Perhaps like me, your values—especially values around money and resources—are steeped in your identities. As a white lesbian feminist, I have learned how to make my own money moves that matter through a lifetime of learning and practical experience. I’m a humanist at heart, and my soul is called to elevate feminist leaders of the matriarch; especially those addressing the harm of white supremacy on all of us. 

Growing up working class in rural New Hampshire, where I held a paying job since the age of 12, I was shaped by mottos like, “Waste not, want not,” and, “Actions speak louder than words.” My experience as a point guard in high school and college basketball gave me the confidence to take risks, push through fears, and build discipline and focus—all skills that set the stage for my professional career as a coach and executive. 

I know—and research proves—that my sports experience (along with the privileges that accompany my whiteness) helped to give me not just confidence, but the skills to establish economic security to survive, thrive, and be able to make financial donations of relative substance to meaningful efforts.

Moving Money for Impact - A Guide to Gender Lens Investing is a guide I wrote for philanthropists and investors of all genders who seek to “make money moves that matter.” I believe driving resources to women/womxn, girls, and other people and communities marginalized by oppressions means committing or recommitting to one’s values while examining ‘how much is enough.’

You can drive a positive impact in the following ways:

1.  Name and shift power.

Reigning systems and structures have unilaterally favored heterosexual white males for centuries. Applying a gender lens means examining how structural and systemic discrimination in decision-making and policy-making continues to leave underrepresented people (often women, people of color, gender nonconforming people, queer folks, people with disabilities, and those who identify with two or more of these categories) out of power structures.

Power dynamics inherent in any grantee/grantor relationship are compounded by power dynamics around race, gender, and class. When money changes hands, we need philanthropists and investors who can hold relationships with grantees and entrepreneurs with dignity, empathy, and respect.

When we choose to share power intentionally and infuse our work with diverse perspectives, our dialogues become bolder and our decision-making so much more fruitful. More often than not, this will mean revealing our own implicit biases as opportunities for self-reflection.  

2. Trust and invest in the sisterhood— with an emphasis on our sisters of color.

Many people see that when we invest directly in women and girls, especially women of color, positive outcomes flow to individual children, whole families, and entire communities. Women have provided a moral compass and holistic care for their families, communities, and their sisters for centuries. If we aim to create stronger community structures for families and more viable, profitable companies, we must invest in women’s participation and leadership.

And a critical phase of the work here is to ensure that we fund women to care for themselves as much as they care for others. This is what will help women flourish and be prosperous leaders so that, in turn, they can continue to “hold” their communities.

Additionally, investing with a gender and racial justice lens can drive impact and is widely available in the public markets with mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) offering opportunities to invest with as little as $100. Here are some resources to help examine your current holdings and find information on investment opportunities aligned with the values that are most important to you:

• As You Sow: Offers tools including assessment platforms and shareholder advocacy to help investors align their portfolios with their values.
• Parallelle Finance: Offers insights into sustainable and responsible fixed income investing with a gender lens mandate.
• Equileap: Offers data and insights on corporate gender equality.

3.  Build community and collective action for social justice.

Every time we bring an explicit gender lens to our individual and collective philanthropic and investing work, we gain an opportunity to bring additional lenses to our work: racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and so on. We must support leaders across all movements who have a lived experience of being marginalized, “othered,” and/or have a compassionate awareness around well-being and a commitment to advancing social justice.

There are multiple ways to engage with others whether via giving circles, community foundations, donor networks, and investing circles. The funding community includes the Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), Donors of Color Network, Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), Rachel’s Network, Resource Generation, Slingshot, Solidaire, Women Donors Network, Women’s Funding Network, Women Moving Millions, and many more. These communities are gathering to learn together and make grants with explicit gender and racial justice lenses.

Connecting into community-based opportunities helps build financial courage. Peer networks, angel and investing clubs, and accessible learning opportunities abound.  A few community resources for women wanting to engage include Invest for Better, How Women Invest, and Coralus.

4.  Shop with your values.

Just as you examine and direct your philanthropy with a gender lens, you can also raise questions about the companies you invest in or purchase from. The Gender Fair: A Public Benefit Corporation offers an app with recommendations of brands that support gender equality.

Shopping your values is a powerful and important money move. Here are curated lists with companies to use your dollars with clear gender and racial mandates.

• The Coralus Venture Gift Guide lists products and services selected by the Coralus community in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
• The Women Owned Directory contains companies with the Women Owned logo offered by WBENC (U.S.) and WEConnect International (global) to businesses certified as at least 51 percent women-owned, -operated and/or -controlled with a searchable category for Black owned.  
• We Are Women Owned maintains a robust list of women-owned brands with searchable categories of Black or AAPI owned companies.  
• Women-Led Wednesday provides a directory of women-led consumer brands.
   

Excerpted from Moving Money for Impact - A Guide to Gender Lens Investing by Tuti B. Scott with Lex Schroeder. Copyright © 2021.