About Joining the National Center for Family Philanthropy’s (NCFP): Women’s Power & Influence Learning & Action Cohort
Who should join this Cohort?
This Cohort is designed for NCFP members with domestic (US) funding programs and who are interested in exploring or are committed to:
- Strengthening women’s power and influence in the US. They are leaders, decision makers and direction setters within their funding space,
- Advancing gender equity,
- Funding intersectional social justice issues (e.g., democracy, racial justice, economic justice, health, media/arts), and
- Exploring gender equity as a lever for change in other issue areas (e.g., climate/environment, racial justice, economic power).
Participating members may also increase the impact of their giving by leveraging the matching gift program that is part of this Learning & Action Cohort.
What organizational level are the people who are a part of the Cohort (e.g., Trustee, C-suite, Vice President, Program Officer, Associate)?
The Cohort is geared toward the individuals (whether principal, e.g., trustee, or senior staff) who are in a position to recommend or select grants, develop a strategy, or make decisions about grants and amounts. For some, the learning journey will be important for identifying specific areas of impact to focus on and specific organizations to support, and for others the value may come from identifying new avenues for deploying capital for gender equity.
What is included in Pivotal Ventures’ definition of expanding women’s power and influence to determine eligibility for a matching grant?
The organization receiving the gift must implement a project that directly contributes to advancing one or more of the following indicators associated with expanding women’s power and influence:
- Reducing the wage gap: Narrowing the gap in earnings for women in comparison to men
- Reducing the wealth gap: Narrowing the gap in wealth for women in comparison to men
- Reducing the unpaid care gap: Improving the division of caregiving and other household responsibilities done by women in comparison to men
- Increasing women’s share of leadership roles: Increasing the percentage of women in senior roles across the public, private, and social sectors
- Increasing content creation: Expanding the percent of intellectual and cultural content (e.g., film, television, news, journalism, literature) created by women
- Improving public perceptions: Increasing the percent of the public who believe we need more women with power and influence, and that women are capable of and effective at exerting power and influence (e.g., that having more women in positions of power would improve life for everyone)
What does a commitment to the Learning & Action Cohort entail?
What time commitment is required of Cohort members?
We would like Cohort members to attend all the sessions, and if you are unable to attend a session, we welcome you to designate an alternate participant to attend on your behalf. However, participants do not need to take part in every session once they have already identified their new or increased giving or if they are solely interested in a specific issue area already covered in a session. If a Cohort member makes their grant commitments early in the sequence of sessions, we understand not attending remaining sessions with the exception of Session 5, when Cohort members will share commitments and giving strategies with each other.
What are the dates, times, and frequency of the Cohort meetings?
Cohort sessions will take place once a month from January to May 2023 and will last 2 hours each, with the exception of the first meeting, which will be 2.5 hours:
- Wednesday, January 25 | 9:00 – 11:30am PT / 12:00 – 2:30pm ET (2.5 hours)
- Wednesday, February 15 | 9:00 – 11:00am PT / 12:00 – 2:00pm ET (2 hours)
- Wednesday, March 22 | 9:00 – 11:00am PT / 12:00 – 2:00pm ET
- Wednesday, April 26 | 9:00 – 11:00am PT / 12:00 – 2:00pm ET
- Wednesday, May 24 | 9:00 – 11:00am PT / 12:00 – 2:00pm ET
Are there requirements outside of the monthly Cohort meetings?
There are two areas outside of the main learning sessions where participants can voluntarily engage and expand their experience:
Pre-session work: No more than 30-45 minutes outside of Cohort sessions will be required of participants. Such time would be devoted to reviewing materials in preparation for the upcoming sessions, such as articles that are relevant to this Cohort’s focus, etc.
Inter-session triads: Between the five learning sessions, each participant will be assigned to meet in a triad with two peers from the Cohort. The same triad will meet three times between the January and April Sessions. Panorama will provide prompts to generate discussion about gender equity giving approaches, goal development, or Women’s Power & Influence Learning & Action Cohort giving plans. We will assign ‘like with like’—family members would be grouped with other individuals who are trustees or family members of a board, and foundation staff would be grouped into triads with other foundation staff members.
What financial commitment is required?
Cost to participate in the Women’s Power & Influence Learning & Action Cohort is $995, encompassing five learning sessions (January to May 2023), pre-session materials, guidance for learning triads, and custom advising. Cohort members must be a member of NCFP in 2023.
In addition, Cohort participants are strongly encouraged to come prepared to create a plan for new investments in support of women’s power and influence with a goal of making new grant strategies or commitments by May 2023. Cohort participants are eligible to participate in the Matching Grant Program for this initiative, supported by Pivotal Ventures (see details below). The final session (May) will focus on reporting out any WPI grants awarded by Cohort members to date in 2023 and announcing new giving strategies or commitments that will be paid by December 2023. Participants do not need to take part in every session if they have already identified their new or increased giving or are solely interested in a specific issue area already covered in a session.
What may I expect in the Learning & Action Cohort sessions?
What is the anticipated curriculum?
The Cohort’s curriculum will be customized to respond to the priority interest areas of the participants once the list is finalized and Panorama has surveyed the applicants in December. Sessions will build on participant interests; a sample approach (topics are examples only) is below:
- Session 1 kicks off with Intersectionality, centering a race x gender lens, then
- Session 2 will focus that lens on closing the wage gap and the care gap—factors that underpin (the issues of the following session)
- Session 3, leadership/representation gaps and the wealth gap, leading to an exploration of the powerful opportunities led by women of color to reverse this
- Session 4 might examine ways to subvert the content creation gap and levers to shift public perception to support women’s power and influence, or other priority Interest areas of the cohort members
- Session 5 will focus on sharing each member’s giving commitments
Each session will feature expert discussion of root causes, examples of systems change, and cutting-edge programs and strategies from thought leaders, movement leaders, organization leaders, and private sector leaders. Peer funders and donor advisors will also share and lead discussion of funding alternatives and innovations
Each Cohort session will include workshopping a personal giving plan/strategy and shortlisting organizations for it, advised by the recommendations from the expert speakers, the Cohort members, and the Cohort team (facilitators and donor advisors).
What are the matching gift requirements?
Program Parameters
Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, which will provide the matching grant funds for this initiative, has specific eligibility parameters for the matching program. This includes criteria below:
- The grant must support an organization or project that directly contributes to advancing one or more of the following indicators associated with expanding women’s power and influence:
- Reducing the wage gap: Narrowing the gap in earnings for women in comparison to men
- Reducing the wealth gap: Narrowing the gap in wealth for women in comparison to men
- Reducing the unpaid care gap: Improving the division of caregiving and other household responsibilities done by women in comparison to men
- Increasing women’s share of leadership roles: Increasing the percentage of women in senior roles across the public, private, and social sectors
- Increasing content creation: Expanding the percent of intellectual and cultural content (e.g., film, television, news, journalism, literature) created by women
- Improving public perceptions: Increasing the percent of the public who believe we need more women with power and influence, and that women are capable of and effective at exerting power and influence (e.g., that having more women in positions of power would improve life for everyone)
- Organization must be a 501(c)(3) public charity working in the United States, be committed to inclusion and equity, and demonstrate strong financial and organizational capacity, health, and longevity
- Grants must represent: a new commitment by the donor to the organization; a new scope of work to be conducted by a current grantee; or a new increase to a current scope of work conducted by a current grantee
- Grant commitments must be made by December 31, 2023; preferably, only amounts paid on or before December 31, 2023, will be eligible for match
- All match requests are subject to review by the NCFP/Panorama team to determine eligibility
Match Amounts
A total of $5 million is available for matching grants—we will ensure that all participants have the opportunity to seek a match. Grants that meet programmatic eligibility requirements, subject to approval, will be matched:
- At 100% for grants of more than $150,000 (payment must total more than $150,000 by December 31, 2023 to qualify for 100% match)
- At 50% for grants of $10,000 – $150,000 based on payments completed by December 31, 2023
Additional Information
For additional detail on this program, including elements that may cause a grant to be ineligible for match, contact Jennifer Cho, Panorama Global, Vice President of Partnerships, at jennifer.cho@panoramaglobal.org
