How can Philanthropy and Policy intersect to create more impact for Women, Children and Communities?

Friday was our Women Give San Diego lunch with Judy Patrick the CEO of the Women's Foundation of California. As background, the Women's Foundation of California has spent 30 years on the ground supporting, training and fueling the fiercest women leaders, fanning the winds of change for women and girls throughout California. Women Give San Diego is a unique and powerful donor circle of the Women’s Foundation of California. The topic of discussion at our lunch was how philanthropic efforts and policy can intersect to create a greater impact for women and children in California. Judy gave us some background on why the Women's Foundation of California was founded and what we as a donor's circle could do to create this synergy for greater impact. 31+ years ago when the foundation began less than 1% of philanthropy dollars went to women and children. Today there are at least 140 funds that are focused on women and children.

Judy also addressed the goals of the Foundation.

1. The first goal is to add resources into communities to increase support for women who are on the ground creating change.
2. Second, to create a place where women can learn to be philanthropists.

Their overall mission is for everyone in communities to be safe, economically secure and healthy. With this theme and these goals in mind, Judy addressed how to create greater impact through policy advocacy and philanthropy. These two categories are already intersecting and areas we can continue to enhance:

• Through their Women's Policy Institute, the foundation trains leaders to be agents of change for policies that impact the lives of women of all ages, their families and their communities.
• They have advocated for legislation for safer cosmetics, increased measures addressing violence in the workplace and an expansion of protections for noncitizen victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other serious crimes. The foundation calls these efforts “movement building work,” where unlikely parties come together to advocate for the bigger picture.

If we are to create change we must start by engaging in conversation with our local officials. Judy encouraged us to meet with our elected officials to speak from our experiences and about areas important to us. It is well known that elected officials are constantly contacted by lobbyists and rarely by constituents.

Judy clarified whether non-profits could advocate on policy: Non-profit organizations can engage in advocacy policy as long as there isn’t a bill number associated with it, which would then categorize as lobbying.

To partner philanthropy and policy, Judy suggested that we look to define priorities for funding through a policy-advocacy lens by:

• Encourage organizations applying for grants to apply for a general operating grant allowing the organization to use funds at their discretion;
• Supporting groups that focus on advocacy and outlining a plan with a sequence of outcomes on the road to achieving a larger goal such as the passing of a bill.

With California at its current state, Judy couldn’t emphasize enough the importance of evidence-based research to help support advocacy efforts. Data can often be the best tool to support advocates in their efforts. With legislative day coming up in early May, Judy encouraged us to consider traveling to Sacramento and playing a role in advocacy policy. The Women’s Policy Institute will be forming teams for various bills and there is no better way to learn and help then to engage in the process. As a group we know that women are phenomenal at making connections and building relationships. The task at hand now is to leverage our relationships, knowledge, and philanthropic efforts to advocate for better policy in order to create a safe, economically secure, and healthy environment for communities in California and across the world.

Sasha Clines is a WGSD member who creates and implements marketing and communication strategies for start-up businesses and writes a popular blog: http://betterinheels.blog.com