- Women in philanthropy are driving a new era of collective action through giving circles.
- AIF’s Circle of Hope empowers U.S.-based women to support transformative programs in India with real-world impact.
- Circle of Hope offers women opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and direct engagement, distinguishing it from traditional models of giving employed by most women’s charities.
Women philanthropists in India: A Brief Context
“The future of philanthropy is female,” states a recent article by the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), supported by data that women now control one-third of all US household financial assets and 40% of the world’s wealth. Moreover, they influence or make 85% of a family’s philanthropy-related decisions, according to research by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in partnership with Bank of America.
A profile by Alliance Magazine on India’s most prominent female philanthropist Rohini Nilekani shares her perspective on women-led philanthropistsy in India. She commends how women-led philanthropy is “finally gaining prominence even though women have historically held less wealth,” observing that as income levels rise, middle-income women “seem more keen than traditional business community donors to invest in strengthening ecosystems and building institutions.”
Giving Circles: Bringing Women Together to Drive Collective Change
According to SSIR’s summary of findings from various reports produced by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, women’s giving differs from that of men in that it’s more hands-on, relational, and collaborative and often uses a gender lens. A giving circle–where women come together to pool their resources with focus and intention for impactful change at the grassroots level–is a viable model that leverages women’s strengths, resulting in collective action and momentum with the potential to reshape the future of giving.
AIF’s Circle of Hope (CoH) is one such women-led giving circle that provides ongoing support to underserved communities through the annual commitments of its members, empowering both the philanthropists and beneficiaries. Farida Kathawalla and Nirmala Garimella from AIF’s New England chapter launched CoH in 2017 to empower emerging women philanthropists with modest resources to drive impact. CoH taps into their desire to create meaningful impact by engaging with the programs they are drawn to and choose to invest in. At AIF, these projects are usually innovative pilots focused on girls and women in each of its verticals of public health, education, and livelihoods.
AIF’s Circles of Hope
A Leadership Opportunity for Emerging Women Philanthropists
CoH is more than just a giving platform—it’s a safe space and leadership opportunity for women donors at different points in their journeys. For example, the Chicago CoH follows a mother-daughter model, where women and their daughters collectively choose programs for investment and meet regularly to track program outcomes and discuss larger themes of social impact that these programs address. CoH is about women supporting women, and involving the younger generation of the diaspora in this endeavor creates a thriving pipeline of future leaders. It also affirms that it’s never too early for women to start focusing on their philanthropic journeys.
Take the case of Lakshmi Santhosh Maithel, a founding member of the Bay Area Circle of Hope. When Lakshmi joined the AIF Young Professionals cohort in 2013, she had no idea her association with AIF would continue even a decade later. She re-established the Bay Area CoH in 2022 after the passing of her beloved husband Varun Maithel who she met at an AIF event as a way to honor his legacy. Under Lakshmi’s leadership, the Bay Area CoH has supported setting up an inclusive buyers’ portal to help women in rural areas of India sell their unique artisanal products online to a global customer base. By furthering the cause of women’s entrepreneurship, this CoH not only honors Varun’s dedication to women’s empowerment but also gives its members the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of rural women.
Reflecting on her own journey with AIF, Lakshmi advises young women interested in philanthropy to “start now!” Despite societal norms that point to older, more established individuals getting involved in social impact, Lakshmi believes in the power of doing what one can for others from a young age, which allows deeper and more thoughtful engagement with the cause throughout one’s life.
Women Supporting Women
India’s gender gap limits opportunities and curtails agency for adolescent girls and women. The multidimensionality of poverty further compounds these challenges, making it even harder for women to break systemic barriers. AIF’s interventions across education, livelihoods, and public health are designed to address these issues and cultivate gender equity at the grassroots level.
The women philanthropists who are members of CoH bring a deep understanding of these challenges faced by women in rural India and play an instrumental role in providing strategic resources and amplifying their voices. Adolescent programs particularly resonate with mother-daughter duos due to their own lived experiences. Beyond just providing strategic funding, CoH members also actively shape the narrative and ensure that AIF’s interventions are responsive to the needs of women beneficiaries.
Approach and Impact
CoH pools members’ contributions and engages in collective decision-making to allocate funds to AIF’s women empowerment projects. The strength of the collectives could be as high as 25 members, providing the benefit of a sizable investment pool of USD 25,000 to invest in innovative pilots. The circles meet quarterly, with a combination of online and in person gatherings.
Since 2017, CoH has invested in public health, livelihoods, and learning and educational outcomes for migrant children in India. Till date, the collectives have given over USD 200,000 across all verticals by involving 100+ women and girls across 4 chapters in the U.S. The various circles have funded programs on public health for adolescents and women, learning enrichment programs for migrant children, and leadership capacity-building and employment readiness for people with disabilities.
Joining AIF’s Circle of Hope is a great way for young women interested in social impact to meaningfully engage in philanthropy even with a modest allocation of funds. CoH offers a hands-on, consultative approach that fosters leadership, engagement, and ownership, enabling members to actively participate in decision-making and ensure that their contributions are allocated to the geographies and causes that they collectively believe would most benefit from their giving.
Join the Circle of Hope
Sign up to become a member of AIF’s Circle of Hope and support impactful programs in India. Visit the Circle of Hope page to learn more.
