Fund Raisers Fail to Tap Self-Made Wealthy Women, Author Finds

Women who have a net worth of $1-million or more, earned from careers in business or the professions, are often

ignored by charities, according to Thomas J. Stanley, whose book Millionaire Women Next Door was published last spring. Such women say they frequently decide which charities to support by choosing worthy causes they read about in the newspaper or otherwise hear about by happenstance, he says.

A best-selling author, researcher, and consultant who advises companies on how to attract affluent customers, Mr. Stanley bases his conclusions on detailed questionnaires completed by 233 self-made wealthy women, most of whom had a net worth of $1-million to $25-million. He says that charities do a poor job of identifying and soliciting self-made millionaires of both sexes — but they may be missing more by overlooking women.

Mr. Stanley has found that, on average, self-made female millionaires — those who didn’t inherit or marry into money — give away 7 percent of their income a year. That is nearly two percentage points more than self-made male millionaires and more than three times what the average American gives to charity. The women in the survey said they donated $28,000, on average, to charities each year.

Raising Money

Nearly 70 percent of the women studied by Mr. Stanley say they have helped raise money for their church or another cause, and 77 percent say they have been a leader in community activities. But despite such involvement, none of the women had ever been asked to serve on the board of a well-known charity like the American Cancer Society or the American Red Cross, even the local chapter of such organizations. Some of the women told Mr. Stanley that they felt such organizations were elitist and did not regard them as board material, even though the charities were happy to take the women’s donations.

But self-made female millionaires, Mr. Stanley wrote in his book, “are among the very best candidates for such positions, having become millionaires purely by their own intellect and hard work. They are by definition capable leaders, proven generators of revenue, great money managers, and wise investors.”

Most important, he added, such women have a demonstrated desire to contribute to charity and the means to do so.

Hard to Find

One reason fund raisers at even the largest charities do not pursue wealthy female businesswomen and entrepreneurs is that such women — like their male counterparts — do not show up in the references that fund raisers use to identify wealthy people, says Mr. Stanley. Fund raisers often find wealthy potential donors based on publicly available information, such as stock trades in public companies, real-estate values, and membership in exclusive organizations. But women who have made their own wealth, by starting a business, for example, tend to live frugally and have privately held stock, Mr. Stanley says. What’s more, they seldom are members of country clubs or other elite institutions.

“The problem is that we want people who are wealthy to be beautiful people who live in beautiful houses,” says Mr. Stanley, who has found that half of all millionaires live in blue-collar neighborhoods. “Wealth in America, about 80 percent of it, has always been first-generation, and it comes from people in less prestigious jobs,” he says. Millionaire women who create their wealth, he adds, are often found in businesses such as real-estate management, sales, child or home health care, and consulting companies.

That’s why Mr. Stanley advises fund raisers to learn about privately owned businesses in their geographic region, read professional journals, and attend professional meetings and trade shows. But, he says, few charities have taken his advice.

“Fund raisers want to go to meetings with other fund raisers and hang around beautiful people who go to balls,” he says. “They lose sight of the real purpose: recruiting people who have the wealth — and the business experience — to really contribute.”

Women are increasingly in that category, says Mr. Stanley. Even though a gender gap in pay persists and few women are the heads of Fortune 500 companies, he says, women are bypassing those remaining economic barriers, often by creating successful companies. “What amazes me is that the economy of America has historically ignored women,” he says. “But they are right up there with men in terms of accumulating wealth.”