Forming Fine Financial Foundations

There is an “explosive new movement” in the fund-raising field--women organizing to raise funds for women’s causes--according to a report recently released by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

According to the report, in 1980 there were only four women’s foundations or funding organizations devoted exclusively to raising and distributing money to programs run by women and serving women. Today there are 28 and they are thriving, according to the report. Women’s funds raised almost $4.8 million last year and are expected to more than double that with an expected $11 million this year.

Women’s funds generally support programs that promote economic and social equity for women and girls and many target special funds for minority women, the poor, women in transition and other disadvantaged groups--all groups and programs underserved by traditional funding organizations. For example, the committee said, private foundations gave away $4.36 billion in 1984, but only 4% of those funds went to programs for women only; that same year, United Ways nationwide gave $2.38 to boys’ programs for every dollar they gave to girls’ programs and only 0.3% of corporate gifts went to “women’s causes.”

The women’s funds were stimulated not by perceived neglect by more traditional foundations, but by the sharp rise in poverty among women and children in the country during the last few years, the report said. Most of the funds are supporting low-income women and those without access to resources, but some are committed to backing projects aimed at social change.

“The popularity of women’s funds reflects women’s dissatisfaction with philanthropy’s spare nickel and dime,” said Elizabeth Wiener, director of communications for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, in the report. “With more women working outside the home and taking charge of their own resources, there is a greater tendency to invest in the organizations that enhance options for all women through feminist law centers, job-training programs, battered women’s shelters, self-help clinics, etc.”

Women’s funds are a new phenomenon: None is more than 10 years old, nine are 3 or younger and 11 are in organizational stages. The agencies range greatly in size and most are trying to build endowments.

The Ms. Foundation in New York operates nationwide and generated more than $700,000 last year. The Women’s Foundation in San Francisco and Women’s Way in Philadelphia each raised $500,000 and Minnesota Women’s Fund, a statewide program, is halfway to its goal of a $10-million endowment. Others, such as the Money for Women’s Fund Inc., St. Augustine, Fla., raise $10,000 to $15,000 a year.

The Los Angeles Women’s Foundation was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the San Francisco Women’s Foundation. The local foundation has raised $55,000; its goal for 1986 is $150,000. The Orange County Women’s Foundation, modeled after the San Francisco group, incorporated this year with a goal of $250,000.

Overall, the funds have supported projects--such as a black women’s self-help collective in Washington and a residence for female ex-offenders in New York--that might have difficulty attracting more conservative philanthropic organizations.

Copies of the report, which describes all of the women’s funds and how they have raised money, are available for $1 from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, 2001 S St. N.W., No. 620, Washington, D.C. 20009. The report was funded by a grant from Atlantic Richfield Foundation.