Women and Leadership in Philanthropy
As the countdown to the second annual India Giving Day on March 1, 2024 approaches, we believe that celebrating this new national tradition by sharing effective philanthropy practices is important. Furthermore, we assert that women have made and continue to make special contributions to the culture and practice of effective giving. Studying the strengths of women philanthropists can benefit men, a new generation of women givers, and society as a whole. This has particular resonance given the pressing needs and compelling impact opportunities in India, the country where our parents were born and came of age and to which we feel a strong sense of affinity and connection.
Why might women have unique philanthropic capabilities? First of all, we believe that our traditional role as caretakers and connectors gives us greater capacities for empathy and for practical problem-solving. Furthermore, being historically under-resourced and having our roles in society underappreciated allow us to more personally understand the realities of nonprofit organizations, the often under-resourced and underappreciated institutions upon which the philanthropic sector depends.
A deeper understanding of the strengths that women bring to philanthropy can come from the study of prominent role models. Last October, around the time we launched our second annual India Giving Day campaign, the India Philanthropy Alliance hosted a memorable webinar on women in philanthropy featuring Indra Nooyi, formerly the CEO of PepsiCo, and Andrea Jung, the CEO of Grameen America. They underlined the fact that all philanthropists, irrespective of how they identify, should invest in supporting and uplifting women and women's causes. They also reminded us that as more women gain personal or institutional resources, their influence goes far beyond just providing funds. They prefer a more holistic approach to solving societal problems that also involves volunteering, governing, listening, and advocating.
We can also look to the powerful idea of trust-based philanthropy that has been so magnificently practiced by MacKenzie Scott over the past several years. In this model of giving, the demands on the nonprofits (especially those related to applying for and reporting about the uses of funding) are minimized, the restrictions on the utilization of donations are eliminated, and resources are provided upfront. Nonprofits are seen not as suspect intermediaries that require close oversight, but rather as essential partners in need of bolstering, encouragement, and flexible support in order to benefit society.
Scott and others who emulate her approach seek to be the kinds of donors that nonprofits long for: generous, trusting, pragmatic, and more than anything, full partners. New research is showing how her unconventional giving style has helped nonprofits move from playing defense, where they are focused mainly on surviving from one year to the next, to playing offense: making bold plans for putting a major dent in the societal problem they were established to address. A study by the Center for Effective Philanthropy found that Scott grantees advanced "their missions in ways not previously possible, including through innovating and taking risks" and also reported improved staff morale and increased creativity.
This approach stands in contrast to the more transactional type of philanthropy that men can be prone to, where restrictions and procedures grounded in distrust shape their relationships with nonprofits, and where there is a tendency to precipitously downgrade an existing partnership with a charity in favor of some new philanthropy trend or fad.
In contrast, women tend to avoid asking what nonprofits can do for them, and focus instead on how they can be most helpful to the nonprofit in achieving its noble mission to reduce poverty, improve learning or health outcomes, protect ecosystems, or improve society in some other way. They develop long-term relationships with implementers like the organizations we lead, focusing on our transformational goals for society rather than on a more transactional calculus. In short, their engagement style mirrors the effective giving principles articulated by the India Philanthropy Alliance. We are pleased to see that these techniques are increasingly also being adopted by men and by youth.
Women also tend to excel at taking a holistic view of societal problems and the possible solutions to them, at listening deeply to impacted populations and front-line workers, at building consensus among stakeholders, and at sticking around until a job is complete. They also intuitively see the power of incentivizing cooperation through collaboration rather than competition among nonprofits, an insight that contributed to each of us committing ourselves to the India Philanthropy Alliance and the India Giving Day campaign, despite some initial skepticism within our organizations.
To illustrate these concepts in action, let us share the stories of three female donors who have been instrumental in our impact while also nurturing exciting relationships with us and our teams.
Take, for example, Anita Balaji. She was raised in a family that believes staunchly in the value of a good education, and in fact, her connection to the Foundation for Excellence (FFE) started when she was a teenager, a result of her parents' involvement with FFE, which provides scholarships to low-income students to pursue professional degrees in engineering, medicine, and law. Her parents, based in Chennai, have spent significant time and effort vetting scholarship applicants to help select those who are most deserving. Through their involvement, Anita has had the privilege of meeting some of the scholars and their families and hearing their heart-wrenching stories at the start of their journey with FFE and the joyous outcomes at the conclusion of their journey. Moreover, as a finance professional, Anita is also keenly focused on the return on investment that the non-profits she supports are able to garner. She celebrates the outsized economic impact that a single FFE scholarship can have on the lives of a scholar and their extended family, thereby transforming an entire generation. As a second-generation volunteer for FFE she continues to make an impact through her direct involvement as a board member and champion for FFE's NYC chapter, raising funds and advocating for the deserving scholars.
Or consider Monica Sheth, an Akanksha Education Fund donor who approaches philanthropy with a compassionate, solution-driven mindset. Coming from a corporate background, she made a conscious decision to create space in her life to give back. Monica first got involved with Akanksha as a guest at a gala, and quickly fell in love with the mission of Akanksha. She appreciated how the idea of education as a pathway out of poverty aligned with her own beliefs. She scaled back her own business to be more involved as a philanthropist, eventually becoming an Akanksha advisor. She has also recently taken her family to visit an Akanksha school in India, where her children enjoyed interacting with the students and learning about the Akanksha experience on the ground. Her approach is to listen and observe, learn as much as possible about the work Akanksha does, and then bring in her expertise. Monica's outlook is one of humility and leadership, as she notes that "it is a learning curve to not be the most experienced person in the room, so in the nonprofit sphere, I am always learning." Her out-of-the-box thinking and creative collaboration with other board members helped shape the innovative approach to Akanksha's recent fundraiser, Voices on the Rise. Her desire is to not just give, but also to engage as a dedicated volunteer by lending her skills honed through her corporate experience.
Another shining example is Darshana Shanbhag, a distinguished physician practicing Internal Medicine in the Seattle area for more than 25 years. She brings a profound understanding of the transformative power of education to philanthropy, which is rooted in her upbringing. She was fortunate to be born into a family that treasured education. Having spent her formative years in Mumbai, India, she came to the realization that equitable access to education, healthcare, and safety was not universal. Driven by her commitment to making a meaningful difference in society, she embarked on a journey to explore non-profit organizations known for their ability to demonstrate impactful outcomes at scale. As a physician, she values the significance of data in measuring effectiveness and informing decision-making. Darshana became deeply involved with Pratham, a global non-profit known for its innovative programs in tackling learning challenges in India and beyond. Having served as the Seattle Chapter President for Pratham USA for 3 years, she continues to champion Pratham’s mission on its board, leveraging her leadership to drive impact. Through her dedicated engagement, Darshana has had the opportunity to witness firsthand the remarkable transformations facilitated by Pratham’s on-the-ground interventions. She shared, “When you educate a girl child, you educate a family and thereby a community. Pratham's programs operate in collaboration with the government, rendering them scalable and cost-effective. That’s what is needed to drive large-scale impact. Pratham’s programs are not merely changing lives, but they are also unlocking the boundless potential of future generations, thereby shaping a brighter tomorrow.”
Likewise, we draw inspiration from the farsighted and high impact philanthropic engagement of two of the national co-chairs of India Giving Day: Sapphira Goradia and Lata Krishnan. They both, in different and complementary ways, have modeled the ideals of female philanthropy and have championed important causes that support other women.
As we prepare to celebrate India Giving Day in our organizations and around the country, and show what is possible when professionally run mission-driven organizations such as ours receive the resources they need, reflecting on the capabilities of women in philanthropy is one of the most powerful things we all can do together. Perhaps each of us can take a few minutes in the days ahead to ask our mothers or beloved aunties how they think about and approach giving. Even if they lack the resources of MacKenzie Scott and the other leaders described above, we suspect that prominent women in our lives have wisdom that can make each of our donations more impactful, joyful, and meaningful.
About the Authors
Manisha Bharti, MPH, MBA, is the first CEO and Global Executive of Pratham USA, the US-based organization mobilizing support for Pratham's global efforts. Manisha has been a leader across a range of global development organizations, including GHR Foundation, where she served as Chief of Strategy and Programs, and at FHI 360, where she served as Chief Strategy Officer. Manisha has also worked for the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), McKinsey & Company, UNICEF, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, FXB Foundation, and the Canadian and Ontario governments. Her current work is informed and inspired by her early professional experiences living in the Volta region of Ghana and the Pali district of Rajasthan. Manisha graduated with honors from Harvard University, earning an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree in social studies. She also earned two master's degrees with honors, in business administration and public health, from Johns Hopkins University.
Sejal Desai is the Executive Director of Akanksha Education Fund, an education nonprofit that runs 26 public-private partnership schools in India for children from low income communities. She has been a passionate advocate and supporter of various US and India based nonprofits focusing on education, hunger relief and women's issues. Her 30-year career includes work in sectors like venture capital, M&A, accounting, entrepreneurship, nonprofit and corporate social responsibility. Most recently, she worked at Communities Foundation of Texas, where she led a strategic initiative focused on engaging businesses in the community. She also has experience supporting individuals and families with their philanthropic giving and engagement. Among other career highlights, she was a co-founder of a tech incubator, STARTech, she also started a social venture, SevaYatra focused on engaging US based universities and multinational corporations with India based NGOs. Sejal was born in India and lived and worked in Mumbai for 20 years. She is a Chartered Accountant from India and holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Texas at Dallas and a master's in liberal studies from Southern Methodist University. Sejal is a passionate and engaged citizen of both countries and joined Akanksha in 2021 with a strong desire to transform lives through education.
Minoo Gupta is inspired by collaborating with individuals who have a growth mindset and aim to solve critical problems for corporations and society. She is passionate about educational causes and bridging the inequality gap by consistent action and technology-based solutions. She is the current vice-chairman of India Philanthropy Alliance and President for Foundation For Excellence a non-profit supporting college bound underprivileged students in India to become professionals in engineering, medicine, and law. During her last 12 years of volunteering in this role, she has seen the organization grow to support over 13,000 students per year across India. Her laser focus on operational excellence, systems thinking and engineering driven problem-solving mindset has helped propel the organizations forward consistently. In her last role as Senior Director of Engineering at Citrix, she worked across four geographies, leading and managing the Engineering and Operations teams, to help deliver products and services for frictionless customer experience.
