Women are influential philanthropists. A new campaign is celebrating it.
A new campaign called She Gives aims to celebrate and tell the story of the collective contributions of women across Australia who are making a positive difference they care about. It tells stories of women’s giving and hopes to harness women’s collective power, networks and ambitions to accelerate positive social change, including some of Ethinvest’s clients and fellow philanthropists.
Women are set to inherit up to $3.4 trillion or two-thirds of intergenerational wealth over the next 20 years, according to the 2024 analysis by JBWere.
Given the track record of Australian women giving and instigating powerful positive change, this transfer of wealth could see a new generation of influential female philanthropists using their wealth to support important causes.
It comes as Australian giving is falling behind some of our international counterparts. Just 53% of Australians with a taxable income over $1 million are giving to charities and receiving a tax reduction, according to tax data. That’s compared to 90% of those in similar financial circumstances in the United States.
Incredibly and disappointingly, tax data also shows that almost half of the top one per cent of earners in Australia and half of the top 5% did not report any donations in the 2018-19 period (at 46% and 48% respectively).
The She Gives campaign is being led Melissa Smith, who said the extraordinary contributions that women have made must be recognised and celebrated as well as leveraged to inspire more Australians to give.
“For too long, giving by women has remained in the shadows, reinforcing a common perception that philanthropy is dominated by men,” Smith said. “Of the 100 most read articles on philanthropy in past 12 months, 54 focus on men, 32 on organisations or foundations and only 14 on women.
“After consulting with philanthropic leaders, it was clear that women don’t see themselves sufficiently in public conversations around philanthropy. Right now, we’re missing an immense opportunity to reach and inspire others – She Gives is here to change that,” she said.
The campaign comes as Philanthropy Australia has committed to doubling what Australians give by 2030, with the Federal Government supporting the initiative.
The She Gives campaign will share 100 stories on the campaign website and across social media, with launch events held in Sydney and Melbourne.
The She Gives advisory group includes a lineup of some of Australia’s most influential leaders, including:
Clare Ainsworth Herschell (Founder of Groundswell)
Georgina Byron AM (CEO of the Snow Foundation, Chair of Sydney Women’s Fund Advisory Group and Co-Chair of Deadly Hearts Limited)
Natalie Egleton (CEO of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal)
Caitriona Fay (Managing Partner of Perpetual Private’s Social Investment businesses and ESG Strategy, founding board member of GiveOUT)
Tanya Hosch (Executive General Manager, Inclusion & Social Policy – AFL)
Michelle Lin (CEO of Vermillion Foundation)
Paula McLean (A founding trustee of McLean Foundation)
Amanda Miller OAM (Co-founder of Impact Generation Partners and Co-Chair of Philanthropy Australia)
Professor Kristy Muir (CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation)
Carol Schwartz AO (founding Chair of both Trawalla Foundation and Women’s Leadership Institute Australia)
Melissa Smith (CEO, Noble Ambition & Founder, She Gives)
Deanne Weir (Founder of WeirAnderson.com and WeirAnderson Films).
To read the full article from Women's Agenda, click here.
