Beyond Northeast Florida

Women will inherit 70% of $59 trillion in inter-generational wealth over the next 50 years. But just 7% of charitable giving currently focuses on programs for women and girls.*

WGA had 19 members at the Catalist (WCGN) Conference in Philadelphia, October 21-23, 2018. Proud members celebrate WGA being awarded a Spotlight Award for transformative grantmaking.

Fortunately, women’s philanthropy is growing in Florida and across the country. New funds, giving circles and other forms of philanthropy are taking shape to focus on giving by and for women and girls.

Women United To Give

The women's collective giving movement began in the 1990's, and advanced considerably when Colleen Willoughby of Seattle founded the Washington Women's Fund in 1995. Others soon followed suit, including WGA in 2001. WGA is one of more than 200 women's giving groups in the United States and abroad. In one way or another, all of these collective giving organizations pool women's contributions, make grants to worthy organizations and encourage members to become strategic philanthropists.

Philanos (formerly Catalist and originally the Women’s Collective Giving Grantmakers Network/WCGN)

Philanos (formerly Catalist and originally the Women's Collective Giving Grantmakers Network (WCGN)) is a network of more than 80 collective giving grantmaking groups--including WGA--in the United States, Australia, and England representing more than 18,000 women. Since 1995, the organizations in Philanos have awarded more than $176 million into their respective communities.

Philanos supports the creation, development and expansion of women's collective giving through informed grantmaking. It provides a national voice to the collective giving movement and accelerates the power of its independent affiliate organizations.

Every 18 months, Philanos collaborates with its member organizations to sponsor a multi-day educational conference and celebration of women’s leadership in philanthropy. Philanos' 8th national conference was held in Seattle February 23-25, 2020, hosted by the Washington Women’s Foundation, the organization that ignited the women's collective giving movement and the Philanos network (and inspired the founders of WGA!). WGA's own Paula Liang became chair of Philanos in July 2019.

The sixth national forum was in Atlantic Beach in 2017, and proudly hosted by WGA. At the 2018 national forum in Philadelphia, WGA won a prestigious Spotlight award for its transformative grant “Girl Matters: Giving Girls a Voice” to the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center. In addition, several WGA members are part of the senior leadership team for Philanos.

Florida Women's Funding Alliance (FWFA)

Through The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, WGA helped to found the Florida Women's Funding Alliance, an affiliate of the Florida Philanthropic Network. FWFA and its members envision a Florida where women and girls thrive.

Actively supported by WGA and other organizations, FWFA has released three groundbreaking reports on The Status of Women in Florida, written by the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington, D.C. To see how women in Florida fare in the areas of Employment and Earnings; Health and Well-being; and Poverty and Opportunity, click below:

Read the reports

WGA also supported the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center's commissioned research into the Status and Well-being of Girls in Florida.

An exciting new report in The Status of Women in Florida series was issued in February 2020. Stengthening the Pipeline for Women's Advancement to Leadership, was sponsored by the Jacksonville Women's Leadership Coalition, a coalition of 14 organizations including WGA. The report led to the creation of a new initiative "Elevate Women" and a new executive position in the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce (VP of Elevate Women). Elevate Women, will be part of the JAXUSA Partnership and the JAX Chamber’s economic development division.