The Women & Girls Index (WGI) released by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University in 2019, finds that charitable giving to women’s and girls’ causes makes up a small portion of overall philanthropy in the U.S.
The WGI concludes that only 3.3% of U.S. nonprofits are exclusively dedicated to women and girls. And incredibly, of those organizations, they receive just 1.6% of overall charitable giving.
Although there is perhaps a general perception of increased conversation and dedication to gender issues in public discourse, the WGI indicates that significant work still needs to be done with regard to raising awareness and generating financial support for women’s and girls’ organizations.
The results of the WGI report quantify the experience of Mary’s Pence as an ally and a funder of women’s and girls’ causes for more than 30 years. In fact, Mary’s Pence was founded to direct funding to women-led programs serving women on the margins of society.
The WGI publication also indicates that, on average, organizations dedicated to women and girls are substantially smaller, specifically with regard to overall budgets and staffing. “As a whole,” the report concludes, “organizations dedicated to women and girls appear to being doing more with less.”
That affirms the work of Mary’s Pence to not only award grants to small-sized organizations for women and girls, but to also help those organizations develop the necessary resources and skills to grow their capacity and contribute in more substantial ways.
To view the Women’s Philanthropy Institute online report “The Women & Girls Index: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Causes,” click here.