September 2017 Newsletter
Australian Women Donors Network
Dear Friends,
There have been many exciting developments over the past few months and we’re keen to bring you up to date. We are thrilled to have partnered on a number of memorable events, celebrated new Australian members of Women Moving Millions (WMM), travelled to the U.S to attend the 6th Annual WMM Summit, secured a commitment to embed gender lens questions into further grant-making software, welcomed a new Operations Manager, upgraded our CRM to Salesforce….and that’s not all…please read on for more of this news and more news of what is ahead.
REPORTSWomen Moving Millions (WMM) 6th Annual Summit
Following our events late last year that featured the President (Ann Lovell) and Chief Engagement Officer (Jacki Zehner) of Women Moving Millions, we have been delighted to foster the growth of Australian membership of WMM. We have grown from two members to seven in the past 10 months, including our first Australian man to join the movement! This represents $U.S.7m ($8.9m in Australian dollars) of funding for women and girls – indeed cause for celebration – and growth of the movement is set to continue. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Wheelton Foundation, I was fortunate to travel to New York and join the largest yet Australian delegation to participate in the Annual WMM Summit, which this year celebrated 10 years since the campaign was launched. The three-day event brought together over 130 members, prospective members and partners to learn, share and connect with each other and external experts in gender-lens philanthropy. With a compelling line-up of speakers and engaging workshops, participants had the opportunity to enhance their skills in the field alongside some of the most inspiring female philanthropic leaders in the world. Speakers included Gloria Steinem, Krista Tippett, WMM Founder Helen La Kelly Hunt and fashion icon Diane Von Furstenberg, a long-time member and supporter. While there was much inspiration throughout the Summit, my standout session was a panel featuring Mariska Hargitay (better known to Australian television audiences as Olivia Benson on Law & Order SVU) and her work with the Joyful Heart Foundation that supports
victims of sexual assault. Mariska is a key figure in a soon to be released documentary film, I Am Evidence, which uncovers gross injustice revealing that hundreds of thousands of official rape kits remain in police storage facilities, untested, leaving victims disillusioned, with no access to justice. Mariska has also recently joined WMM. We look forward to featuring our wonderful Australian members in future newsletters, sharing their motivation and impact, and sharing further learnings from the Summit.
To find out more about Women Moving Millions CLICK HERE
Left to right: Ann Lovell, Jacki Zehner, Paul Wheelton AM, Julie Reilly
Left to right: Lisa Witter and Jo Kirk
Left to right: Julie Reilly and Mariska Hargitay
WMM Summit Day 1 Panel: Challenging the Boundaries: Building Intersectional Movements led by Kavita N. Ramdas.
MORE GOOD NEWS Philanthropy Australia and Australian Women Donors Network Funding Group
As part of the Australian Women Donors Network’s quest to increase philanthropic and social investment in women and girls, we have established a Women & Girls Funder’s Group in partnership with Philanthropy Australia. Existing Funder's Groups operate within the Philanthropy Australia member community across some key issue areas such as Education, Indigenous funding and there is a group focused on matters relevant to Family Foundations. With the growing interest in funding women and girls, we are keen to support the philanthropic community to do this well, to bring new initiatives to light and to provide a forum to foster collaboration among funders for increased impact. We are thrilled to have secured a fantastic speaker for our first meeting early in 2018.
Details will be announced soon.
Congratulations Blackbaud
In August our Chair, Deanne Weir, presented an inspiring opening address at the BBCon, 2017 Asia- Pacific Conference, congratulating Blackbaud on their commitment to integrating a gender lens into the GIFTS Online software for grant-makers. The conference line-up featured industry and NFP leaders sharing insights into philanthropy and the pace of change in fundraising, digital, social and technological advancements. It was pleasing to have the opportunity to highlight the impact of gender-wise philanthropy to the audience of 400 delegates. We look forward to seeing the gender lens enhancements in the next version of Gifts Online.
FORECAST - UPCOMING EVENTS 13th October 2017 - Melbourne Women's Fund
Women’s Economic Empowerment – Realities and Challenges for the Future
Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. This topic has overarching impact on multiple areas of disadvantage affecting women and families and this year we will be placing an economic empowerment lens on Family Violence and Homelessness.
Lisa Witter - November dates to be announced soon
Lisa is an award-winning executive, serial entrepreneur, writer and public speaker. She is an expert in the intersections of communications, government, politics, philanthropy, technology, women's issues and behaviour change. She has counselled CEOs, Nobel Peace Prize winners, politicians, philanthropists, scientists and academics. Lisa co-authored The She Spot, Why Women are the market for changing the world and how to engage them.
On the 14th of September, The Australian Women Donors Network hosted the first in a series of events with Lisa. Lisa met with our Board, some key sponsors and representatives from some of Australia's leading women's organisations. Lisa facilitated a discussion about how we can work together to lift giving to women and girls.
Lisa will be returning to Australia in November to continue the conversation at events across Melbourne and Sydney. Details of these events will be announced soon.
Jill Reichstein OAM hosting a conversation with Lisa Witter
SPOTLIGHT ON PROJECT SHOWCASE
Our Online Project Showcase brings together a wide range of quality projects across diverse focus areas, all designed to advance women and girls. It’s a great resource for donors, especially those who lack the infrastructure to research projects that deliver impact. To provide a glimpse into the variety of compelling projects we’ve recently added to our showcase we’re putting the spotlight on What's Normal? and their latest project 'A Search for Normal - A film series by Laura Pinter'.
A SEARCH FOR NORMAL - A FILM SERIES BY LAURA PINTER
THINGS TO CELEBRATEEVE MAHLAB AO CELEBRATES HER 80TH BIRTHDAY
We would like to thank everyone who joined the Australian Women Donors Network and the Victorian Women’s Trust in celebrating the achievements of Eve Mahlab AO on her 80th birthday, as well as the progress made in the Australian Women's Movement.With revived energy, we look forward to continuing our work towards this goal. "What is past is not dead; it is not even past. We cut ourselves off from it; we pretend to be strangers."
Christa Wolf, Patterns of Childhood
UN Women - HeForShe
In June we were fortunate to partner with UN Women and the Commonwealth Bank at a Dinner for Equality featuring Senior Advisor to the UN and the head of the HeForShe movement, Elizabeth Nyamayaro.
Congratulations Catherine Fox
We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Catherine Fox on receiving the 2017 Walkley Award in recognition of her work for women’s leadership in media. We are privileged to have Catherine on the Board of the Australian Women Donors Network.
Left to right: Amanda Miller, Catherine Fox, Steve Rothfield, Seri Renkin, Eve Mahlab AO Tiziana Pittui, Julie Reilly
VWT video premiered at Eve's celebration.
Left to right: Moran Dvir, Janelle Weissman, Yasmin Dvir and Elizabeth Nyamayaro.
Left to right: Elizabeth Nyamayaro, Quentin Miller, Amanda Miller.
Left to right: Georgia McRae and Amida Cumming
STAFF Thank you and farewell
We recently bade farewell to Amida Cumming and Georgia McRae, who had successfully job shared the Operations role while undertaking post graduate studies in their respective fields of Environment and Law. We thank them both most sincerely for their hard work ensuring the smooth running of robust systems that support the front end of Women Donors activities, and we wish them well deserved success in completing their studies. New Operations Manager
We have been blessed to secure the services of Bronwyn Bate who joined us in August and is doing a wonderful job filling two big pairs of shoes! Bronwyn brings high level skills in marketing, business, NFP and administration to the team and we are sure you’ll join me in making Bronwyn very welcome.
FINALLY...Churchill Fellowship
Finally, in what is fantastic news for me the mission of the Australian Women Donors Network, and for me personally, I am absolutely THRILLED to have been awarded a 2017 Churchill Fellowship to enable me to travel overseas in next year to study global models and systems for increasing giving to women and girls. I would like to express my deep appreciation to our Board for their support and to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for this invaluable opportunity.
GRAND FINALLY...
Whoever you're barracking for this weekend in the AFL and NRL Grand Finals, best of luck!
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our philanthropic and corporate sponsors.
Extra special thanks to the fabulous team at MECCA, especially Leila and Dani for our CEO's polished, professional new headshot.
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