Women funders focused on equity are revamping their strategies, as financially imperiled nonprofits face a series of federal policy changes that attempt to defund and ban DEI programs. In some cases, the women funders are increasing their giving to existing grantees and expanding the causes they support.
Philanthropy groups have started collecting data on how the nonprofit sector is handling Trump administration policy changes that largely affect low-income and marginalized people. Women Moving Millions, a New York City-based funders group, is the latest to take the temperature of philanthropists. In an internal survey of 40 of its 125 active members, the majority said they were “deeply worried” about the impacts of the current political environment on their grantees and were changing their philanthropy to help organizations fill funding gaps.
“We were hearing from our membership that they were increasing their gifts — that they were working in support of their grantee partners, that they were investing more locally,” said CEO Sarah Haacke Byrd. “We wanted to do the survey so that we could understand the full scope of response.”
The mission of Women Moving Millions is to strengthen the ecosystem for movements fighting for women’s and girl’s rights globally. Members commit to spend a total $1 million or more.
About 54 percent of the survey respondents said they planned to increase their giving over the next 12 months. Many also said they wanted to move beyond traditional funding models and give more globally to areas that grantee organizations have told them are essential to continuing their work, such as employee self-care initiatives, human resources assistance, and legal aid.
Women Moving Millions did not disclose the names of survey participants. However, the Chronicle of Philanthropy spoke to members about how to give effectively to gender equity groups as they face a turbulent future.
Be an advocate for your grantees.
Board member Jennifer Risher, a megadonor and proponent of quickly moving money from donor-advised funds to nonprofits, said she is increasing her giving and encouraging peers in her network to do the same. Risher added she has been “doubling down” on her support for gender equity work and checking in with grantees to see what they need.
“That organization might not exist in the future if we don’t give now,” she said. “Staying present and acting now is really important.”
Financial instability is among the biggest hardships nonprofit leaders are confronting, according to a recent report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy.
Some of Risher’s grantees have lost federal and private grant funding. For example, Prospera Community Development, an Oakland-based nonprofit that provides business training to Latina entrepreneurs, recently told Risher that it would no longer receive funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. CZI gave Prospera a two-year, $500,000 award in 2023 but recently ended its DEI and social advocacy funding. Learning of this news, Risher said she immediately contacted funders in her network, including Women Moving Millions members, to help raise money for Prospera.
“I think these networks are so important,” Risher said. “It’s about connection and coming together.”
Work collaboratively.
Funder collaboratives like Women Moving Millions have been growing in popularity among philanthropists and can play a critical role in directing funders to the most pressing nonprofit needs, Haacke Byrd said. Women Moving Millions has been educating its members about the connections between gender equality and democracy and the ways in which increased political and economic polarization could affect the organizations they support, she said.
“We have been preparing our membership for this moment and helping them to understand that philanthropy has both the power and responsibility to respond,” she said.
In some cases, Women Moving Millions members have united to back causes like women’s health research that, along with other research focused on diversity, has been subjected to federal funding cuts in recent months. Several group members helped raise more than $600,000 to enable a researcher to continue studies of a possible cure for morning sickness, Risher said.
The group also has raised money for Women Moving Millions member Jen Rainin, who is making a documentary that will spotlight transgender soldiers, whom the Trump administration banned from serving in the military. Rainin heads the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, which is named after her father. It funds arts, education, and health programs.
Consider portfolio expansion.
Two-thirds of survey respondents said they were considering funding new issues, including local LGBTQ and racial equity-focused groups. As a whole, Women Moving Millions has pledged $10 million to Global Philanthropy Project’s “Fund Our Futures” campaign to support global LGBTQ movements.
Other areas where members are extending their giving are legal aid, international relations, anti-corruption and pro-democracy efforts, and film and media, Women Moving Millions said. That means investing across sectors, Haacke Byrd said.
“Our movements, collectively, are under threat and under attack, not just here domestically but globally,” Haacke Byrd said. “So we have to work in solidarity and lock arms with the LGBTQ+ movement, with the movements that are fighting for racial equity, with the climate movement, and with the global health movement.”
Don’t be afraid to say “no.”
While it is important that funders consider expanding their grant-making portfolio to include more causes, they also need to know how to prioritize and where to draw the line, Women Moving Millions members said. For Risher, that has meant saying “no” to some organizations seeking funds .
“I can’t do it all, and instead of feeling bad and guilty about that, I focus on what I can do,” she said.
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation is providing flexible, multi-year grants to existing grantees but has been reluctant to stray too far outside of its core mission of supporting arts, early childhood education, and health programs, Jen Rainin said. This is a disorienting period for funders and nonprofits, and there is an impulse to try and respond to everything, but that is not sustainable, Rainin noted.
“As the dust begins to settle and the new reality of what your situation is starts to get clear, we have to look at what we do particularly well,” she said.
The current sociopolitical environment is like a fire that causes a lot of chaos and destruction but will eventually burn out, said Rainin. And once that happens, the ground will be fertile again. Funders should start thinking about what seeds they can plant and help grow now, she said, adding: “In my personal opinion, I would like to see LGBTQ+ people, women in particular, safe and valued and accepted in our society and acknowledged for our contributions.”
