Women and gender-expansive leaders of color have been at the forefront of progressive movements and the most urgent struggles of our time. (test edit)
Analysis of Candid data between 2017-2023 indicates that funding for women and girls of color (WGOC) led organizations increased, but was reactive and short-lived.
Percent Change in Total Annual Grantmaking (USD) to Women and Girls of Color by Fiscal Year
Regionally, funding for WGOC followed the national pattern - spiking in 2020, only to level off or begin decreasing in the next few years.
Foundations continue to severely underinvest in organizations focused on women and girls of color - a result of long-term systemic oppression and the current political attacks on social progress and the nonprofit sector.
Total philanthropic giving
in the US
$103.5
billion
$1.07
billion
Total philanthropic giving to women and girls of color
*Since the last report, the percentage has only increased from 0.6% to 1%.
Giving USA: Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2023 (2024). Chicago: Giving USA Foundation.
Of the total $103.53 billion given by foundations in 2023, a mere 1% goes to women and girls of color in the United States, representing a small fraction of overall philanthropic giving.
In the face of persistent barriers, WGOC-led organizations work on every level and across diverse issue areas to meet communities’ immediate needs and advance real systemic change.
Devastating funding cuts, inflation, increased demand, and constant pressure to stretch limited resources, comes at a steep cost:
The very leaders we depend on are experiencing deep, widespread burnout and organizations are now being forced to lay off staff, restructure, pause programs, and even close.
We are tasked with fighting for short- and long-term goals in tandem. We were struggling with
burnout,
lack of sustainability,
unaddressed trauma,
conflict and competition and internalized/systemic oppression
— Ms. Foundation grantee partner
I’m coming out of a hard burnout.
I’m coming out of a
really,
really,
hard burnout.
I had gotten to a point where I was working from 5 a.m. ’til 2 a.m. every day for a good four months. I couldn’t even have a conversation with my kids that was healthy...
— Ms. Foundation grantee partner
95%
some concern
33%
very much
concerned
Nearly all leaders surveyed — 95 percent — express some level of concern about burnout...
and more than a third report that staff burnout has been “very much” a concern to them in the last year.
Nonprofits have always made do with limited resources. But they are close to reaching a breaking point as they navigate three colliding crises...
Survey data on top focus areas demonstrates the diversity and intersectionality of issues that WGOC-led organizations are working on.
However, instead of fully supporting interconnected solutions and movements over the long-term, philanthropy often undermines social justice movements by funding short-term and funding in silos.
philanthropy must shift and be accountable now to prevent catastrophic erosion of progress and power.
