Dear Friend,

I recently celebrated my 10th Anniversary in this role and want to open by thanking all those who have stewarded, encouraged, supported, critiqued, and sustained the organisation for the past decade. I also want to wholeheartedly thank every private, institutional, and corporate funder, who has engaged with us over this time, heard the message, adopted our tools and taken action to increase their investment in women and girls, both through direct funding or by applying a gender lens to their broader giving.

I also warmly thank the many purposeful NFP’s who continue to work every day to have a positive impact on the lives of women, in all their diversity – locally and globally, to deliver greater gender equality. We will continue to amplify your work and impact to the philanthropic community.

To work in an area of passion and purpose, where your skills and experience can help drive social change is an enormous privilege and one I’m most grateful to have. Gender equality is a long road, with many hills to climb (some might say cliffs to scale), but it’s most definitely worth our collective effort. I’ve been reflecting on the past decade and philanthropy’s role in accelerating gender equality and look forward to sharing these insights with you as we mark International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8th March.

The 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD) themes of Breaking the Bias and Changing Climates resonate strongly with the call for philanthropists and social investors to commit to an intentional focus on women and girls in their giving.

For those wanting to support women in Ukraine and closer to home, flood affected communities we have included some avenues for support.

Please read on for details of IWD events, examples of effective projects you can invest in, compelling news, articles and videos to inform and inspire your giving. We hope you enjoy celebrating the extraordinary achievements of women around the world and trust you will be inspired to make your own personal commitment to actions in your home, work and giving that will move us towards a stronger, more peaceful and prosperous world where there are no barriers to women’s equality.

Wishing you all a very happy International Women’s Day.