Dear Colleagues,
Over the past year, the Women’s Funding Network, Candid, and a cohort of member organizations have been building something that will shift how funders understand their own impact: a data tool that helps us see the collective outcomes of funding decisions on the nonprofit sector. This intersectional tool, launching at Unity Summit at the end of October, allows funders, movements, and researchers to analyze leadership and funding patterns at the intersection of race and gender, revealing inequities often hidden in aggregate data.
The process of creating the tool wasn’t linear. It was relational, rooted in co-creation and power-sharing, values at the heart of feminist philanthropy. These are practices shaped by Black feminist thought and strengthened by what we learn every day by being in community with this incredible network of women’s funds.
Together, we navigated limitations, shared expertise, and built trust through transparency. The result is not just a tool, but an example of how data infrastructure and project design can reflect the values it measures. The dashboard’s early findings show persistent patterns of under-resourcing for organizations led by women of color. Our goal is to make it easier for funders and donors to analyze the collective impact of funding strategies on the people who lead and staff and are served by nonprofits, and to invite reflection, revision of policies, and stronger strategies to advance equity.
Read more about our process of co-creation.
Sincerely,
Sara Keilholtz
Women’s Funding Network
Senior Director of Data and Strategic Insights