Women’s Funds Hold $200-Million; Donations Grew Fast in Recent Years

Women’s funds — which raise money to help charities serving women and girls — are growing in number and size across the country.

According to new figures released by the Women’s Funding Network, an umbrella organization of women’s funds, 27 new and existing groups have joined the network in just three years, pushing its membership from 69 to 96 foundations.

From 1999 to 2001, grant making and other allocations by women’s funds grew by $7.3-million, or 32 percent, while donations to the funds rose by $32.7-million, or 71 percent. Meanwhile, the number of women’s funds with assets over $5-million rose by 42 percent, from 12 to 17 foundations.

While women’s funds have existed in major cities across America for many years, according to Emily Katz Kishawi, director of membership at the Women’s Funding Network, they have recently grown more popular in many small urban centers.

Within the past three years, women’s funds have sprouted in Columbus, Ohio, Monterey, Calif., and Pittsburgh, among other places.

The network, which held assets of nearly $215-million in 2001, hopes to build on its success and increase that figure to $450-million by 2008.

Christine Grumm, executive director of the Women’s Funding Network, says that at a time when most charities are struggling to bring in new donations, women’s funds have succeeded in doing so by appealing to a broad pool of people, particularly middle-class women, for support. “We seek out the $100 check and the $1-million check so as not to be limited to the 20 wealthiest people in a community,” she says.

Over the years, women’s funds have generally supported groups in the areas of economic development, violence against women, and health and girls. Women’s funds have raised awareness of new issues within those categories, according to Ms. Grumm. “Twenty years ago women’s funds led the campaign on violence against women,” she says. “In more recent times, they have drawn attention to the sex trade and teenage prostitution.”