Women and Philantrophy - Article Example

? WOMEN AND PHILANTROPHY Savannah Alexander PLSC 436 Fundraising and Grant Writing April 5, John Fikes Document Outline I.Executive Summary II. Women and Philanthropy- Report 1. Overview 2. Women's Approach to Philanthropy 3. What Women Support 4. Consensus III. Conclusion IV. References I. Executive Summary Coffman cites evidence from various reputable academic and media sources to support her assertions that women give more, give differently, and are reshaping the practice of philanthropy as we know it, in ways that make their giving markedly different from the way men give, and the way philanthropy has been practiced in the past. Studies from recent more recent studies corroborate Coffman's year 2000 assertions1. II. Women and Philanthropy- Report Overview The article posits that women are different from men in the way they approach and deal with philanthropy and the philanthropic activities that they support and get involved in. The differences are in the amount that they give relative to their income, the degree of participation in terms of time and on-going emotional and actual physical involvement in the charities that they support and want to support, and in the way they actually staff many of the nonprofit organizations and charity groups in the country. There are gender line differences in these aspects of philanthropy and charity, in America and elsewhere, and the article posits further that as women become more significant players in American industry and the American economy in general, and as more women occupy positions of importance in many of the nonprofits and charities in the country, the role of women in philanthropy will further increase, and that in turn will change the shape and practice of philanthropy and charity in the United States and elsewhere2. The author divides the article into three parts, and supports the above assertions with citations to studies and articles from reputable institutions and sources, such as the National Foundation for Women Business Owners, consultants with knowhow about women philanthropy from results of studies from institutions such as UCLA, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the University of Tennessee Alliance of Women Philanthropists, media outfits such as The Richmond Times Dispatch, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Time Magazine and PBS Television, the University of Virginia3. Women's Approach to Philanthropy The first section details women approaches to charity and how those approaches differ from men's approaches to the same. The overall results show that not only do women give a larger share of their income to charity compared to men, but also that women demand to be involved in the charities that they support, as opposed to men, who in general like to be involved, but do not demand it in the way that women do. Some representative numbers from a survey of American women in business, with a population of 400 respondents, are revealing. More than 50 percent give upwards of 25 thousand dollars to charity annually, and about a fifth give upwards of a hundred thousand dollars annually. More than half give with no consultations from others, and 86 percent make decisions relating to charity based on what a charity's mission is and how efficient a charity is operationally and in terms of achieving its mission. Majority want to be kept abreast with developments in the charities they support, and wish to connect with their chosen charities on an emotional level. Emotion and involvement, and a desire for changes in basic issues that matter to them. Meanwhile, statistics from studies confirm that a greater percentage of women than men give to charity,and give a greater share of their income compared to men4: In 1996, the Alliance states, 71 percent of women gave to nonprofit organizations, compared to 65 percent of men. Women also gave a larger portion of their income to philanthropy; although as a group women earned 75 percent of men's total income, women's overall contribution to charity was 93 percent of men's.5 What Women Support The second section of the article talks about the kinds of causes/charities that women support, and how their philanthropic choices are shaping the practice of it. Several cited sources list education as a top cause for women's charitable giving, as do medical causes, feminist causes, scientific causes, the humanities and the arts. Women's causes as they relate to corporate success for females in America is an emergent cause for women's philanthropy, as do other emergent causes where women are able to commence things and enact change. This is opposed to men who tend to give to support the existing order of things, and who give to arts and the humanities as a top cause6. Consensus The third section details consensus with regard to women and philanthropy, and that consensus includes that women's role in philanthropy in general will continue to expand and evolve: “Although opinions diverge on how and to whom women give, there is nearly universal agreement on one point: women play a key role in philanthropy”7. Proof includes that women-founded and women-run charities have ballooned from five to 100 by year 2000; the increasing share of the total wealth being managed by women, and the corollary expected increase in charity giving by women as a result; an increase in the percentage of women at the head of nonprofits from 25 percent in 1982 to about 52 percent in 1999; and the increase in the total percentage of women in program officer posts in charities, to 70 percent by 1999, from just over half in 1982; that woman, by 2000, comprised majority of the members of the AFP, or Association of Fundraising Professionals8. Fast forward to 2011, and the findings of more recent studies largely confirm the widening and increasingly important role of women in philanthropy. A recent study from the University of Indiana Women's Philanthropy Institute points to findings that there is a 40 percent greater likelihood for women to give than men, that women give at a greater frequency than the opposite sex, and that women in general give more across all levels of income. The same findings in 2000 hold for 2011, meanwhile, with regard to how women give, and that is that women give to causes that they are able to emotionally and existentially relate to, or to causes that are related to the concerns of their families. On the other hand, as opposed to the 2000 findings, 2011 findings rank the arts as a cause that is low in the priority of women with regards to giving. On the other hand, the top causes for women giving are international causes (55 percent greater likelihood to donate for women than men), religious groups (42 percent greater likelihood for women), and youth and family organizations (32 percent greater likelihood). Widowed, divorced and separated females, meanwhile, are among the top philanthropists9. Other sources point to women's causes, and causes that are related to aiding women who are in need, as a top priority for women philanthropic efforts, affirming the results of the 2000 article10. III. Conclusion The article posits that women give differently and more, compared to men, and women philanthropists are reshaping its practice and its character, to one that is less involved with giving to preserve the order of things, to one that is more involved with women's issues and the place of women in business and in society in general. These findings in 2000 are largely corroborated by more recent studies that women give to causes that are important to them, that they want emotional connection to their objects of charity, and that they are more involved in general not only in giving but in the institutions of giving11. References Coffman, Suzanne. 2000. “Women and Philanthropy”. Philanthropic Research. Kelly, Jessica. 2011. “How Women Are Changing Philanthropy”. American Association of University Women. Accessed 5 April 2012, http://blog-aauw.org/2011/01/21/women-changing-philanthropy/ Newcomb, Tim. 2011. “The Charity Divide: Study Shows Women More Generous Givers than Men”. Time Magazine. Accessed 5 April 2012, http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2048696,00.html Read More