Our Strategic Path
There is a season for everything.
At Women Donors Network, our early members built growth into our DNA. They knew that to create change, we must embrace it. Though our network has taken several forms over the decades, we have always been rooted in community and fueled by an audacious vision for a just and sustainable future.
Every season of our growth has led to the next. We began as a home for progressive women to claim agency over their resources. With time, we grew into a learning space where women built skills as philanthropists. Next came a transformational focus on multiplying our impact through collective giving. As the political landscape shifted nationwide, we created WDN Action to power new political possibilities.
Then, 2020 changed everything. And we met the moment once again. In the pivotal years that followed, this network evolved to move funds faster and farther than ever before — in partnerships with movements and in pursuit of justice.
We also made space to reflect on the path ahead. In the process of creating this strategic path, we sought out the collective brilliance of over 200 members, grantees, and peers in the field. What we heard was a call to action: the time has come to fully step into our power as a network.
We are a growing multiracial and multigenerational community of donors organizing through a gender and racial justice lens. Together, we move mountains. We combine long-term strategic investments with responsive funding to meet the moment. From climate, to reproductive justice, to democracy, to human rights, our approach is the same. We fight for the freedom, safety, and dignity of all people.
Our impact is felt not just in what we do — moving millions in funding every year to organizations helmed by BIPOC leaders, women, and gender-expansive people — but how we do it — by collaborating together, trusting movement expertise, committing to personal and cultural transformation, and building towards liberation for all.
Today, members are ready for the next challenge. Grantees are encouraging us to amplify our voice and share our principled practices and learnings to influence the field. Our movement-aligned peers and partners are keen to deepen our work, collaboration and partnership together. Members are eager to grow their capacity to meet the moment in ways they never thought possible. The political moment demands that we dig deep and get bold. We’ve heard the call to action loud and clear. Let’s answer it.
The Work Ahead
As changemakers, our work is to build a home at the edge of what is possible. We need to be equal parts persistence and imagination. Rooted in the space between the limits of today and the limitless tomorrow. Together, we are wide awake to the realities of this moment — and we leave the door open to the dream state.
By 2028, we aspire to:
- Grow into one of the most trusted multigenerational, multiracial donor communities organizing for justice
- Mobilize abundant resources to movements that defend against emerging threats and advance solutions toward a liberated future for all
- Harness the power of our network by leveraging the full range of our resources — across our financial, social, and political capital
- Provide the necessary tools and educational resources so that every member is equipped to sharpen their skills as organizers, advocates, and influencers
- Amplify our voice, presence, and collaboration in the field to strategically advance our shared vision
- Strengthen our organizational culture, policies, and practices to embody our values in every aspect of our work
At Women Donors Network, we rise together. We recognize that our struggles, our power and our liberation are intertwined. We are motivated by true change, not charity. We aim beyond equity — because we set our sights on justice.
As a multigenerational and multiracial community of donor organizers, we pledge to:
Center those most impacted
We adopt an intersectional feminist approach — guided by values of solidarity, trust, deep listening — shifting power to those who have been marginalized, honoring and centering their lived experiences.
Seek liberation for all
We recognize that no one is free until we are all free. We are working toward our liberation by eliminating the harmful and extractive structures, systems, and narratives that hold so many of us back, and turning our imagination towards a better world.
Mobilize our collective power
We unlock the full range of our resources — financial, social, and political — for justice. We leverage our power in solidarity, across generations, identities, and lived experiences. This includes discerning the right moments to yield our power, wield our power, and build the power of leaders and communities who have been historically excluded.
Harness the brilliance and power of our dynamic network
We cultivate our interdependence as a community — learning from and valuing the diverse range of lived experiences, expertise, and gifts that we all bring to this work.
Transform ourselves to transform society
We believe that as we work to transform the culture, systems, and structures that enable ongoing harm and oppression, we must come together in community to interrogate and transform our own role in those systems.
Our Mission
Together, we protect and advance gender, racial, economic, and climate justice by channeling collective power and resources in solidarity with movements to transform…
people,
culture, and
systems
policies,
political infrastructure, and
political possibilities
Our Pillars of Work
Our pillars build on and increase the ambition of our prior “connect, learn, act” model, emphasizing that all our learning is in service of growth and action.
There is no “one way” to engage with this community — and that’s by design. Each of us brings our own gifts, connections, personal missions, and growth edges to the work. As we explore opportunities to unlock the full range of our power towards justice, we’ll chart diverse paths. Members can engage as doers, collaborators, or delegators, and roles can shift over time.
In this new season of our work, we’re digging deeper.
We’re committing to collective resourcing — unlocking the full power of the many social and political resources we hold. When we pool our resources in deep partnership with movements, the future we dream of becomes inevitable.
