FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 16, 2026
Women’s Funding Network Calls on Philanthropy to Shape the Future of Artificial Intelligence Through Shared Power
New Responsible AI in Philanthropy: A Feminist Framework lays the foundation for national conversations leading into the 2026 Women’s Funding Network Summit.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — As artificial intelligence reshapes economies, public infrastructure, and philanthropy, Women’s Funding Network (WFN) today released Responsible AI in Philanthropy: A Feminist Framework. The new resource invites philanthropy to approach artificial intelligence through the lens of shared power, community leadership, and gender justice.
The Framework emerges at a pivotal moment as funders increasingly grapple with the opportunities and risks presented by AI. Throughout conversations with Women’s Funding Network members, philanthropic partners, and prospective Summit supporters, one question surfaced repeatedly:
Why is Women’s Funding Network talking about artificial intelligence?
The answer is simple.
Artificial intelligence is transforming far more than technology. It is reshaping knowledge, labor, infrastructure, capital, and decision-making. As a result, it is also reshaping many of the issues that women’s funds have worked on for decades. That is why Women’s Funding Network believes this conversation belongs within gender justice philanthropy.
“For nearly four decades, Women’s Funding Network has helped philanthropy navigate periods of profound social and economic change by convening leaders, amplifying community voices, and strengthening the infrastructure of gender justice,” said Elizabeth Barajas-Román, President & CEO of Women’s Funding Network. “Artificial intelligence represents the next defining transformation. Our calling is to help ensure it advances shared power rather than deepen existing inequities.”
To help philanthropy navigate this moment, the Framework is organized around five guiding principles.
AI is a question of power, not simply technology.
Innovation without accountability can deepen existing inequities.
Communities must help define the future.
AI is infrastructure.
Philanthropy has a calling to shape what comes next.
The Framework reflects what women’s funds have long understood: lasting systems change requires accountable institutions, democratic participation, community leadership, and shared power. It also builds on Women’s Funding Network’s ongoing work through initiatives including DataWoven, Interpretation Commons, and InfraWatch Power, which help philanthropy better understand the intersection of data, infrastructure, lived experience, and equitable decision-making.
To introduce these ideas more broadly, Women’s Funding Network will launch a six-week social media campaign built around six questions that invite philanthropy into the conversation, including:
Who Gets to Decide?
Why Is AI a Gender Justice Issue?
What Does AI Actually Run On?
What If Better Data Started with Community Wisdom?
What Should Every Funder Be Asking About AI?
What Future Are We Building Together?
This work also sets the stage for the Women’s Funding Network Summit, Shared Power: Women, Capital, and AI in the Global Economy, on October 27, 2026, in New York City, where philanthropy, movement leaders, researchers, technologists, and advocates will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping communities—and how the sector can help ensure its benefits are shared equitably.
“We don’t see artificial intelligence as simply another emerging technology,” Barajas-Román added. “We see it as one of the defining infrastructure and governance challenges of our time. The choices philanthropy makes today will influence whether AI concentrates power or expands opportunity for generations to come.”
The Framework is available at Our Approach to AI – Women’s Funding Network.
Registration for the Women’s Funding Network Summit is now open at www.wfnsummit.org.
About Women’s Funding Network
Women’s Funding Network (WFN) is the world’s largest alliance of women’s funds, foundations, and gender justice funders, bringing together more than 120 members across 14 countries. For nearly four decades, WFN has strengthened the infrastructure of gender justice philanthropy by convening leaders, advancing research and data, fostering collaboration, and mobilizing resources to build a more equitable and inclusive world. Together, WFN members invest more than $1 billion annually to expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and advance lasting systems change.