Preface Part 3: The process of writing “The Uprising of Women in Philanthropy” mirror how the Women’s Funding Movement struggles to find all the voices and then move things forward.

By Christine Grumm and Stephanie Clohesy, on behalf of the Co-Authors

The Global Women’s Funding Movement has been innovating a new kind of philanthropy—one that has its roots throughout the ages—in how women come together to gather and share resources. The movement is guided by the voices of experience who have organized and formalized women’s “share culture” by creating women’s funds, foundations, giving circles, and networks worldwide.

The idea of sharing money, property, and other assets is new compared to the bureaucratic models of philanthropy common in our era. Moreover, it is shaped by egalitarian and participatory values, a belief that all people have gifts to share within flatter organizational models that help things to happen faster. To accomplish this, the women leading their funding movement have normalized the practices of trust, transparency, shared power, and intersectionality of racism, colonialism, sexism, sexual orientation, disability, classism, and casteism in ways that upend traditional philanthropy.

The Global Women’s Funding Movement has done this work with limited financial resources but explosive organizing, leadership, and authentic analysis of both problems and solutions from the ground up.