Women Donors Network

Programs: Educational and grantmaking programs for women philanthropists:the organization's educational program achievements included educational webinars on many topics of interest to women philanthropists; an advocacy and lobbying training in washington, dc, "wdn on the hill: using our power to the fullest potential;" regional gatherings of women donors around the country; an in-person learning lab on movement building; a writers' reatreat for women donors; and finally an annual conference, "wdn connect: imagine 2020," which was held in berkeley, california, where more than 100 women donors gathered to learn to be more effective philanthropists, build community, and collaborate on a new 5-year strategic plan. Grantmaking:the organization supported several initiatives in pursuit of its vision of a more fair and just world during 2014. The organization awarded $490,000 in grants to organizations working to promote women's health and reproductive justice, to develop grassroots criminal justice campaigns to reverse discriminatory practices, to oppose hydraulic fracturing and support frontline communities most impacted by the harmful effects of extreme energy extraction, and to support women leaders workng for peace and human rights internationally and women leaders in liberia.

reflective democracy campaign:the organization launched a reflective democracy campaign to illuminate and remove the structural barriers to creating a democracy in which those in power better reflect the demographics of the american people, including more women and peope of color. Program accomplishments in 2014 included the creation of the first-ever database identifying the race and gender of more than 42,000 elected officials in the united states, including county, state, and federal office-holders, as well as the creation of a website, video, and infographics to make this data available to the general public. The campaign also collaborated with allied funders, grassroots organizations, and communications experts to conduct briefing sessions for advocates in the field and messaging research, focus groups, and polling to better understand the american public's beliefs about the importance of creating a more reflective democracy.