Sarah Haacke Byrd:
Our story started 18 years ago when our co-founders, two sisters, Helen LaKelly Hunt and Ambassador Swanee Hunt, wanted to see more women making big, bold commitments to advance the women's funding movement and step into their resource leadership. The original campaign was launched with our partners at the Women's Funding Network to encourage women to make, at minimum, a million-dollar commitment to any women's foundation of their choice.

Within a couple of years, they had raised US$180 million for over 40 women's foundations and many of these are the most sustainable and strongest women's foundations in the US today. In 2012 we became a government registered nonprofit and by 2023 we surpassed the billion-dollar mark for resources committed to women and girls.

We now have a membership of over 400 women, mostly domestic to North America, but we also have global members as well. The thing that unifies us is the knowledge that we’re stronger when we work together; you learn more and you gain a deeper understanding of the issues you're trying to tackle. There's incredible power in creating a community where women can share social capital, resources and expertise, and can step into either the learner or the leader role at any given moment. And it's simply more joyful to do this really hard work when you’re part of a community of women who are all showing up for the same reason, with the same passion and commitment. 

Sarah Haacke Byrd:
People sometimes think that we're a fund, but this is not the case. From very early on we knew that we could play a unique role in strengthening the funding ecosystem on behalf of the multitude of funds and organisations that already exist. We serve as a convener, because we recognise that if you set the table correctly, resources will move in the right direction - whether it's towards climate solutions, advancing reproductive rights or ensuring that mothers have food on their tables to feed their babies. We use our deep relationships, across a diverse issue-set of movements that impact women and then bring them together.

I like to tell people that I'm a movement fundraiser because I’m in a position of resource advocacy. I travel around the world and talk to people about why moving resources to women and girls and encouraging women philanthropists is an effective social change strategy.

In terms of membership, the commitment today is still one million dollars, although there are some who end up giving exponentially more. We believe that philanthropy is deeply personal, and it’s up to our members to decide what matters to them and where they want their money to go. Our role is to validate that it has a clear gender lens assigned to it.

One of the critical experiences for members is that we also serve as an educator. We have programming throughout the year, both virtual and in-person, that focuses on particular issues, leadership development as well as philanthropic strategy and skill building. We create a safe space for women to come together and learn because if we want to build the knowledge and confidence in women to move resources, having these spaces to wrestle with the big questions and challenges is a crucial component.

Sarah Haacke Byrd:
We’ve seen extraordinary impact. There's the impact on our individual members and how people think about women's philanthropy but there’s also the impact that we’ve had on other organisations. The community often serves as angel investors to gender equity movements, funding new ideas, amplifying underrepresented voices, and supporting social impact leaders before other forms of capital are willing or able to engage.  This is a community that's not afraid of innovation and doesn't shy away from supporting policy and advocacy efforts.

WMM has also helped support the creation of new organizations where gaps in funding are persistent. Examples of this work include supporting the creation of the Equality Fund to resource Global South feminist movements, providing an early research grant to the Donors of Colour Network, and serving on the design committee and Advisory Board to set up the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, which is the largest domestic climate funder investing in women of colour in the southeastern part of the United States.

The depth and breadth of organisations, efforts and countries that our members are working on is pretty extraordinary. A recent example was one of our members who launched a guaranteed income cash assistance program for new mothers in New York City to give them a monthly allocation, no strings attached. It’s now a statewide initiative in Connecticut and a community of Boston members have raised over US$4 million to bring the program there.

Our members have impacted everything from social change movements to innovative research and I’d say that there’s not a significant US-based organization or initiative in the women’s rights movement that a Women Moving Millions member has not been an investor in. That's a legacy to be proud of.

Sarah Haacke Byrd:
I think there’s this perception that philanthropists are doing their work adjacent to the core work - that the philanthropists are over here, the movement-makers are over there and the two meet through the transaction.

When I came into this role six years ago, I had worked on the front lines of the gender-based violence movement and saw first-hand that this lack of deep relationship wasn't serving anybody. My mission has been to help our members understand that they are part of the movement, and as women who are giving specifically to gender equity work, that they are accountable and responsible to it.

I started in 2018, at the beginning of the Me Too movement and so this mission really met that moment. I focused early on in my leadership to work to strengthen the bridge between philanthropy and the field - how we can make this movement work better so that the information flows, knowledge shares and resources go in the direction that they’re needed most.

Sarah Haacke Byrd: 

As part of our strategic plan for 2030, we have a new campaign commitment to move another billion dollars, the second in our history for gender equality, but to do it faster. The challenge in this moment is to harness the potential of women's philanthropy - we know that it's an accelerant of social change, and so bringing more people into this community is a huge priority for us right now. It's not just about resources, it’s about what we can achieve as a network and defining how we best express our leadership and our voice in this moment.

We’re approaching a significant wealth transfer of US$72 trillion and for the first time in history, we are going to reach a moment where women are going to control more wealth than men. I don't think the regressive behaviour that we’re experiencing right now is an accident, but the big question is how do we counter it and stop the backslide?

For us, it’s about expanding our reach and building partnerships because the challenges before us are too hard to tackle alone. Whether you're trying to meet the moment as an individual philanthropist or a community, we all need to be working together and collaborating - sharing our knowledge and resources, that's the future.