Philanthropy News Digest: “Why a Key Women’s Foundation Is Ramping Up Its Support in the Midwest”

Sept. 30, 2024 — In today’s issue of Philanthropy News Digest we learn, “It’s a well-known fact that philanthropy has long underfunded organizations that serve women and girls. The most recent figures show that less than 2% of all philanthropic dollars are earmarked to support women, girls and gender-expansive people, with women and girls of color receiving even less support at only 0.5%. What’s less discussed are geographic disparities in funding for women and girls.”

A 2020 report by the Ms. Foundation for Women found that the least-resourced region in the U.S., in terms of philanthropic funding for women and girls of color, is the South, which received only $2.36 for every woman and girl of color. But the Midwest didn’t fare much better — women and girls of color there only got $2.99.

Read the response to these findings from the Ms. Foundation, a longtime progressive, feminist touchstone in the philanthrosphere that counts Gloria Steinem as one of its founders: philanthropynewsdigest.org.