Reprinted with permission of the Times Union, Albany, NY 2/11/94
By Donna Liquori, staff writer
Easing into a new role as philanthropists
Donations are seen as a way to initiate a social agenda
Two years ago, Joanne Beck took a trip to Israel through the United Jewish Federation.
She visited a
children's center for preschoolers and a school for Ethiopian refugees. Both
programs were funded by the
federation.
Seeing the group's work firsthand prompted the Russell Sage
College administrator to become more
involved. She now donates $1,500 a year to the federation and is organizing
another trip for women to Israel.
Beck is part of a new wave of women making donations to
charities and institutions. She's also an example
of what researchers are seeing of the way women approach philanthropy.
As women become more educated, affluent and powerful, they
are easing into a new role for themselves as
philanthropists.
"I don't take my husband's money, I take it out of my own coffers," Beck said.
A study by the National Network on Women as Philanthropists
showed that women were making
philanthropic decisions in 32 percent of households, men 23 percent. In 38 percent
of the households, a
man and a woman shared responsibility.
Women are a resource, said Karen Hausler, the campaign co-chair
of the women's division of the United
Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York. "They're not just picking out
napkin colors."
Philanthropy, for women, is also becoming a way of voicing
values. "As donors, we increase our own
political and social importance and help to establish the social agenda,"
said Ronda Nager Ross, the
director of the women's division of the local Jewish Federation.
The federation has seen a steady rise in the percentage
of their annual fund-raising dollars that comes from
women, Ross said.
In 1988, the donations from women made up 13.83 percent
or $355,876 of the $2,831,178 the federation
raised. In 1993, women gave 18.08 percent of the total, or $449,555 of $2,390,611.
Those percentages don't
include the women who make donations jointly with their husbands.
As a result of the trend, the national federation recently
convened a special task force to study "Women As
a Federation Resource."
Hausler also donates $1,500 a year to the federation and
proudly wears a silver pomegranate pin on lapel.
The Pomegranate Division is for members who give $1,500 annually.
"The way women give is very different. They (women)
don't start giving until they know the cause," said
Shula Neufeld, the director of the women's division.
Ross said women want to know exactly how their money will be used.
Data collected by the National Network on Women as Philanthropists
suggests that women are more
insecure about their future finances and tend to be more careful with how their
money is used. The
network's profile of women philanthropists, based on interviews with 100 female
donors, shows that women
view charitable gifts as an investment, requiring careful research.
Andrea Kaminski, the associate director of the network,
which is based at the University of Wisconsin, said
women also tend to give to organizations that benefit women and girls.
"I think it's a natural outgrowth of the development
of the women's movement," said Bob Bothwell, the
executive director of the National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy.
He said the increase in the number of women philanthropists
has occurred during the last 10 years. While
the women's movement started out focusing on issues concerning equity, discrimination
and reproductive
rights, it's now moved toward funding programs and organizations that will bring
forth those changes, he
said.
Ross said women generally live longer than their husbands
and find themselves in control of the family's
money. More institutions are realizing that importance of that resource.
That's how one local college got its start. Margaret Olivia
Slocum Sage established Russell Sage College
after its namesake, her husband, died and left her $70 million. He had a reputation
as a tightwad and a
misogynist, said Mary Ann Oppenheimer, the school's director of corporate and
foundation relations.
Mainstream organizations are now cashing in on what women's
colleges have known all along: that women
give to things they believe in. Wellesley College in Massachusetts recently
raised $167 million, which
Oppenheimer called the "single most successful campaign in education."
That campaign is influencing
women's colleges.
Up until recent years "it wasn't even considered particularly nice to ask a woman for money," she said.
Now institutions are rethinking the way they approach women
for donations. "In the past institutions would
not approach a woman for donations even though it might be the case that the
woman is the alum," said
Candace Groudine, the assistant vice president for development at the University
at Albany.
And that's only changed in the past decade, she said.
Now, 46 percent of the university's donors are women. Among alumni it is closer to 50 percent, she said.
The university is targeting women as donors for a new program,
Initiatives for Women, which will aid women
seeking to return to college, help with child care and provide other incentives
to women, Groudine said.
"The history of women philanthropists isn't as well known," Groudine said.
But that's changing. "Society is listening," said
Christine R. Hoek, vice president of development and alumni
affairs for Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.
"The power is finally being accorded to them," Hoek said.
A research team at theUniversity of Wisconsin Economics
Department analyzed responses to the 1990
Independent Sector/Gallup Organization Survey, which studied households'
philanthropic behavior and attitudes toward giving. Among
the findings:
Fifty-nine percent of women compared with 47 percent of
men responded that they are
motivated by the belief that those with moreshould help those with less.
Eighty-one percent of women and 69 percent of men reported
they gave to charities, but the average contribution
of female givers was about half that of male givers.
Almost 25 percent of women donated to programs focusing
on youth development, compared to 14 percent
of women and 17 percent of men gave to human services organizations.
Women gave to environmental groups and the arts, culture
and humanities at a rate about 5 percent higher
than men.
Men were more likely to contribute to organizations concerned
with public/society benefit, adult recreation,
work-related causes and political campaigns.
Women's giving increased with age up to the years 45 to
54. Giving decreased for
women between ages 55 and 64, and then increased again for women over 65.
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