Women Moving Millions

Michael Seltzer shares the inspiring story of Women Moving Millions, a campaign launched by the San Francisco-based Women's Funding Network and philanthropists Helen LaKelly Hunt and her sister, Swanee Hunt. 

Seltzer reports how WMM recently passed the $110 million mark, and is well within striking distance of its ambitious $150 million goal. He writes:

To date, sixty-five women from around the United States as well as six other countries have made contributions of $1 million or more to one of the network's 130-plus member organizations. Those organizations work to secure economic and social opportunities for women around the world and are the first line of support for thousands of community-based organizations that seek to meet the daily needs of women and their families.

In New England, a woman made a million-dollar contribution anonymously when she first learned of the campaign though a news article. In Dallas, a donor who planned to give $250,000 to the Dallas Women's Foundation decided to increase her gift to $1 million after she learned about Women Moving Millions.

This is an organization that is demonstrating the true "She Spot" potential that I highlighted in my recent Rootscamp 2008 post about treating women as the target market, not the niche market for political, corporate and charitable campaigns. Seltzer shares similar ideas on why every campaign should not only include women, but capitalize on their incredible depth as consumers, activists and brand evangelists:

1. Women now control more than 50 percent of the nation's wealth. According to the Federal Reserve, women now control 51.3 percent of the private wealth in the United States, compared to 7.2 percent in 1860.

2. Women's giving is relational. Women Moving Millions co-chairs Helen LaKelly Hunt and and Chris Grumm, president and CEO of the Women's Funding Network, knew from years of experience that women are more likely to give in concert with other women rather than in isolation from each other. The genius of Women Moving Millions is its creation of a self-identified donor community.

3. Women are especially attuned to the challenges that confront those with limited financial resources. It is not unusual for women to identify with those who are less fortunate. Indeed, poverty has been a major priority for women's funds, with 80 percent of the funding from such funds targeting women with little or no income.

4. Women have been at the forefront of social change. Extraordinary women throughout history have worked to ameliorate human suffering. Think of Clara Barton, who tended to the sick and dying on the battlefields of the Civil War and whose efforts led to the creation of the American Red Cross; Jane Addams, who established one of the first settlement houses in the country in Chicago in 1889; or Osceola McCarty, a local washerwoman in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who became the University of Southern Mississippi's most famous benefactor.

5. Women give in different ways than men. Having their names on buildings is often the least important consideration for women donors. Often, in fact, they prefer anonymity and/or seek more intangible rewards from their giving.

In addition, watch this video that explains the "power in numbers" of WMM:

This is a great example of how the Third Wave of feminism is becoming defined by the idea of consumer parity. You can read more about how Women Moving Millions is creating "a new paradigm that has the potential to change philanthropy forever, one that is truly democratic, with women of wealth in equal partnership with women leaders at the grassroots" over at the original article, here.