Helen LaKelly Hunt says women’s philanthropy rocks.
Only she says it in more eloquent terms in a commentary this week in Women’s e-News called "Sharing the Wealth: Female Philanthropists Open Up."
Helen is no stranger to philanthropy, feminism or women’s funds. She is the founder of The Sister Fund and has been active with her sister, Swanee Hunt, founder of the Hunt Alternatives Fund, in starting and fostering women’s funds throughout the country. Helen is also the author of Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance.
Her story is very much one of how giving transforms not only those who receive, but the giver as well, much as Claudia Thorne has shared in her op-ed and on this blog and as has been discussed by Siobhan in our philanthropic education workshops.
Helen explains in her commentary, "My imagination was set ablaze by the possibilities offered by women’s funds. My sister Swanee and I both saw these emerging institutions as powerful vehicles for social change as they invited cross-race, cross-class alliances. Not only did grassroots women receive needed financial support and thus became stronger, but donors were transformed as well…While our goal was to empower other women, in the end, it is we who truly have been transformed."
It is a refrain not at all uncommon in the halls of The Women’s Foundation, or in the other forums where I’ve had the priviledge of participating in women acting and giving on behalf of other women.
And I have to ask, why does this refrain seem to be so much louder when women give on behalf of other women than it does when giving occurs in general? Is this a real phenomenon or just a perceived one? And if it is real, why does it occur?
It reminds me faintly of the resounding chorus of the returned Peace Corps volunteer told, "I really admire what you did…that was so giving and altruistic," and will invariably dissmissively reply, "Not really, I got far more from it than I gave."
In the case of the volunteer, "what I got" speaks very much to the sense of self-worth, empowerment and confidence that comes from spending time in an environment where every assumption, every idea, every thought about who you think you (and your country, culture and society) are is called into question at least 50 times a day.
Instead of breaking you down, this experience allows you to really get at the heart of your core beliefs about yourself and to own, or disown, those you may have been charged with that no longer fit.
The person who emerges is therefore stronger, with a sense of self that no longer relies on external assumptions for validation.
What were once accepted as universal truths are tested a social, cultural, economic or emotional assumptions that may or may not hold up under the illumination of a brighter sun in a strange land.
And I have to wonder if this is perhaps at the heart of the empowerment of women’s funding and philanthropy–and its mutually transformative nature.
Helen begins her article by expressing her disappointment at having learned that the women’s movement was largely funded by men in the beginning.
But the movement has come a long way, and women are now holding more than 51 percent of all assets in the country–and are starting to seriously give in the interest of women and girls.
And perhaps in so doing–in creating a space in which we are able to question and challenge assumptions about ourselves and our society–we have been able to challenge and, where appropriate, discard the biases that have been thrust upon us–and to emerge with a greater sense of our own confidence, empowerment and worth.
As individuals and as a collective.
For on a large and small scale, women’s philanthropy challenges prior (and current) assumptions held about women: That we couldn’t, or shouldn’t, manage (or make) money. Or that investing in the education and training of women wouldn’t yield a significant return. Or that our realm is the private confines of the home, rather than the public squares of community.
Whatever the assumption, perhaps our philanthropy is its antidote.
Our way of asserting, through ever dollar granted and every policy changed, that we, as women standing together, are now realizing, acknowledging and investing in our own worth.