| New analysis from the Center for Global Development suggests there are few women in senior roles at US think tanks. Our ten minutes of scanning the lists of think tanks’ stated “governance experts” suggests the balance may be a little better but there is still a male predominance.
Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, is asking philanthropy organization focused on women’s rights to think beyond “women empowerment” and invest directly in women’s movements around the globe. Her argument? “If even a fraction of US foundations acknowledged the critical role of consciousness-raising, coalition-building, and advocacy—and funded accordingly—we could be exponentially closer to achieving women’s rights.” Girard is frustrated at the persistence of project funding versus core, long term support, so might be cheered that 5 foundations (including 4 TAI members) have come together to devise a way to stop the ‘starvation’ cycle among their grantees.
For his part, Jeff Raikes, co-founder of the Raikes Foundation, is calling on CEOs and philanthropic leaders who have profited from systemic inequality to listen to the individuals who have been most harmed by it. He asked us to discover how shifting from generosity to justice can transform our society (more on this from Ford Foundation in the TAI Spotlight section).
Hear from grantees of the Segal Family Foundation on what they are looking for in a funder. How does this match with what you look for from, say, TAI members? The Segal grantees touch on some of the same themes highlighted in TAI’s Smarter Grantmaking for Grantees guide – asking tough questions, exchanging ideas, and more.
As a donor collaborative we are always living change in the donor community, so enjoyed reading the history of Nesta’s evolution from small ‘quango’ to large impact investor.
Finally, to help us reduce the amount of bad events we put on, the OpenGov Hub has released version 2 of the Guide to Great Events. Hope you use it.
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