Contributed by Kristen Kentner
Last week was a banner week: Wall Street had its worst week in history (so now your 401K may not be worth the postage to send the statement to you) and the #1 movie in America was Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Yes, it does seem like the world is ending.
But I’m here to tell you it’s not. Everyday within the walls of American business there is still giving going on -giving by the women who statistically are the first to be let go when the company stock drops.
by Paige Churchman (New York City)
The first time I met Willa Shalit, she sat down at a conference table, put on some multi-colored cat-eye glasses and pulled out her knitting. While her fingers worked the yarn into rows, Willa listened, spewed out ideas, and spun others’ ideas into “yes-and-we-could”. I walked out of that room charged up, hopeful and ready for action. This was the early days of the Business Council for Peace, and we were both on the governing board.
Contributed by Julia Kaufmann-Yu
Most of us feel helpless in the face of the “perfect storm” brewing on Wall Street and Main Street. So now may be a good time to focus what we DO have control over and remember that each one of us can make a difference in the crusade to eradicate breast cancer.
Yes, it’s October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – time to re-commit our time and energy to this important cause that affects one more of us women every three minutes! Read more
by Rebecca Staffend (New York City)
This is the philosophy of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), an international organization working to improve the lives of women and girls in developing countries. Now in its thirtieth year, CEDPA’s Global Women in Management Program cultivates the executive skills of professional, mid-career women in developing countries who work in non-governmental, community and faith-based organizations. Alumnae reinvest the skills they learn in workshops through health services, educational programs, advocating policy reform, and demonstrating national leadership.
by Paige Churchman (New York City)
The Business Council for Peace, affectionately known as Bpeace (“Be Peace”) to its members, is a couple of hundred businesswomen and a few men who work with women in regions of conflict to build businesses and thus foster peace.
Bpeace describes itself as apolitical, but its members do share the belief that entrepreneurship can be a foundation for hope and stability in areas ripped apart by violence. This idea of “women + business = peace” came from Anne Glauber, a senior vice president at the public relations agency Ruder Finn, and Dr. Noeleen Heyser, who at that time was the executive director of UNIFEM, the UN’s development fund for women. The year was 2002, and Glauber and Heyser were two of 700 women who had gathered in Geneva for the first summit of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.
“The conflicts fueled by men,” said Glauber, “Must be countered by a new process of peace fashioned and implemented by women. It is time and it is critical for women to assume a larger role and responsibility.” Women’s natural and practiced skills in mediation, compromise, relationship building, Glauber felt, could be put to use to build a different paradigm for conflict resolution and peace building in war-torn areas. A way for women to start claiming their power could be through the economy, and women where Glauber comes from knew something about that.
by Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)
The Institute of Economic Empowerment for Women (IEEW) is in the business of providing opportunities for underprivileged women. Believing that nations with a stable economy are in a better position to promote and accept peaceful solutions, they launched the Peace through Business initiative.
According to Kathy Neill, Program Coordinator at IEEW, the program actually grew out request from the U.S. State Department to develop a business training program for women in Afghanistan. “The program is founded on a simple premise: It’s possible to change the world by educating women about business and giving them the tools to succeed,” said Terry Neese, the president of IEEW in a Northwood University Press Release.
by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)
In June 2008, Town & Country ran an article “A Woman’s Guide to Giving: How to Find Your Cause and Make an Impact with Your Money” and a related survey of 2000 women. As quoted on the website The Philanthropic Family, the survey results indicated that 73% of the Town & Country readers think that there’s a gender divide in the philanthropic community. To generalize, the respondents believe that women give more from the heart, while men give from the wallet, i.e., because of an ulterior motive such as a tax deduction.
However, according to the report “Women’s Giving: A Generational Perspective,” a 2007 survey conducted by Sondra Shaw-Hardy and Carmen Stevens, in connection with the Falconer Group, the bigger gap in the approach to giving could be between generations of women, namely Generation X women—those born between 1961 and 1980—and baby boomers, born between 1945 and 1960.
by Natalie Sabia (New York City)
PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise in Ontario, Canada is a not-for-profit organization that empowers women by guiding them toward their goal of business ownership. Founded in 1995, PARO—the name is derived from a Latin word meaning “I Am Ready”—focuses on addressing the challenges women face as entrepreneurs and primary caregivers. Rosalind Lockyer, the Founder and Executive Director of lives the organization’s motto every day.
“I have taken women’s studies, I have been a teacher and I’ve had my own business and I feel like women know what they want to achieve, but don’t always have the resources to go about it,” Lockyer said. She continued: “I was told I could do anything I wanted and that is true, but only up to a certain point. When I noticed that it became more difficult, I learned how to prioritize my goals to succeed and that’s what I want to teach other women how to do.”
by Caroline Shannon
While many expect young girls to be fascinated with Disney Princesses or to memorize all the songs from High School Musical, some business experts are working to push a more practical interest – an interest in finance.
Yep, we’re talking about clubs and camps that teach gals about saving, investing and other personal finance concepts – all life necessities that experts feel, if started early, can make a girl’s professional adult life more successful.
Marsha Firestone, Ph.D, CEO and founder of the Women’s Presidents’ Organization, says programs like these are a necessity, seeing as how “people are programmed to teach young girls one way and boys another way and not necessarily with forethought.”
“We have research that indicating that at about age 11 girls start to lose self confidence,” said Firestone. “It is a programmed response to treat them differently. People do not ask young women to make financial decisions or take financial responsibility.”
By Alana Elsner
The concept is simple: Pay it forward. Whether you believe in cosmic karma, enjoy doing humanity good, or simply loved that Kevin Spacey movie, the idea of helping another person is ingrained in many of us. Rather than rely on that spare bit of change to make a difference, financially-savvy funds have risen to empower investors to change society. At the forefront of today’s socially conscious investing is the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), an organization composed of 128 philanthropies, seeking to transform the world through women.
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