The third full week in October ushers in National Businesswomen’s Week each year. As women continue to make strides in the corporate and entrepreneurial world, there is also a growing trend in women’s giving. While women have long been thought of as taking the lead when volunteering talent and time, and they still do at 56%, women have also been slowly gaining momentum in another philanthropic category — charitable donations.
Research about women and philanthropy shows that 73% of charitable donors in the world are women. Dialing that back to the U.S. in the high-net-worth category, it is estimated that approximately 93% of high-net-worth women gave money to charity, according to the “2018 U.S. Trust Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy.”
And that’s not all. A federal Survey of Consumer Finances found that roughly 70% of U.S. affluent-household assets are controlled by baby boomers. In the U.S., where women tend to outlive men by approximately five years, these assets are set to eventually move to women in baby boomer households. Considering the predicted great transfer of wealth, American women are expected to control much of the $30 trillion in financial assets that baby boomers will have by 2030, according to McKinsey & Company. And their charitable giving is predicted to continue to grow.
Where and how women give
Research shows that women tend to spread out their giving more than men do. That is, they tend to give smaller amounts to a number of different organizations. They also take longer to make decisions about giving, looking to understand the causes and the impact their giving will make. Women are also more inclined to collaborate on their giving, working together to accelerate change. This may explain the popularity of women donating through giving circles, which are groups of like-minded individuals who pool their resources to collectively decide where their funds should be distributed.
Research from the Indiana University Lilly’s Women’s Philanthropy Institute stated that about 70% of giving circles are composed of women. Another study found that more than half, 56%, of U.S. giving circles have only female members. Although giving circles have been around awhile, their popularity has been rapidly growing in the past two decades. According to Philanthropy Together, there were 50 giving circles in 1995 and today, there are approximately 2,500 circles worldwide.
One example is the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County’s Anne Arundel Women Giving Together, a women’s giving circle with more than 250 members. AAWTG’s mission is to improve the quality of life for women and families in Anne Arundel County. Since its founding in 2006, it has distributed more than $1.57 million to 47 unique local nonprofits.
Giving online is another category where women lead. Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s “Women Give 2020 Report” shows that women give nearly two-thirds of total online gifts, approximately 53% to 61% of total dollars. Between 60% and 70% of those dollars are given to women’s and girl’s causes. The motivations behind support for women’s and girl’s causes have to do with women’s personal experiences such as gender discrimination and pay inequality, according to research from the Women’s Philanthropy Network. The research also found that people give to women’s and girl’s causes because they believe it inspires widespread societal change.
At the community foundation, we continually witness changes in giving trends. Through our professional networks, we see more and more women using their financial savvy in investing, charitable giving, and estate planning. Bringing this financial confidence and giving philosophy with them, women will continue to change the landscape of giving in the future.
At CFAAC, we work with community members who want to make a difference through their giving. Find out more by contacting us at info@cfaac.org.
Mary Spencer is the president & CEO at the Community Foundations of Anne Arundel County. For more information about CFAAC, visit us online at cfaac.org or call us at 410-280-1102.
This story was originally printed in the October 12, 2022 edition of the CAPITAL GAZETTE.