The Rise of Female Philanthropists - And Three Big Bets They Make
By Bonnie Chiu
At the Forbes Philanthropy Forum organized in May earlier this year, there was near parity between female and male participants. Though there were still more male philanthropists than female ones, the face of wealth is changing. The Economist’s title on International Women’s Day states boldly that, “Investment by women, and in them, is growing”. As reported in the Economist article, between 2010 and 2015 private wealth held by women grew from $34trn to $51trn— an increase of 50% in merely five years. Moreover, most of the private wealth that will change hands in the coming decades is likely to go to women.
On the Forbes’ 2018 list of billionaires, women billionaires numbered at 256 out of total 2208 entries— an all-time high, with a collective worth to surpass $1 trillion. Yet, we should not gloss over the fact that wealth is still predominantly controlled by men, and that there are harsh realities around female investing. According to Crunchbase, only 8% of partners among top 100 venture firms were female, and 90% of venture dollars globally between 2012 and 2017 went to all-male teams.
Nonetheless, when women control more wealth, the face of philanthropy will also change. Some empirical studies suggest that women are more likely than men to engage in prosocial behaviour, defined as voluntary behaviour intended to benefit others — and this includes acts of helping and donating. Forbes statistics show that women give almost twice as much of their wealth away as men (3.5% vs. 1.8%).
With the rise of female philanthropists, not only will there be more philanthropic dollars to spend, trends thus far show that they will be making three big bets.
First, that philanthropy ought to move from an ego-system to an ecosystem . We learn from management literature that women tend to be more cooperative in work teams, and the same seems to apply in philanthropy. Giving circles are a way of collaborative giving, and the first ones were created by women for women. The Women’s Collective Giving Network now has 47 giving circles, with more than 10,000 women philanthropists in the mix.
Collaborative giving does not only mean giving together with other like-minded philanthropists – more importantly, it means co-creating solutions with the users and beneficiaries. Last year, the Gates Foundation committed $20 million to strengthen women’s groups worldwide, and Melinda Gates said, “They know their community. They know what needs to get done.” As female philanthropists gain in influence, the collaborative spirit will amplify the impact created by philanthropy.
Second, that investing in women and girls yields one of the best social returns . There are no official statistics as to the percentage of female philanthropists that give to the cause of women and girls, but anecdotal evidence suggests that they are more likely to sympathise with the gender cause. According to AidData as reported by UBS,funding received by causes related to SDG 5, on gender equality, received only 2.6% of donations between 2000-2013. Recognising that the cause of women and girls is underfunded, the 2007 creation of the Women Moving Millions initiative was seminal. Since 2007, Women Moving Millions has inspired over 290 members to pledge over $600 million to organisations and initiatives that commit to advancing women and girls around the world.
The latest TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund was set up by a group of female philanthropists to address sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace faced by women. Since launching in January 2018, it has raised close to $22 million online – another powerful example of women investing in women.
The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) also found that in 2014, there are more new players committed to supporting women and girls. They are shifting from ‘aid to investment’ and prioritising business solutions to social and development problems, in line with the Gender Equality as Smart Economics promoted by the World Bank. This finding links with the third big bet that female philanthropists are making.
Third, that philanthropy is not separate from investments, and impact investing can enable philanthropists to amplify their impact . In a recent survey by Morgan Stanley, 84% of women said they were interested in “sustainable” investing, defined here as targeting not just financial returns but social or environmental goals. The figure for men was 67%. Pactor, associate director of Women’s Philanthropy Institute, suggested in an interview to Inside Philanthropy that she sees women as having an edge when it comes to reinventing philanthropy with financial tools like impact investing.
At the upcoming NEXUS Global conference in New York starting tomorrow, next generation philanthropists – majority of whom are female – will be deep diving into impact investing.
Let’s use this time to come together, to galvanise the power of women and philanthropy to create the greatest impact for girls and women around the world. The next decade will be a defining one for female philanthropists, and they will challenge the conventions.
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