Women Donors Network is a community where progressive women multiply their impact. Through collaboration and innovation, we accomplish more together than we ever could separately.

Women Donors netWork

WDN leverages more than $200 million a year toward solutions that address the root causes of injustice and inequality. Through member-led donor circles, regional events and trainings, and network-wide initiatives, WDN members can connect with key leaders in the progressive movement, deepen their collaborations across issues and sectors, and participate in strategic grantmaking opportunities.

“As women donors, we come together around our

shared values of community, equality, and justice.

We think strategically about the intersection of race,

gender, and class and are proactive about making

sure that analysis is translated into all of the work

that we do.”

Donna Hall President & CEO

WDN members gather during a history tour of Philadelphia as part of our 2010 Annual Conference. Photo by Kathy Bonk.

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

“Women Donors Network members focus on where the progressive movement needs to be and then find the places where they can use their power to have the most impact.” Diane Hullet

The way the world operates today is rooted in networks—to stay ahead of the curve you have to be connected. WDN cultivates a generous community of women who inspire each other to become more effective philanthropists and leaders. Our work is organized in three main strategies:

Investing in Your Voice to Lead

By providing training opportunities

in multiple areas of advocacy,

WDN creates space for us to make

our voices heard. We maximize

the impact of our philanthropy by

emphasizing leadership skills—

from self-awareness to lobbying,

to public speaking and beyond.

Organizing for Collective Action

WDN leverages the currency of

social change to multiply our

impact. Through WDN programs,

women donors develop knowledge

of the issues, identify gaps in

philanthropy, and direct funding in

meaningful and targeted ways

to create systemic social change.

Strengthening Our Community

WDN is more than a philanthropic

support organization. Our unique

community offers opportunities to

connect with, learn from, and inspire

one another. Through community

building and programming specific

to the needs and interests of our

network, we maximize our impact.

WDN members, staff, and activists on an educational trip to Montana. Photo by Jean Karotkin.

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

Women have always been at the forefront of social change. At WDN, we support each other, we inspire each other, and we educate each other. United in our common values, we create a safe space for women to learn, speak their minds, and realize their full power as progressive donors.

You are a daughter, a sister, a mother. As a result, you

are already part of one of the world’s oldest and

strongest networks—a community of women working

together to improve things for our families, our

neighbors, our world. And you know that women’s

support of one another is one of our most enduring

sources of strength. For the last century, women have

been at the forefront of movements for progressive

social change in the US. Whether it’s Harriet Tubman

spiriting slaves to freedom, Dolores Huerta demanding

fair treatment for farmworkers, or Eve Ensler decrying

violence, women’s voices have often been amongst

the loudest in sounding the call for change. Today, as

women are ascending the ladders of power and

influence, we are now running the family business,

winning the family bread—and driving individual

and family philanthropy to invest in the demand for

social and environmental change.

Members Margery Goldman and Nancy Aronson represent WDN at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

In response to a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas at our 2011 Annual Conference in Denver, WDN members express what “American” means to them. Photo by Kathleen Andreson.

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

In 2010, WDN’s Earth Circle helped initiate a

grassroots coalition called All Against the Haul,

focused on stopping the creation of a major

industrial corridor for the transport of equipment

to expand the Tar Sands mining operations

in Alberta, Canada. Photo by Nicholas Brown.

Through collaboration, we accomplish more together

than we ever could separately. Our members are

passionate about a broad range of issues, including

women’s health, environmental and social justice,

and international human rights.

We do our work through three main platforms.

Education Circles are a place for inquiry, learning, and

identifying opportunities for engagement around an

issue area. Action Circles catalyze our education into

engagement and collaborative funding. Strategic

Initiatives allow us to exercise our giving power

as an entire network, and typically intersect multiple

issues and circles.

our impact donor circles & strategic initiatives

WDN members participated in a multi-day

training and series of lobby visits with

lawmakers and decision makers in Washington,

D.C., co-sponsored by the Progressive

Political Infrastructure and Reproductive

Rights Circles.

Our Gulf Coast Circle worked in partnership with the

21st Century Foundation and focused on long-term

recovery in the long wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Photo by Jane Yett.

Through the Criminal (In)Justice Circle,

President and CEO Donna Hall and member

Tish Momirov visit the Central California

Women’s Facility prison to meet firsthand

the women and families torn apart by the

American system of incarceration. Photo by

Jean Karotkin.

Palestinian peace activists show maps of a

two-state solution, studied by our Middle East

Peace and Democracy Circle in pursuit of

progressive initiatives for a just, sustainable,

and non-violent resolution of the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict. Photo by Eleanor Friedman.

WDN’S Immigration Circle is focused on

lifting up stories that can help change hearts

and minds —and policy—around the U.S.

immigration system, which has failed more

than 12 million people living and working in

America. Photo by Salina Canizales.

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

In 2011, a delegation of WDN members traveled to Haiti to learn more about the issues facing women and children. Photos by Jean Karotkin.

Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010,

WDN partnered with the UN Foundation to organize

a day-long program called “Haitian Women and Girls:

Creating Safe Spaces, Confronting National Recovery,

and Building a New Future of Equality” that focused

on ways in which the world and local communities

can help ensure women’s full participation during

the rebuilding process. In response to this moving

program, members formed the Haiti Action Circle

to identify the opportunities that exist post-earthquake

to create structural change and a more equitable life

for Haitian women. As of September 2011, the Haiti

Action Circle raised almost $60,000 in support of

Femmes en Democratie, which designed a host of non-

partisan campaign materials that could be used to

educate voters about the issues facing women and

children who have been the targets of gender-based

violence. In the 2011 election, six women who used

this messaging were elected, a slight increase from the

number of women in the last Haitian Parliament.

our impact advancing Women and girls in Haiti

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

WDN member Suzanne Lerner with Alison Thompson, one of the founders of WE ADVANCE in Haiti. Photo by Jean Karotkin.

“I have been transformed in many ways by Women

Donors Network, and today I am a better and more

effective leader. I live in a small city in Texas. There are

many progressives in Texas but geographically we

are spread out. Through Women Donors Network I am

plugged into the best of what’s happening in creating

change through philanthropy and action. For example,

I have been much more strategic about building the

progressive infrastructure in Texas because of what

I learned from my Women Donors Network friends

in Colorado. By becoming active in Women Donors

Network I have been able to raise the visibility of some

of the issues in Texas that impact the national scene.

Whatever your strengths and attributes are, including

your intellect, your financial resources, your network

or projects, you can leverage them through the Women

Donors Network. It has a multiplying effect. You

can increase your reach and impact whether it is local,

national, or international.”

Margery Engel Loeb Victoria, Texas | Member since 2005Photo by Kevin Jordan.

our voice member profile

“Years ago, a Women Donors Network board member came to me and said, ‘I am going to change your life.’ It was a bold statement, but it was true.”

Generosity MultipliedWomen Donors netWork

 WDN women embrace core progressive ideals to

build a more just and fair world.

 Within WDN, members find a community of peers

with whom they can leverage the currency of social

change: leadership, connections, and resources.

 Working together, members seek to increase

the impact of their investments in social and

environmental change.

 WDN members develop their own skills, knowledge

base, and leadership potential, so that collectively

they can multiply their impact.

our members

zzWe are more than 150—and growing!—women

across the country and around the world who have

made the commitment to philanthropy, community,

and innovation.

 We are women who collectively influence over

$200 million in giving annually.

 We comprise a nimble funding network that raises

money for progressive causes on an ongoing

basis, while also awarding multi-year, million-dollar

grants to increase capacity and generate ideas

that will build the progressive movement.

our netWork

WDN member Erin Rossitto and others listen to presenters at WDN’s 2011 Annual Conference in Denver. Photo by Kathleen Andreson.

We think outside the box. Through collaborative learning and cooperative action, WDN members contribute to a more just and fair world. And they get results.

Generosity Multiplied

Community is the glue of WDN. As the women in WDN strengthen their own skills as leaders, we build the network. As we build the network, we find more and more ways to build the progressive movement. And we do it all surrounded by smart, accomplished, and fabulous women.

We hope you will join us.

Women Donors netWork

Women Donors netWork

565 Commercial Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, California 94111

T 415.814.1333 F 415.814.1334

info@womendonors.orgwomendonors.org