening at the International Women's Sports conference we are attending.  I had dinner with Sarah and Lindsay last night and enjoyed their quick minds and passion! Here is their post which lives on the blog - FairGameNews.com

By Sarah Odell and Lindsay Rico

Have you ever considered access to athletics a human right? Do you wonder why it it matters for women to play sports? And, what the heck is Netball?

These are a few of the questions being put forth at the Fifth World Conference on Women & Sport. Some 500 people from 60 countries have made their way Down Under to Sydney, Australia to examine the implications — and complications — facing the worldwide women’s athletic community.

The four-day conference is raising challenging issues, but there is already one overwhelming response: Women’s access to sports is more than just a game.  FairGameNews.com is on site and blogging (watch for Q&A’s with key leaders coming up).

While female athletes (and would-be female athletes) may face particular barriers in their home nations, it is striking how much about the nature of the struggle for access, equity, and support are common across the globe. Some big themes:

– SPORT IS POWER: Women’s access to sport is not just a privilege, but  a right. This has been recognized in official declarations for years, but increasingly, this is not just about fitness, health, and the right to control one’s body, but about the political, economic and social tools that come as part of involvement in sports and sports culture.

– EQUITY IN SPORT IS A PUBLIC MATTER: Governments DO have an interest and a role to play in seeking — even regulating — gender equity in sports, several presenters have suggested. And one — Kate Ellis, Australian Minister of Sport — is actually taking action. She announced at the conference that her government would track and publish the gender make-up of sports governing boards and compile a Women in Sport Register to counter men who say they can’t find any qualified women to fill leadership roles. “If it’s really that hard for sport to go out there and find these women, then I’m prepared to work with them to do it,” she said.

– WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE MISSING FROM THE MEDIA: Female athletes around the globe are poorly covered and represented in the print and TV coverage (several studies showed a reproducibly predictable breakdown or representation: 80% men; 10% women; 10% other – horse racing typically gets more coverage than women, several speakers noted). What’s more, researchers say it hasn’t gotten any better in the past 30 years. As a result, said Toni Bruce, PhD, “we are teaching girls to be happy watching boys [play sports] and  teaching boys that they don’t have to watch girls [play sports].”