Many nonprofits continue to hold on to decades-old fundraising strategies that primarily target men — specifically older white men. But those strategies could result in the loss of billions of dollars in donations as women are becoming wealthier and more engaged in philanthropy, experts say.
MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates have become two of the biggest names in philanthropy. Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has an estimated net worth of about $31 billion and has given away more than $17 billion, mostly since 2020. French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, recently walked away from the Gates Foundation with $12.5 billion and has pledged $1 billion for women’s causes through 2026.
With U.S. women expected to inherit up to $30 trillion over the next decade, according to the Bank of America Institute, many more could join their ranks. Already, women are changing the philanthropy world by spearheading more group funding approaches. Funding collectives, largely led and dominated by women, donated more than $3.1 billion from 2017 to 2023, data shows.
It’s clear that nonprofits must do a better job of appealing to these women if they want to tap into that wealth, said Jacqueline Ackerman, interim director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The school has published recommendations for how nonprofits can include women donors in their fundraising plans.
Women are overlooked or not properly engaged at every stage of the fundraising process, including in research that doesn’t examine them separately from their spouses or partners, she said. There hasn’t been enough research on women, and what does exist shows some key differences between the sexes, Ackerman said. Men tend to concentrate their giving on one or two organizations or causes, while women tend to give smaller amounts to a broader range of causes. Women also are more likely to give and to give higher amounts than their male counterparts, according to research from the Lilly Family School.
Nonprofits are “leaving money on the table” when they don’t engage with women, she said. However, it’s hard to make the case to fundraisers who are hitting their goals that they need to change strategy, she added, noting data from the most recent “Giving USA” report, which showed giving totals and the sources of giving — including individuals, foundations, corporations, and bequests — remained relatively steady from 2022 to 2023.
While some organizations are targeting women, “we still hear from plenty of women donors with horror stories, or we see examples of it not changing everywhere or across the board,” Ackerman said. For instance, women have reported giving gifts and then receiving “thank you” notes addressed to their husbands, she said.
Ackerman and other experts spoke to the Chronicle about how nonprofits could more effectively solicit donations from women.
Focus on Impact and Engagement
Opportunities to learn more about a cause and how their gifts will improve the circumstances of people’s lives can be appealing to women donors, Ackerman said. A common mistake nonprofits make when they approach couples is to gear their efforts toward the man, she said. Offers like naming a building or a program after the donor or setting up networking opportunities, such as meeting with board members, have historically appealed to men, she said.
“Women actually are turned off by such an offer,” Ackerman said. “They are less interested in what’s in it for them and more interested in what’s in it for the organization and the people impacted.”
Women want to hear stories and data, and they want to know how far their dollar will go, she said.
To that end, it is critical for nonprofits to offer opportunities for donors to engage with the work in a tangible way, said Kathy Rabon, a global board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and past chair of its global Women’s Impact Initiative. It also is useful to offer women opportunities to volunteer and interact with staff and communities, she said.
“Anything that gets donors’ hands dirty, feet wet, heart pulsing, or brings tears to their eyes are the types of experiences that you want them to have,” Rabon said.
Chances to Team Up
Opportunities to team up with other like-minded donors can be attractive to women, said Rabon, who also is president of Suncoast Hospice Foundation in Clearwater, Fla. In 2016, Suncoast launched its Women’s Giving Network to provide that kind of opportunity. The group currently has 47 members and has funded wound treatment certification for clinicians and end-of-life doula training for volunteers, among other projects.
The Women’s Giving Network provides a space for members to discuss issues and identify programs that they want to support — and it also allows Suncoast to learn more about the women’s interests and build relationships, Rabon said.
“Fundraising 101 is you always do your homework and build a relationship with the donor, regardless of gender,” she said.
Whether there are opportunities to build relationships can be a crucial deciding factor, said Bonita Banducci, who has studied women in philanthropic leadership and is a lecturer on gender and engineering at Santa Clara University.
Whether they’re vetting potential investment or funding opportunities, women enter with a “relational mindset” — meaning they evaluate whole systems in which the work will happen and how they can partner with others, including people with different experiences and perspectives, she said. That is why funding networks and alliances of nonprofits can be a powerful draw for women in philanthropy, she said.
Organizations need to ask themselves if they are creating avenues for women to do more than just write checks, said Mindi Laine, vice president of community and development at the Women Donors Network. Women are looking for ways to engage in a community and learn alongside other women, she said.
“Are they being encouraged as partners and advocates? Are they being asked to step into leadership roles?” Laine said. “Through collaboration and a defined purpose, women are most likely to activate and mobilize for the causes they care about most deeply.”
Be Your Best Advocate
Collective giving can present a challenge for traditional fundraising strategies because the groups tend to rely on member recommendations, said Michael Dennis Layton, W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University.
Typically, giving circle members nominate organizations and the group votes whether to support them. Giving circles aren’t waiting for a nonprofit to pitch them, he said.
Word-of-mouth is how nonprofits land on a giving circle’s radar. You need to have “evangelists” on your team, Layton said — people who deeply believe in the cause and feel compelled to share that message. And it shouldn’t just be the development team doing it, he said. Other staff, board members, and the people served by the organization need to be out there spreading the word.
“The more compelling your story is, the more urgency you feel in sharing it, that many more people are going to know about it, that many more news stories are going to be spread about it,” he said. “And you’ll be that much more successful.”
