U.S. nonprofits working to advance women’s and girls’ causes received $7.9 billion in philanthropic support in 2019, remaining relatively unchanged from 2018, a report from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy finds.

Based on data from 48,395 charitable organizations dedicated to women and girls, the report, Women & Girls Index 2022: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Causes (6 pages, PDF, research brief), revealed that in 2019, philanthropic support for women and girls made up 1.9 percent of overall charitable giving—a fraction of that received by traditional subsectors such as education and health. As in previous years, the study found that within the subsector, reproductive health and family planning organizations received the largest share of philanthropic support ($1.5 billion), followed by women’s health ($1.3 billion), women’s and girls’ human services ($1.2 billion), family- and gender-based violence ($1.1 billion), and women’s and girls’ education ($1 billion). Giving to reproductive health and family planning organizations increased by 82.3 percent between 2012 and 2019.

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report also showed that among collectives of women volunteers and/or donors, those serving women and girls received more support compared with those serving the general population ($700 million vs. $400 million). In addition, charitable giving to women’s collectives serving women and girls grew more than twice as fast from 2012 to 2019 (58.6 percent) as those serving the general population (26.5 percent). Although they received a smaller amount of funding, gender equality and employment organizations—such as the National Women’s Law Center and Catalyst—saw the largest increase in philanthropic support from 2012 to 2019, at 119.4 percent.

“As we release the fourth annual Women & Girls Index, giving to women’s and girls’ organizations still represents a small share of overall charitable giving,” said WPI director Jeannie Sager. “For those committed to advancing gender equity, the WGI continues to be a powerful tool to help increase philanthropic support and drive much-needed resources to women and girls.”

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