Donating for Social Change

As donors, we all want to give to nonprofits because we want our donations to make a difference in the lives of others – ultimately creating social change. At Women Give San Diego, we focus our giving on supporting nonprofits that improve the economic status of women and girls in San Diego through their services and programs.

Leslie R. Crutchfield, coauthor of Do More Than Give: The 6 Practices of Donors Who Change the World, states in an online Forbes article that “we wrote Do More than Give because we believe that, if society is to solve the complex problems that challenge our world today, then philanthropy must change. Nearly $300 billion is donated annually in the United States alone, yet progress toward addressing major issues—public school reform, health care access for the poor, climate change—remains stunted. At the same time, a relative handful of exceptional philanthropists have contributed to creating significant positive change. We wanted to study a cross-section of these exemplary donors and understand the practices they employ to achieve real results.”

In studying these donors, she and her coauthor developed the 6 Practices of Donors Who Change the World. The first practice is: Advocate for Change. Donors first needed to become educated about the causes they were funding and then become advocates for those who are affected by the cause.

One of the things I have been most impressed with about Women Give is that before the donor’s circle was formed, the co-founders did their homework. Literally.

They engaged Valerie Nash of Nash and Associates and member of Women Give, to do in-depth research and analysis of women and girls’ needs in San Diego.

The report identified that there are 1.6 million women and girls in San Diego where:

• · At least 250,000 women in San Diego are living in poverty
• · At least 80,000 living in extreme poverty
• · At least 84,000 women over 65 do not have sufficient income to meet their basic needs

Why?

• · Women are paid less than men
• · Growing number of women head of households who are unemployed or underemployed
• · The cost of living in San Diego is getting higher
• · Almost 60% of women in San Diego do not have a bachelor’s degree and women’s education level is indicative of her level of job

So why fund women and girls?

• · Research shows that economic growth for women has an important "multiplier effect.”
• · Women are more likely to share their economic gains with their families and communities at large - thus potentially making investment in women and girls a leveraged granting opportunity, no matter what your specific giving area focus.
• · A woman’s economic autonomy is impacted by her level of education and conditions in the workforce, such as availability of health insurance, pension plans, family friendly work environments and flextime.

The fourth practice from Do More Than Give is: Empower the People. From the Forbes article: “Catalytic donors don’t treat individual community members who are affected by problems such as poverty or sub-standard health care as “charity recipients.” Instead, they view local individuals as essential participants in the process of solving problems—for themselves. Catalytic donors solicit the community for ideas and involve members in campaigns in building the political will and organizing them to create change at the block, neighborhood, regional, national, and even global levels.”

Most of us are probably familiar with the adage that if you give a person a fish, they will eat for the day, but if you teach a person to fish, they will eat for a lifetime. In the world of women’s funds this is how we think: If you give a woman a fish, she will feed her family first and possibly go hungry. If you teach a woman to fish, she will feed her family first until the lake becomes polluted or her fishing rights are taken away. However, if you give women the resources and access to community capital, they will buy the lake, feed their families, keep the lake environmentally clean and have something to pass on for generations to come. As a movement, Women Give is about building sustainable community capital in order to support women and girls who are ready to buy the lake. (per San Diego Women and Girls Economic Health Report created by Nash and Associates for Women Give San Diego)

Next week, you will get a chance to meet Valerie Nash and hear about her incredible story of raising her own economic status and the current work she does to help social service agencies throughout the world.