Women Donors Network | Women’s Leadership Archives

Topic: Women’s Leadership

The Passing of Cindy Ewing, One of WDN’s Founding Members

By Tracy Gary, A WDN Co-Founder & Member A founding member of WDN in 1989, Cindy Ewing passed away on September 17, 2024, surrounded by one of her caregivers and a close friend. She was 83 years old. Cindy was a force and will be remembered for her loyal and generous spirit and dedication to others.
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Action photos from our 2023 annual conference

Empowering Change: Takeaways from WDN’s 2023 Impact

In 2023, we mobilized an incredible $20.2 million via WDN and WDN Action, funding 175 organizations and projects. We strengthened our community by welcoming new members and hitting three decade member anniversaries for others! And we harnessed our collective wisdom and deepest aspirations to chart our next era through our new strategic plan.
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4 Ways These Mother-Daughter Pairs Are Influencing Each Other’s Philanthropy

Did you know that WDN has nearly 10 mother-daughter duos in our network? Activism and philanthropy can be a lot more joyful when done with a community – but often, it goes further than that. When we spoke with some of our mother-daughter member pairs, they shared how they are making each other better philanthropists and activists.
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We Just Wrapped Our Annual Conference, Here Are the Highlights

We gathered at WDN Connect 2022 as a community of audacious women and filled our days and nights together with knowledge-sharing, commitment, and celebration. We were grounded in the memories of the past and inspired to grow into the future. It is abundantly clear that we are feminists, activists, donors, and doers working side by side to push the needle toward justice – a spirit we saw in action throughout our time together.
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Ultraviolet Gives WDN a Founding Mother Award for 10 Years of Partnership

Karen Finney, UltraViolet Education Fund Board Chair, and Donna P. Hall, WDN President & CEO Emerita, during UltraViolet’s ten-year anniversary celebration. Congratulations to UltraViolet for ten years of breaking boundaries and winning change across politics, government, media, and pop culture. You are building a world that represents all women and we are deeply proud that you honored us as a Founding Mother.
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When Women Lead Financial Decision-Making

Women are often the most directly impacted by the world’s challenges including health care, unemployment, education, climate displacement, and violence, yet are excluded from financial leadership roles and capital allocation. Only 5% of chief executive officers, fund managers, or venture capital recipients are women (Shaber, Marime-Ball, 2022).
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In Communities, In Courtrooms, In Philanthropy, In the Streets – Celebrating the Transformative Leadership of AAPI Women

Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) women are reimagining our present. They are leading movements in their communities, in courtrooms, in philanthropy, and in the streets to bring us into a brighter world than the one we’re living in today. As we celebrate their heritage during the month of May, we also celebrate the future they are fighting to build.
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a portrait photograph of a farmworker. They wear a bandana over their face and a hat and reach for a bunch of grapes

Grantee Spotlight: Building Power for the Women Who Feed Us All

Farmworkers are perhaps the single most essential workers in our communities. Without food, nothing else matters. And yet, farmworkers often toil under backbreaking conditions and for poverty wages. Roughly 50% of farmworkers are undocumented, leaving them at risk of deportation and exploitation by employers.
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Celebration, Recognition, Elevation: Black Women & Femmes Are Bringing Us Into the Future – Part 2

Black women and femmes are at the center of transformation in America. In their hometowns, states, and nationally, they are resourcing their communities and battling injustice across intersections of oppression. In honor of the history they’ve come from and the world they’re building towards, we close out this year’s Black History Month by lifting up some of these outstanding leaders from our network of changemaking grantees.
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a mural of dorothy bolden. She is painted on a wall with a halo behind her head and colors over her heart. Another person and the sky is in the background

Building Black Domestic Worker Power

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a potent reminder of the crucial role that frontline workers play in every community. While many of us worked from home, food service workers, health care workers, domestic workers, and others put themselves at risk, every day, to keep critical infrastructure, businesses, and our homes running.
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