There's a group of wealthy women that meets once a year
to help its members decide how to more effectively give away
some of their money.
At the group's meeting in 2000, which was organized by a
female asset manager who controls more than $3 billion and
sits on 14 corporate boards, some 50 women turned out. Each
one of them controlled more than $100 million in assets.
Once upon a time, it was assumed that men owned all the
money and were responsible for giving it away. But if this
stereotype was ever really true, it's certainly much less
accurate today.
We can see the change in our own work as "donor advocates."
Many of the donors we're working with to develop charitable
goals giving plans are women. Some are young and never-married.
Others are older and widowed. Regardless, women like these
are showing us how outmoded the old stereotypes can be.
Here are some of the key points about today's emerging new
women donors:
- Even though a majority of women are married during at least
part of their lives, 90% of all women are solely responsible
for their own finances during some part of their lives.
- The average age of widowhood is 52.
- Women now control about half of the investment wealth in
the U.S.
Many of us have heard about the tremendous intergenerational
transfer of wealth that is currently underway and will continue
for the next five decades.
But many of us are unaware that women are overseeing a majority
of this transfer, which is valued at an estimated $41 to $136
trillion.
Behind the statistics are real women.
One young woman inherited a number of business as well as
much accumulated wealth when her husband died. Today, she
runs the businesses, supervises the philanthropic work, and
keeps in touch with her children, who are now grown.
Another woman was a widow for less than a day when financial
services telemarketers began cold-calling her and promising
they knew how to help her control her life and finances.
Many charitable organizations haven't yet awakened to the
fact that women run large parts of the nonprofit world. And
frankly, some male-dominated organizations are embarrassingly
sexist
in their practices and policies.
Furthermore, many organizations are blind to the fact that
female donors often seek to establish more of a relationship
with charities rather than just giving them money.
The world of philanthropy changes slowly, and some sectors
haven't yet realized the huge impact women are having on giving
today. Still, as women donors play an increasingly important
role in the funding of nonprofits, we predict that charities
will begin being more female-friendly.
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