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Item The Women & Girls Index 2025: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Organizations(2025-10-08) Ackerman, Jacqueline; Bergdoll, JonThe Women & Girls Index (WGI) from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) is the only comprehensive index that measures charitable giving to organizations dedicated to women and girls in the United States, including the amount of philanthropic support they receive from individuals, foundations, and corporations. The 2025 WGI adds data from both 2022 and 2023 across 57,165 charitable organizations. Notably, for the first time since the creation of the WGI in 2019, giving to women’s and girls’ organizations surpassed 2% of overall charitable giving—peaking at 2.18% in 2022 before settling back to 2.04% in 2023. The report also notes extraordinary turbulence and activity across women’s and girls’ issues during 2022 and 2023, and most of the increase in giving was fueled by donations to reproductive health organizations in 2022. At the same time, growth was weaker when adjusting for inflation, reflecting the volatility and uncertainty of long-term funding.Item Women and Philanthropy: A Literature Review (2025)(2025-09-16) Lee, Young-joo; Ming, Yue; Goodman, Payton; Ackerman, JacquelineThis updated literature review from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) synthesizes nearly a decade of new research on gender and philanthropy since the publication of WPI’s inaugural review in 2015. It provides a comprehensive overview of what is known about women’s giving and volunteering, their motivations and behaviors, and their growing influence as nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. The report explores key themes including women’s historical and contemporary roles in philanthropy, gender differences in giving and volunteering patterns, giving to women’s and girls’ organizations, and the impact of women’s leadership on nonprofit governance and outcomes. It highlights the influence of social and political events on women’s giving, the expansion of collective giving models such as giving circles, and the development of tools like the Women & Girls Index that track philanthropic support for women’s and girls’ causes. The review concludes by identifying gaps and priorities for future research, including approaches that more fully consider intersectional identities; longitudinal studies of giving across life stages and generations; international comparative research; and investigations into the long-term effects of women’s philanthropic leadership and collective giving models. Together, these insights advance a nuanced understanding of women’s philanthropy and provide a roadmap for scholars, funders, and practitioners to further strengthen the field.Item The Women & Girls Index 2024: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Organizations(2024-10-08) Ackerman, Jacqueline; Bergdoll, Jon; Osili, UnaThe Women & Girls Index (WGI) from the Women's Philanthropy Institute (WPI) is the only comprehensive index that measures charitable giving to organizations dedicated to women and girls in the United States, including the amount of philanthropic support they receive from individuals, foundations and corporations. The 2024 WGI adds 2021 giving data across 54,588 charitable organizations. It provides an analysis on a full decade-long span for the first time, from 2012 to 2021, highlighting both gaps and growth in philanthropic support for women and girls. Also a first, women’s and girls’ organizations surpassed $10 billion in giving as they received $10.2 billion in philanthropic support in 2021. This historic milestone is set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing disproportionate impact on women, particularly women of color and those in low-wage jobs, and ongoing discussions about the systemic barriers to gender equity. While awareness of gender-focused issues such as pay equity and reproductive rights has grown, overall charitable giving that supports women and girls remains relatively small at 1.9% of total giving. This statistic highlights the continued need for greater philanthropic support across the full spectrum of causes that improve the lives of women and girls.