Funding Equality:  How Corporations are Giving Women and Girls a Chance to Succeed
By: Alisha Fernandez, 06/14/06

The face of public-private partnerships is changing, and that new face is a woman’s.  At the recent UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)/Verite Conference, Advancing Women in the Global Workplace, groups of people from various organizations explored the ways in which private, public, and nonprofit sector actors could come together with one goal: mobilizing funders to examine ways in which they can use their power and pocketbooks to accelerate the dual agendas of equality and empowerment.   Increasingly, nonprofits have been asking the question: where is the money for women’s rights?  The conference provided the beginnings of an answer.

The facts on funding show exactly how great the disparity is.  The Association of Women in Development (AWID), in its 2006 report “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights?” brings some important statistics into harsh light:
- In 2003, only 0.6% of aid dollars had gender equality as a principal objective.
- Only 7.3% of US foundation giving in 2003 went to “women and girls” programs or initiatives.
- UNIFEM had a budget of $36 million in 2002, compared to UN Population Fund’s budget of $373 million and UNICEF’s budget of $1.5 billion.

However, there are some positive trends, due in large part to increasing private sector involvement in funding women- and girls-focused initiatives.  More corporate funders are becoming interested in the issue, such as the Levi Strauss Foundation, which allocates its total grantmaking budget to women and girls.  The growth of women’s funds, many of whom list major corporations such as Eileen Fisher, JP Morgan Chase, Starbucks and American Express as donors, has only increased the issue’s momentum.   Cisco Systems and Nike are two of the leaders in this small, but growing, funding field, and their engagement with women’s rights provides excellent examples for those involved in catalyzing the private sector’s interest in women.

Cisco Systems, a company well-represented at the UNIFEM/Verite conference, is known for its commitment to funding initiatives that encourage young girls in the developed and developing worlds to explore the areas of computer science and engineering.   Last year alone, Cisco gave $65 million in cash and in-kind donations a majority of that funding is woman- and girl- focused.   Cisco has a vested business interest in its philanthropic initiatives; as an innovative technology company, it is aware of the extraordinary value of the diversity of thought.   That consideration, combined with the fact that the industry as a whole will face a massive shortage in skilled workers in the coming decades, provides Cisco with the motivation it needs to dedicate its funding to reaching gender parity in science and technology. 

Cisco’s programs in the US, Jordan, and the world’s least-developed countries have proven successful, in large part because Cisco is unique in its thinking about women’s rights in four key ways:

- It is aware of and sensitive to different pressures girls and boys face.
- It acknowledges the importance of diversity internally.
- The company is financially invested in a major way in the cause, and dedicated to raising awareness about gender equality.
- It makes a strong business case for its funding, ensuring the long-term stability of a program that has significant buy-in at all levels of the company.

In these ways, Cisco proves that it is dedicated to its cause in words and action and acts as a model for other corporate funders.

The Nike Foundation is newer to the playing field, but its impact has already been felt among the community of women’s rights activists.   Nike’s mission is to use its “passion, voice and resources through grant making, advocacy and partnerships to support initiatives that inspire and mobilize support for girls’ empowerment and well being, worldwide.”    The foundation is small, but growing; it made nearly $5 million in grants in 2005, its first full year of operations. 

What makes Nike’s approach original is its commitment to sustainable, long-term, large-scale change, a vision that nonprofits involved in women’s rights globally have been seeking in funders.  The company has done its research and embraced the cause in a holistic manner, acknowledging that approaches that address girls with a single focus, or ignore the power that men, boys, families and communities have in promoting equality for girls, tend to fail.  Furthermore, the Foundation is committed to research and advocacy, as a way to ensure that it leverages its name and large global footprint to encourage important structural and policy changes in addition to helping individual girls in small communities.  Nike’s model is innovative and cutting-edge, and it shows how funders really desiring to tackle the issue of women’s rights must think big, and small, at the same time. 

While a large portion of the UNIFEM/Verite conference focused on philanthropy and mobilizing stakeholders to increase the dollars, pounds, or euros going to women’s rights, it also addressed the important internal issues beyond philanthropy that companies face in their own private quests to reach gender parity.  The conference acted as a large-scale kick-off for the Calvert Women’s Principles, a global code of conduct designed by the socially responsible investment firm in partnership with UNIFEM.   This compact, adopted by companies such as Dell and Starbucks, encourages equity and equality for women in the private sector.  The principles encompass a broad range of issues where it is crucial to consider women and their rights: governance, health and safety, disclosure, employment and income.  Civic and community engagement is an important part of the principles as well, but is only one piece of a much larger matrix.  Companies desiring to get involved in public-private partnerships with the goal of funding women’s and girl’s rights must be aware that their internal practices do not need to be perfect…yet.  But the companies must be committed to moving towards equality and acting in an equitable fashion with all their stakeholders, internal and external.   It is clear that the issue of women’s rights should be looked at holistically it is not just about funding women’s organizations but assuring that private and public sector leadership reflects the diversity of society. 

As Kathy Bushkin, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the United Nations Foundation, eloquently stated at the conference, “Foundations don’t have a monopoly on compassion.”  Corporations are showing an increased commitment to women and girls and the involvement is growing, thanks in part to the many corporations mentioned who are leading the charge.  

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