Ideas and Notes from the Women's Donor Network Conference

Verrrrrry Interesting!

Hi Everyone -

At last I received the notes from the discussions at the November 6 Women's Donor Network Conference. If you recall, we brought several of your recommendations from this community to the stage on the topic of: "what investments would take the Global women's movement to the next level."

Please read on to hear what ideas the Women's Donor Network had when they met in small groups to brainstorm their answers to these questions
.
What do you think? Do you agree? The dialogue continues!

Thank you for contributing your brilliance to this thread.

Warmly,
Jensine

Notes from the Women’s Donor Network
2010 Annual Conference Breakout Discussions:

WHAT INVESTMENTS WOULD TAKE THE GLOBAL WOMEN’S MOVEMENT TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

I. Fund a Creative Team:
• Charged with infusing the movement with:
o Humor: street theater, slogans, metaphors, pictures, stories, compositions
o Arts: songs for marches, theater, beautiful symbols, logos, business cards, publications, visuals to enhance protests, visuals for high level official meetings

II. Hold a Global Women’s Funding Conference:
• Raise the bar and funding capacity for women and girls
• Uniting networks, such as:
o Women activists
o Women policymakers—US and global government officials
o Women Donors Network
o Women Moving Millions
o Global Women’s Fund
o International women’s funds
o Global women owned business owners

III. Raise and Deploy Big Capital—philanthropy, debt and equity:
• Identify strategic partnerships and non-traditional donors and gather together to confer, raise money, and plan how to apply funds.
• Increase women’s voices:
o In political arena
o In media
• Assure that it is NORMAL for women to be respected, appreciated for their capabilities and unique perspectives, treated with dignity, sought out for partnership and collaboration

IV. Convene Around a Common Mission:
• Create a common mission that women around the world can get behind as a way to amplify their voices
• Create spaces for innovation— to learn about the incredible things women are doing on the edges and bringing them to light so they can be supported and replicated
• Figuring out how we can enable and empower with respect and understanding of our differences

V. Other ideas:
• Target the biggest pots of $ = government
• New generation = needs fundraising training = relationships
• Online fundraising skills
• Study map of women’s movement $
• Partnerships/Sleep-a-thon
o International Women’s Funds
o Global Fund for Women
o Association Women in Development
o Women’s Funding Network
o Urgent Action Fund
• Get women’s stories out and connect them to OUR stories
• Set a new standard and new model of giving internationally and make vehicles for international giving known
• BIG international funders of women conference
• Aggregate networks through a hub and providing a creative team to offer framing, humor and arts to movement