Providing a Vision of Collective Impact
Women’s funds offer a unique model for philanthropy that creates deep-rooted, systemic change through the empowerment of women and girls. In the Southeastern United States, a region too often characterized by its problems, 12 women’s funds are creating change with their vision of the enormous potential for women and girls to be the solution to entrenched poverty and social inequalities.
As members of Women’s Funding Network, the funds share approaches to common problems in their communities, as well as knowledge of the importance of working collectively with funds everywhere to achieve global gender equality. In 2011, the members needed a clearer picture of how their investments in various communities were improving the region as a whole. Women’s Funding Network worked with the 12 member funds to present the common context and collective impact they are achieving.
In the process, the women’s funds identified their shared priorities and developed a common vocabulary for the key issues, approaches, and areas of social change in their work. The result goes beyond a simple overview of regional grantmaking, embodying a shared commitment to build a better future for women and girls in the South.
