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The rise of female philanthropists and how they approach their giving

Ali Hood, Charities Aid Foundation (Sponsored), 11/06/2021

As we explored in a previous article, the continued, rapid rise in high-net-worth women will have significant repercussions for the work of advisers. One area where the effect is likely to be particularly profound is philanthropy.

With this in mind, and to mark the publication of the 20th edition of The Sunday Times Giving List, the Charities Aid Foundation’s recent webinar explored how female philanthropists approach their giving.

Celebrating 20 years of The Sunday Times Giving List: Women in Philanthropy was moderated by Alison Taylor, CEO CAF Bank and Charity Services, who was joined by:

- Jamie Cooper, chair and president of Big Win Philanthropy

- Heather Stevens, chair of trustees of the Waterloo Foundation

-  Alastair McCall, editor of The Sunday Times Giving List

- Aurelia Kassatly, senior private client manager for impact and legacies at Charities Aid Foundation

The changing giving landscape

Mr McCall kicked off the discussion with a reflection on the ways in which philanthropy has evolved over the past 20 years of the Giving List. These included:

- The rise of entrepreneurial rather than inherited wealth, and with it a confidence that more money can always be made once it’s given away.

- The size of donations reaching new heights, with a record 182 people giving away a million pounds or more this year. As a generation of entrepreneurs reach retirement, they are more likely to give away their assets than pass them down to the next generation.

- The rise in pledging vast sums. Such were the volumes that pledges have been discounted from the Giving List in favour of actual money given, but we can expect to see ever greater sums of entrepreneurial wealth being spent philanthropically.

- The subtle shift in range of causes away from higher education, traditionally most popular with the super-rich, to more global issues such as climate change, societal inequalities and COVID-19.

- The advent of young philanthropists, particularly those in the fields of sport and music.

It is against this background that we are also seeing the rise of female philanthropists, as women control higher proportions of the world’s wealth – over a third, according to Boston Consulting Group, a proportion that is growing at an accelerated rate.

It is estimated that over 10 percent of ultra-high net worth individuals globally are now women and the number of female entrepreneurs, executives and women inheriting or managing family wealth is increasing.

Do women give differently to men?

Whilst it is by no means possible to make concrete generalisations about how women’s philanthropic choices or approaches differ to men, we are in fact beginning to see some general themes and changes afoot in the sector.

The panel agreed that there is a definite shift away from traditional donations to higher education institutes towards more impactful broader-scope and human-centric approaches.

As Ms Cooper pointed out, the diversity of experiences and communities that philanthropists come from significantly influences the types of issues being addressed. With more women being central to how philanthropic donations are made, it can only have changed the balance on where philanthropy is headed.

Ms Stevens suggested that women may have the potential to approach or recognise problems in a slightly different way to men, simply because of their life experiences. For example, taking into account menstrual health when looking at wider issues such as education. Things that are often pigeonholed as women’s issues can significantly stand in the way of bigger issues.

Ms Kassatly noted the common themes she has seen among her clients, namely a real focus among female philanthropists on a handful of cause areas that truly matter to them, and making longer-term and larger commitments. This often extends beyond monetary donations to taking a seat on the board, designing programmes, or sharing their personal or professional skills or networks.

Key cause areas

High priority causes among Ms Kassatly’s female clients include issues around women’s equality and empowerment. Even within broader issues of health, economic empowerment, education or employment opportunities, there is certainly an aspect of focussing on the experience of women and girls.

Of course, that is not to say that there is an absence of support from men for these causes, but it is far more pronounced among female philanthropists.

 

What has the panel learned from their philanthropy?

As chair and president of Big Win Philanthropy, Ms Cooper has supported multiple leadership programmes to encourage women to be ambitious about going for the highest levels of leadership.

“Research shows that particularly when you get 50 percent of women round the table, they speak up more, the team makes better, more sustainable decisions, and the quality and breadth of ideas is better,” she commented.

“If we don’t ensure that women are in leadership positions and are among the ones deciding on priorities and how we deliver those priorities, the world will not be as good a place.”

Collaboration was a common theme during the discussion. Ms Stevens noted that collaboration between funders can be particularly impactful, especially when it comes to multiple funders chipping in to a large project. Long-term collaboration is also valuable, for example, educating girls who could go on to be part of an alumni group and in turn support other girls when they’re financially able to.

Big Win Philanthropy’s work is entirely in partnership with governments in Africa, and leaves the drive and ownership of the initiatives to African leaders who know their context best. Ms Cooper mentioned how important it is as a philanthropist not to prescribe solutions but to really listen to what’s needed by those that know the issue and to support the sector from behind.

She also noted that the organisation spends a lot of time ensuring that the right voices come together to best resolve complex issues that involve multiple fields of expertise.

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