The expanding power and resources of women as donors has been a subject of interest to the fundraising profession, especially in the last ten years, giving rise to initiatives such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals Canada’s 2013 forum on Women and Philanthropy in Ontario. Across the country, “women and philanthropy” continues to be a popular topic for panels and webinars (for example, those recently hosted by Canadian Association of Gift Planners, 2017; Carleton University, 2014; and Philanthropic Foundations Canada, 2018).
And yet, what do we know of how women donors are being engaged by Canadian nonprofits and charities?
There has been little documented about donor engagement models and practices that effectively involve women (Mesch & Pactor, 2016). The one exception is a number of studies on giving circles, a specific practice in which several people pool donations and select the recipients together (Eikenberry, 2008, 2009, 2011; Ray, 2013). Giving circles are growing around the world and are predominantly made up of women. For example, there are now 119 chapters of 100 Women Who Care and 47 chapters of 100 Men across Canada (100 Who Care Alliance, 2019), each a volunteer driven giving circle in which donations are collected and directed towards local organizations.
