Women to Watch

Snapshots of 23 women who are leading, innovating, building movements, and influencing philanthropy in a big way.

Head of the Class

Melinda Gates

Her fame, advocacy, and leadership of America’s largest foundation make her the dean of women philanthropists. The 51-year-old encourages women to advocate for issues important to them and is a driving force in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts. Its giving to date: $37 billion.

Influencers

Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen

An influential adviser to fellow Silicon Valley philanthropists, she founded the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. She also created an operating foundation to provide free online philanthropy-education resources and started SV2 to encourage tech entrepreneurs to give more generously and effectively. She is 45.

Laurene Powell Jobs

The 52-year-old widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs started the Emerson Collective, a limited-liability corporation that gives money to social entrepreneurs and education leaders. Last year she gave $50 million through the organization for XQ: The Super School Project, which aims to create a new model for public schools. Some leading women philanthropists point to her as a model.

Movement Builders

Helen LaKelly Hunt

A daughter of the late oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, she co-founded Women Moving Millions, a donor network whose members have collectively given more than $500 million to women’s and girls’ charities. She also had a hand in starting the Women’s Funding Network and women’s foundations in New York and Dallas. She has poured much of her wealth into women’s causes: The $8.5-million Sister Fund that she started gave out about $932,000 in grants in 2014, according to its most recent tax filings. She is 67.

Claire Cohen

Swanee Hunt

The 66-year-old former U.S. ambassador to Austria founded the women and public policy program at Harvard’s Kennedy School and launched Women Moving Millions with sister Helen. She also started Swanee Hunt Alternatives, a $16 million private operating foundation that works to involve women in conflict-zone peace processes, end prostitution, and aid leaders of U.S. social movements.

Sheryl Sandberg

The Facebook chief operating officer and Lean In author gave $31 million in stock last year to her donor-advised fund. She backs anti-poverty programs, efforts to fight hunger, education groups, and nonprofits that help women and girls. She is 46.

Jacqueline Zehner

The first female trader to become a partner at Goldman Sachs is the founding president of Women Moving Millions. The 51-year-old also runs her family’s $13 million foundation, which supports faith-based causes and programs that help women and girls.

Activist Donors

Delores Barr Weaver

She is best known for supporting work to prevent teenage pregnancy, fight rape and sexual assault in the military, and help girls trapped in sex trafficking or caught up in the juvenile-justice system. She also backs education, senior citizens’ groups, and veterans charities. She has given more than $100 million to charity on her own and another $60 million with her husband, shoe-store magnate Wayne Weaver.

Dennis Jourdan Photography

Adela Cepeda

A Colombian immigrant and founder of a financial-advisory firm, she co-founded Nuestro Futuro, which supports groups that serve low-income Hispanics in the Chicago area. The 58-year-old has helped the charity raise $6 million. She also personally backs women’s causes and arts groups.

Susan Crown

A partner at investment firm Henry Crown & Company, she was chairman of the Crown Family Philanthropies for 26 years and in 2009 created the Susan Crown Exchange, which works with small nonprofits to foster character traits like grit, empathy, and perseverance in at-risk youths. The group gave about $2.5 million to nonprofits last year. She is 57.

The “New Wave”

Priscilla Chan

Christophe Wu

A child of Chinese immigrants, the 31-year-old pediatrician and wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has major influence on the couple’s charitable efforts and their new Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Her early volunteer work opened her eyes to the problems and needs of underprivileged kids and helps inform the couple’s thinking on education.

Katherine Lorenz

A granddaughter of the late oilman George Mitchell, she has led her family’s approximately $76 million foundation since 2011 (though she plans to step down in 2019). The 37-year-old co-founded Puente a la Salud Comunitaria, a food charity in rural Mexico, and is chair of the Philanthropy Workshop, a British organization. She commits 10 percent of her annual income to charity and is a frequent speaker on next-generation philanthropy and nonprofit leadership.

Cari Tuna

With her husband, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, the 30-year-old former Wall Street Journal reporter founded the Open Philanthropy Project, which uses data and academic research to identify overlooked, high-potential causes and organizations. They also have a foundation, Good Ventures, through which they’ve given $77 million.

Major Players

Susan Buffett

The 62-year-old daughter of investment legend Warren Buffett leads her $2 billion Sherwood Foundation, which focuses on social justice, poverty alleviation, and early-childhood education. The foundation gets more than $100 million each year from Mr. Buffett and directs almost all of it to charity.

Courtesy Bita Daryabari

Bita Daryabari

The Iranian-American, who was married to one of Google’s earliest employees, has a net worth of about $500 million and has given away at least $30 million. She started the Pars Equality Center, a nonprofit that helps Iranian immigrants, and the Unique Zan Foundation, which helps girls and women in the Middle East. She also supports Persian arts and culture programs at U.S. universities. She is 47.

Lyda Hill

A granddaughter of H.L. Hunt, she founded a venture-capital firm with a division that backs biomedical companies. The 73-year-old has a $9.5 million foundation and has given more than $256 million personally to charity. Some of her largest donations have gone to medical centers, mental-health programs, nature museums, and ocean-conservation efforts.

Sheila Johnson

A co-founder of BET with a reported net worth of about $700 million, she has given roughly $20 million through her foundation. She primarily supports arts groups, children’s charities, and education. She is 67.

Second Generation

Georgina and Emma Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg’s daughters got an early start in philanthropy. Georgina founded the Rider’s Closet, a therapeutic-riding charity that provides used riding clothes and boots for needy equestrians. An animal-welfare advocate, the 33-year-old volunteers with the Humane Society of the United States, helping its efforts to rescue mistreated dogs and shut down puppy mills. Her sister, Emma, 37, once worked at New York’s Robin Hood Foundation and now sits on the anti-poverty group’s board.

Liesel Pritzker Simmons

A 32-year-old heiress to the Pritzker family’s hotel fortune, she co-founded the Blue Haven Initiative, a private family firm that invests in socially and environmentally conscious businesses. She also created ImPact, a nonprofit that aims to increase impact investing through a peer-learning network. She gave $4 million to Opportunity International for microfinance programs in Africa.

Next Up

Sara Blakely

The founder of shapewear company Spanx signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 but says she is still focused on building her business. She has yet to do much big giving but says she will aim to help women and girls. Her foundation has $23 million in assets, according to its most recent available tax filing. She is 45.

Judith Faulkner

She founded Epic Systems, which develops health-care software, in 1979 and today has a net worth pegged at $2.7 billion. She said last year that she plans to bequeath 99 percent of her Epic shares to create a foundation to support health care, improve education, and promote peace, among other efforts.

Diane Greene

The founder of tech companies VMware and Bebop Technologies serves on the board of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. She got a $148 million windfall last year when Alphabet bought Bebop. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, she plans to put the stock into a donor-advised fund.

Mellody Hobson

The Chicago financier and wife of filmmaker George Lucas is a vocal advocate for financial literacy and investor education. The 47-year-old also serves on the board of the Chicago Public Education Fund, among other organizations.