In looking at how Chicago Women in Philanthropy (CWIP) would mark Giving Tuesday this year, we kept coming back to looking at our current state, i.e., where Chicago, women, and philanthropy meet. We looked at the numbers, the gaps, and the stories they each tell about the significant opportunities and impact that come when we invest in organizations led by and/or serving women, girls, and non-binary people. The data could fill libraries, but as we are all busy with our good work, let’s review a few key highlights.
First, according to 2023 data from the U,S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women in Illinois:
- Make up just over half (50.6%) of the total population
- Own 19.7% of all employer firms, less than one-third of firms owned by men
- Make, overall, 83.6% of what men in Illinois make (in several cases significantly less when adjusted by race and ethnicity)
Illinois women are significantly underrepresented in business ownership and compensation overall. What happens when we look at women’s representation in the social sector?
The Glass Elevator
According to an April 2024 HBR article by Cathleen Clerkin, women are overrepresented in the nonprofit sector (70-75% of nonprofit workers identify as women), yet men move up the organizational ladder more quickly, a phenomenon referred to as the “glass elevator.” Here are a few quotations and statistics that illustrate this leadership phenomenon and our current state:
- Women under-index as nonprofit CEOs overall, even more so in large organizations. “Overall, 62% of nonprofit CEOs or executive directors identified as women while 38% identified as men. However, larger organizations were increasingly likely to have a male CEO.” (Clerkin 2024 article)
- Men make up the majority of board members for large organizations. “Women represent the majority of board members for organizations with up to $1 million in expenses. For organizations with more than $1 million in annual expenses, the results are flipped: The majority of board members are men.” (Candid 2024 report)
- Race accelerates the glass elevator even more quickly. “White male CEO representation increases with organization size, while BIPOC female CEO representation decreases. An intersectional analysis of CEO race and gender indicates that white male CEOs are better represented among larger organizations. By contrast, BIPOC women CEOs see sharp and steady declines in representation as organizational expenses grow.” (Candid 2024 report)
The Gap in Leadership and Community Input
As the Ms. Foundation’s 2023 report “Living With Pocket Change: What It Means To Do More With Less” demonstrated, we have a significant gap between the visions of women and nonbinary leaders of color and the support they have for moving forward, yet they continue to do more with less. A few key takeaways:
- Support women and nonbinary leaders of color and the organizations they lead. “It is crucial for philanthropy to acknowledge that women and nonbinary leaders of color represent our most valuable resources and assets in defending and creating a more equitable and just democracy.”
- Let’s see how much more women and nonbinary leaders of color could do with more. “In an environment of constrained resources, women and nonbinary leaders of color continue to envision and articulate the changes they would like to see in the world and what they will need to make those changes. These visions are a gift that the philanthropic community has the opportunity to consider how to receive and support going forward; a process that starts with recognizing the disjunct between current funding streams and the visions articulated by women and nonbinary leaders of color.”
Not only do underrepresented leaders–women, non-binary folks, BIPOC leaders, leaders with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ leaders, etc.–demonstrate high levels of efficiency and effectiveness in managing resources, they also are critical voices in ensuring funding is allocated from a community-centered lens. In Bold Ventures’ 2024 Community Engaged Grantmaking guide, the authors assert that “unilateral decisions about resource allocation—made without the input of the individuals and communities they are intended to serve—fall short of achieving the transformative social change that philanthropy promises.”
Invest in Effective, Community-Centered Leadership
Whether you are sourcing and/or making gifts during the end-of-year giving season, we hope you will prioritize investments in women, girls, non-binary people, and their leadership. Whether that means supporting Chicago programs and organizations directly, or supporting their development and access through CWIP, we are grateful for all of the people in Chicago and beyond, working to provide the resources women leaders need to effect the change we seek.