Mission

Leading philanthropy to leverage the power of women and girls in creating a just and peaceful world.

Vision

The power of women and girls is recognized and utilized, and we live in a world where:

• Leadership is cultivated and valued in its many forms
• All people have a voice and are active participants in defining issues and solutions affecting their lives
• Peace is achieved through human rights and justice for all

About

Women & Philanthropy provides leadership for foundations and philanthropists to create a more caring and just world through the full engagement of women and girls.

Founded in 1977, Women & Philanthropy is at the center of the women's funding movement. For over twenty-seven years, Women & Philanthropy has served the staff and trustees of the philanthropic field with valuable research, convenings, and member services geared towards supporting foundation and corporate leaders for their support of women and girls and gendered social change. Today, with a new Board and staff leadership, a new strategic plan, and new thinking for the future, Women & Philanthropy has reached a pivotal point as one of the oldest and most recognized affinity groups associated with the Council on Foundations.

Women & Philanthropy has a diverse membership of approximately 630 individual members and 70 institutional members. In 2002, Women & Philanthropy began the celebration of our 25th Anniversary and completed a year-long, intensive strategic planning process and executive search. The planning process resulted in a new mission statement (stated above) and organizational structure. The new organizational model of "centralized information, decentralized action" transforms Women & Philanthropy into a flexible, responsive network of advocates that combines regional, national, and international outreach with local and specialized knowledge. Consistent with an asset-based approach that leverages existing strengths through partnerships, our new structure refocuses Women & Philanthropy's efforts on building connections through geography, issues, areas, or constituencies with members and other funders as they work on issues affecting women and girls.

Women & Philanthropy works to keep critical women's issues on the front burner of the philanthropic agenda while supporting thoughtful, informed responses from our members. We highlight our members' work, providing relevance and a national audience, by gathering and disseminating best and promising practices regarding funding for women and girls through communication links such as the website, listserv and publications. As we seek to give local actions a wider audience within the broader philanthropic field, we also share global thinking on particularly relevant gender-related issues as they intersect with local needs – emboldening philanthropy to take action.

The organization has seen tremendous change in the 27 years since its incorporation, both in the philanthropic community and society-at-large, and has continued to evolve with the times. Central to the organization's mission and goals is the recognition of the impact of socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity on the achievement and advancement of women. In 1988, Women & Philanthropy strengthened its commitment to addressing issues of racial injustice by expanding its goals to include an emphasis on all women and girls and a focus on addressing critical issues for women of color.

Women & Philanthropy is also partnering with Jankowski & Associates, Inc. to provide exciting research on the thousands of new foundations formed since 1996 and their leadership and support of programs for women and girls. Custom research reports have been developed for regional and issue-based networks, and a directory is being produced on the top new foundations that are funding issues focused on women and girls. Through this partnership with Jankowski & Associates, Women & Philanthropy is providing cutting-edge research on women and philanthropy as a resource for its members and the field of philanthropy.