Press Releases

New York, NY and San Francisco — June 23, 2009. Foundation giving specifically targeted to benefit women and girls has surpassed the rate of overall foundation giving in recent years, and women's funds are a rapidly growing and influential force within philanthropy, according to a new report jointly released today by The Foundation Center and the Women's Funding Network.

Philanthropists and sisters, Ambassador Swanee Hunt and Helen LaKelly Hunt, together with the Women’s Funding Network, today announced that Women Moving Millions, a groundbreaking initiative to inspire gifts of one million dollars and above to effect lasting social change by improving the lives of women and girls, has exceeded its $150 million fundraising goal.

Women's Funding Network Chief Program Officer Deborah Richardson will be among five women and men recognized for their commitment to stopping the prostitution of children in Georgia at the “Lighting up the Future” fundraiser on Jan. 28, 2009, benefiting A Future. Not A Past, a statewide campaign to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The fundraiser will be held at The Westin Peachtree Plaza in downtown Atlanta.

The Women’s Funding Network marks World Poverty Day on October 17, 2008 by asking individuals and organizations to take a simple act to combat poverty by recycling unused cell phones.

ATLANTA (September 12, 2008) – The Atlanta Women’s Foundation (AWF) announced that Barbara J. Mosacchio will become its chief executive officer. Barbara will officially join AWF on November 10, 2008, Emily-May Richards, AWF Board Chair and CFO/COO of The Shoptaw Group announced today.

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) at the XVII International Aids Conference held a press conference on the 6th of August to showcase the work being done by African women’s organizations in combating the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and launched a progress report showcasing the achievements of AWDF’s HIV/AIDS fund.

With gifts from five dollars to $1 million, the Fund is pleased to announce that it surpassed its $3-million goal and raised $3.5 million to support women and girls’ causes throughout Chester County. Funds raised will be evenly distributed to the Fund’s three endowments for grants, operations and girls’ programs. The Fund reached an historic milestone this year with the campaign, becoming the first women’s fund in the country with an endowment specifically for girls programs.

Philanthropists and sisters, Ambassador Swanee Hunt and Helen LaKelly Hunt in partnership with the Women’s FundingNetwork (www.wfnet.org), today announced the launch of Women Moving Millions, a groundbreaking initiative to inspire gifts of one million dollars and above to effect lasting social change through improving the lives of women and girls. The initiative’s goal is to raise $150 million by April 2009, which will propel the collective grant-making and assets of women’s foundations worldwide over the $1 billion mark.

UNIFEM, the women’s fund at the United Nations, and the Women’s Funding Network, a global network of 124 women’s funds, have called for greater investment in equal opportunities for women as a key to combating global poverty. The UNIFEM-Women’s Funding Network collaboration is in response to increasing evidence that women hold critical — yet often untapped — potential in helping to improve the economic prospects of communities and societies as a whole. The partnership will centre on a public awareness campaign on October 17, World Poverty Day.