Preface: Part 2 — To attempt to tell a story everywhere all at once, many voices have been included so that a diverse set of experiences and their collective wisdom could be highlighted
By Christine Grumm and Stephanie Clohesy, on behalf of the Co-Authors
A core group of women’s funding activists/writers/observers gathered and grew into a group of 10 co-authors who conceptualized and designed the overall story. Meet the authors here.
- Ndana Bofu-Tawamba, CEO, Urgent Action Fund Africa
- Ruby Bright, Past President and CEO, Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis
- Stephanie Clohesy, Independent Consultant, former Board Chair, Women’s Funding Network
- Christine Grumm, Independent Consultant and Past President and CEO, Women’s Funding Network
- Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, Former President and CEO, Global Fund for Women
- Helen LaKelly Hunt, Founder and President, HLH Family Foundation
- Ana Oliveira, President and CEO, The New York Women’s Foundation
- Laura Risimini, Independent Consultant
- Jane Sloane, Senior Director, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality with The Asia Foundation
- Jessica Tomlin, Chief Executive Director, Equality Fund
Over the course of this project, they in turn, reached out to other innovators and eyewitnesses with first-hand experience in the Global Women’s Funding Movement; some are quoted in the book, some served as critical readers and advisors on early drafts, and all shaped and reshaped the stories to produce as robust and honest a narrative as possible.
The book chapters tangle with the same struggles and ethical knots faced by those building this movement every day. At all times, there are strains to resolve power dynamics and maintain close working relationships and clear communications. Power relationships define inclusion and exclusion, and can arbitrate who is at the center, who is at the periphery, and who decides who leads and who follows. In the very nature of the writing process, the Co-Authors, writers, and editors felt the burden of power in organizing the telling of the story: whether discussing whom to approach as readers, which stories were the best to include, and which concepts and whose exactly matter most—all these dilemmas mirror movement-based power struggles.
It is easy to fall into the “never-before-told” gap especially when narrating something as innovative as the Global Women’s Funding Movement. But this movement has authenticity in its evolution, especially as every commu- nity,region,andculturehasdefineditsownstruggleforequitywhileholding to movement-wide ideals about equity and justice to build its women’s foundation.
The Co-Authors hope that this book will serve as a catalyst that opens and refreshes assumptions and questions. To do this, the process of reflection and refreshing our values needs to continue to happen with donors, with women’s foundations, and with movements on the ground. Movement building is a constant process of reflection. It also encourages the willingness to embrace an open paradigm where searching for better solutions is more meaningful than relying on an authoritarian process or set of answers. Everyone in the Global Women’s Funding Movement lives with the paradox of being egalitarian and participatory while also being strategic and coordinated in the search for implementing equity and justice.
Tune in tomorrow to learn how the process of writing this book has been a mirror of how this movement struggles to find all the voices and then move things forward.