Study Says Funding Women’s Causes Helps Everyone

A new study of focus group participants who are potential planned giving candidates - the vast majority are highly educated donors who make more than $100,000 per year - finds that they believe the increasingly sophisticated marketing of women's causes is having a positive impact on society at large.

The study combines surveys of a nationally representative sample with focus group interviews of 51 donors who give to the United Way or to various women's funds. The study does not address specific types of charitable giving, but the profile of the focus group members makes them possible candidates for planned gifts:

• 84% in the focus groups made more than $100,000/year, while 53% made more than $200,000.
• 96% in the focus groups had bachelor's degrees, while 63% had master's degrees or doctorate/professional degrees.
• The average age in the focus groups was 57.

"We found support among both donors and non-donors that the data and language used to motivate giving to women and girls has become increasingly sophisticated and has successfully connected women's causes to broader societal issues," the study authors wrote. "In particular, both women's fund and United Way donors expressed the message that by supporting women, donors can impact families, neighborhoods and communities, and even entire societies.

"In their early years women's funds' language centered on 'funding for women and girls.' Today women's funds use phrases such as 'advancing leadership' and 'economic security' ... This is a notable development. Using more sophisticated language provides opportunities for nonprofits working in this arena to reach new donors, possibly those interested in the bigger issues such as economic security who may not be focused on funding for women and girls as a mechanism to reach that goal."

The study, Giving to Women and Girls: Who Gives, and Why?, is by the Women's Philanthropy Institute of Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. It also looked at the Million Dollar List maintained by the Lilly School and found that $6.22 billion in large gifts was directed specifically to women's and girls' causes between 2000 and 2014. Many of those were direct gifts from foundations. That represented 1.2% of the total value of Million Dollar List gifts. The survey part of the study was of respondents whose charitable giving was much less, averaging $1,600 in 2014.