In a typical March, we would celebrate Women’s History Month. We would have 31 days of heralding the accomplishments of ladies across a spectrum of industries, age groups, and ethnicities.  We would attend luncheons, watch documentaries, and like Instagram posts featuring amazing women. This March, anything but typical, our focus is on first responders, virus testing, Federal rescue and stimulus packages, and toilet paper.  Our women’s luncheons have been canceled, the networks are covering the Coronavirus 24/7 and our social media feeds are filled with photos of Zoom meetings and social distancing coping strategies.  When we get to the other side of this, we are going to have a lot on our plates to deliver on our missions and re-engage our communities.

One of our most important constituencies is women. As non-profit professionals, we can gather insights on how to amplify our engagement of this affinity group from the research of Indiana University’s Women’s Philanthropy Institute (IUWPI).

Dedicated to studying all of the factors that influence the charitable behaviors of women, IUWPI conducts an annual study related to or intersecting with women in philanthropy called Women Give.

In Women Give 2017, the study sought answers to the existential question, “What makes people happy?”  Researchers contemplated the connection between charitable giving and life satisfaction.  Does giving make people happier?  What I learned:

• When women drive charitable decisions, more giving by the family or couple means greater life satisfaction or happiness
• The more a household gives, as a percent of income, the higher the household’s overall happiness
• For single and married women, happiness increases the most when they increase their giving; for men, life satisfaction increases when they become a donor
• Donors are happier than non-donors

The Nonprofit Leader’s Call to Action

1. Focus on the joy that giving generates for the giver.
2. Use marketing materials, events, stories, online advertising and engagement to highlight the life-changing impact that philanthropy has on the donor.
3. Ask your contributors to be your messengers across all of your channels.

In Women Give 2018, the team at IUWPI wondered about the connection between how and how much parents give and how and how much their children give (as adults). The lessons:

• Parental frequency of giving matters most for daughters
• The two specific behaviors of role-modeling philanthropy and talking about philanthropy are both essential. Talking about giving has a greater impact than just modeling the behavior.  However, role modeling is more powerful for daughters as they are more likely to volunteer as adults than sons.
• When parents give to charity, children are more likely to give to charity. 80% of adult children whose parents give become givers

The Nonprofit Leader’s Call to Action

1. Deliver multi-generational programming. Think volunteer programs that involve elementary, middle and high school children.
2. Invest in conversations about values and community for college students and those who have recently graduated. This is a long-term strategy that will achieve major, principal and planned giving goals over time.

IUWPI’s most recent study, Women Give 2019, explores the relationship between race and philanthropy. The most in-depth of the three Women Give studies, I highly recommend reading this one start to finish. My takeaways:

• Women in communities of color are less engaged in formal volunteerism and volunteer informally at higher rates
• “Women in communities of color embrace an expansive definition of philanthropy that involves giving of time, talent, treasure, and testimony, whether formally or informally.”
• Women’s giving amounts are consistent across race and ethnicity, with married women giving more than single women and single women giving more than single men.
• We are seeing a rise of “identity-based” giving circles, with gender as the biggest identity specific group. These groups invest two types of capital: bonding social capital and bridging social capital.
• Bonding social capital circulates within a group or community, looking inward and benefiting people who look alike. An example would be Alpha Kappa Alpha, an African American sorority that focuses on supporting African American women.
• Bridging social capital transmits across groups, is out-ward looking and links diverse people. Think of Women United, a racially- and ethnically- diverse group of women that invest in elevating early education for all children.

The Nonprofit Leader’s Call to Action

1. Non-profit organizations that do not have women’s affinity groups should create them. Identify a small founding group and establish a social investment imperative that aligns with your mission and includes giving of time, talent, treasure, and testimony.
2. For those organizations that already have a women’s affinity group, consider establishing a subgroup that is comprised of and serves an ethnic or racial group within your community. That subgroup should explore any unique or informal way to volunteer, broadening your understanding of how to engage and better serve the ethnic or racial group.

By taking a few, strategic actions today to engage more and different women, non-profit leaders will accelerate their impact tomorrow.

Carla Crossno has served on the board of Philanthropy Miami for twelve years.  A social impact investor and former non-profit executive, Carla advises clients with strategy, marketing, and communications, and business development projects and serves in interim leadership roles.