She Gives: Growing women’s giving in Australia Research Report
Informed by more than 2,000 women, this is the largest mixed-methods study of women’s giving ever undertaken in Australia.
The findings are both powerful and urgent.
What we learned
Based on independent analysis by the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) at the University of Western Australia, She Gives’ research findings capture how women across Australia participate in giving and drive impact. The report recommendations call for a deliberate national shift to recognise women’s leadership in giving, to strengthen the systems that support women to give with confidence and impact, and to mobilise collaboration at scale so women’s generosity can be fully realised in service of future generations
Released in February 2026, the timing is significant. National reforms aim to double philanthropic giving by 2030. Ensuring that women’s giving, and its intersections, are meaningfully explored and embedded in philanthropy is essential if we are to achieve the positive social impact communities across Australia and the world so urgently need.
Key Insights:
- Women give in diverse ways, through time, expertise, money, care and community work, and their giving is best understood as a constellation of practices, often grounded in values of care, responsibility and connection.
- Women are highly influential in giving, with more than 60% of women who live with a partner saying they always or usually make household giving decisions.
- More than 80% of women in philanthropic networks and 64% of women nationally say they want to give more. Financial security and feeling overwhelmed by the number of requests featured in top barriers to giving alongside limited exposure to structured giving pathways.
- Women’s top reasons for giving include: they care about the cause, they want to make a difference, they trust the organisation or they want to give back. Societal expectations and tax incentives featured amongst the lowest motivations for giving.
- While nearly half of women in philanthropic networks use structured vehicles such as foundations, trusts or ancillary funds, just 6% of women in the broader national sample do so.
- Women want to have greater knowledge and confidence; financial literacy, role modelling and storytelling were identified as enablers.
- Women want a greater diversity of voices and experiences in the room to diversify participation and enrich collective understanding of what giving means and looks like.
- Women want giving to be embedded into the national culture now and for future generations; and for giving to be strategic, collaborative and have long term impact.
Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
Recommendations and actions
The report offers three clear recommendations to grow women’s giving in Australia and sets out key actions to take forward.
- Recognise women’s crucial role in giving
- Grow the capacity of the ecosystem
- Build more collaboration to mobilise impact
Download the report to find out more.
She Gives: Growing Women’s Giving in Australia
The findings are both powerful and urgent.
Thank you for sharing your stories and experiences so generously to inform this research and for inspiring other women to do the same.
And lastly, thank you for taking this work forward. We believe the collective power of She Gives will continue long after this moment and the impact we can have together is infinite.