Many people shy away from using the word philanthropy. That may be because it’s a long word—sometimes tricky to pronounce—and often associated with extreme wealth, complex systems, and institutional tools like grants. But at its core, philanthropy simply means giving. The word’s Greek root translates to “love of humankind,” which frames philanthropy as something deeply human—even perhaps our moral responsibility to give what we can for the love of humanity. By that definition, anyone who reaches out a hand to help someone else is a philanthropist.
In her podcast interview with Dr. Nancy, Sarah, Duchess of York, identified herself as a global humanitarian and “philanthrepreneur,” who firmly believes that giving literally saved her life. She said that when life and the future seemed uncertain and bleak, her belief in goodness, kindness, and faith, and bestowing that on someone else restored it to herself. Giving became her anchor, her purpose, and ultimately, her way of life.
One of the primary benefits of philanthropy is that it makes you feel good when you give by releasing dopamine. That means the first person you help is yourself. It doesn’t matter how much or what resources you give to get the benefit; any amount of time, talent, ties, or treasure will work. In their blog, “7 Steps to Becoming a Philanthropist,” the Groundswell team lists many more benefits, including the sense of community and reduced stress from volunteering, connectivity to the world and the things that really matter, social interaction and opportunities to meet others who are committed to similar causes, and even improved skills—hard and soft—like organization, leadership, and fundraising. Most of all, it’s the feeling that you truly are making a difference in the world and contributing to something bigger than yourself.
At Women Connect4Good, we walk the talk to deliver on all the T’s—time, talent, ties, and treasure to support women and girls and their advancement toward equality in all things—pay, opportunities, and leadership. Our team spends its time producing content to create awareness of critical needs, separate fact from fiction, and show why it is so important for all of us to support and lift one another up. We have an extraordinarily talented team, all of whom are dedicated to our purpose, and we support other organizations that are working for a similar purpose with sponsorships (treasure), connections, collaborations, and partnerships (ties at all levels). We meet someone new doing incredible work on behalf of women and girls almost daily. These are the people we invite to tell their stories on “Smart Amazing Conversations with Dr. Nancy.” In some cases, they write guest blog posts or invite Dr. Nancy to participate in events, share her story, or even co-author a book, like Mission Matters: Mission-Based Leaders Share Inspiring Stories on Leadership and Success.
Why women’s equality? First of all, it’s poor economics to pay nearly half of the world’s population less than the other, and it certainly makes poor business sense to keep all that talent from serving at their maximum potential. In 2023, CNBC reported, “Narrowing the difference in wages between men and women in the labor force can boost the world’s economy by about 7% — or $7 trillion, according to Moody’s Analytics.” In kitchen table economics, the Center for American Progress said that means “…the typical woman working full time, year-round earning the equivalent wage of her male counterpart would have received an additional $9,900 in wages—more than what earners in the 40th to 50th percentile spent on average on food or rent in 2022.” Most resources then go on to point out the broader effects of 40% reduced poverty, higher productivity, increased taxes to governments, more economic stability for everyone, and more.
Yet these benefits only scratch the surface. Women’s equality was listed as “Sustainable Development Goal #5” (SDG 5) by the United Nations in 2015. The SDGs identified problems that needed to be fixed for the world to survive sustainably into the future, with a goal to end them all by 2030. Each year, the UN charts the progress—improvement or decline—of all 17 SDGs. UN Women explains the importance of women’s equality to the sustainability of the planet. “When their [women] lives are improved, the benefits reverberate across society. Access to decent work and regular income in the hands of women, for example, contributes not only to poverty reduction (SDG 1) but also supports better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for women and girls and those who depend on them (SDGs 2, 3 and 4).” In other words, fixing women’s equality impacts the top four requirements for sustainability for the world.
Clearly, we need to allocate more resources to advance gender equality, and many women and men are actively working on this issue. However, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would permanently establish this as a federal law, has not been added to the Constitution—despite meeting all of the ratification requirements, and states vary, with some having similar laws in place, but it’s a patchwork at best. Women remain underrepresented at all levels in business and government too, and women-led startups receive less than half the venture capital than those of men, yet deliver 10% more over a five-year period, according to Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge.
The gender gap in charitable giving is even greater. “Philanthropic support for women’s and girls’ organizations totaled $8.8 billion in 2020, remaining less than 2% of overall charitable giving…, which was $486.3 billion,” reported The Giving List Women: Doing It Differently, citing WPI’s Women & Girls Index (WGI), the only comprehensive data on organizations dedicated to women and girls. That makes only 1.81% of all charitable giving available to help women and girls. This includes well-known organizations like Women Moving Millions and smaller grassroots organizations working in communities.
The Giving List Women: Doing It Differently, published in 2024, included a curated list of organizations benefiting women and girls in specific areas like gender justice, violence and sexual exploitation, protecting our planet with better environmental policies, valuing our bodies and improving health, and making cultural progress, to name a few. The goal of the book is to show philanthropists the resources available to women and girls that might align with their purposes and provide visibility for organizations that may struggle to reach people who may want to help but aren’t sure how.
Stories in The Giving List Women share why these organizations chose their missions. For example, for Dr. Nancy, founding Women Connect4Good is deeply personal. As a psychologist, author and philanthropist, her mission is to support women through the work of her foundation, focusing on “championing women’s equality and advancement in the workplace, in politics, in business, in society and beyond.” Interviews with powerhouse organizations, like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, explain goals and philosophies behind philanthropic partnerships.
There is so much need today that it’s difficult to choose who or what initiative to support where you can make a difference. Groundswell lists seven things to consider, starting with your goals. Perhaps reading about the purpose, passion, and results of other philanthropists will inspire you to create your own. That was also the goal of The Giving List Women. At Women Connect4Good, we think supporting women is the best way we can help ourselves and everyone else. Lifting women lifts us all.