Reports and Resources
Investing to improve the lives of women and girls is a powerful catalyst for positive social change. Another way to get involved is to support and participate in the larger ecosystem of networks and organizations that engage investors, the business community, and leaders in gender lens philanthropy, investing, and social justice work.
Selected Resources
Gender Equality Funds
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The Gender Equality Funds tool by grantee As You Sow enables individual and institutional investors to apply a gender lens to mutual fund and ETF investments. It screens about 5,000 of the most commonly held U.S. mutual funds – including financial giants like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street – against a database detailing individual company performance on 12 key gender equality performance indicators.
The Gender Finance Ecosystem Map
The Gender Finance Ecosystem Map presents an overview of the multi-faceted field of gender finance. Designed by Suzanne Beigel and her team, it was built to advance the awareness and practice of Gender-Smart Investing, and to promote the engagement of stakeholders across the Investment community and beyond.
Streamlined Map | Tuti Scott & Lex Schroeder
Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking: 2024 Edition
February 2024 / Download Report
Equileap‘s report on gender equality presents the world’s top 100 companies and key findings per theme, country and sector. These rankings are used by many including investors wanting to align their capital with their values. Through their data, Equileap seeks to close the gender gap by promoting corporate transparency and investment in gender equality.
Diverse Corporate Leadership Outperforms
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Gender lens investing (GLI) is the direction of investment resources toward the achievement of gender equality. Broadly defined, GLI describes investment funds and portfolios in private and public capital markets segments. A breadth of studies spanning two decades has repeatedly shown connections between higher levels of women in leadership (WIL) and superior financial and operational performance. This includes superior share price returns, return on equity (ROE) and profitability, as well as lower incidences of fraud, better environmental decision-making, and improved risk management. These studies serve to demonstrate the rewards of gender diversity to companies and their investors – and clarify the costs to companies and economies of the persistent gaps in corporate gender diversity: lost profits, foregone EBITDA margins and ROE, lower revenue growth, dampened credit ratings, and lower earnings for women and their households.
Project Sage: Tracking Venture Capital with a Gender Lens
December 2021 / Download Report
The Project Sage: Tracking Venture Capital with a Gender Lens report by grantee Wharton Social Impact Initiative maps the landscape of private equity and debt funds that have taken a gender lens investment approach. The field of gender lens impact investing has grown significantly in the past several years. With increased funding pouring into the space, there are now more options for venture capital and debt that aim to put funding behind products and companies that benefit women and girls. Also, read Project Sage 2.0, a landscape survey completed one year later and 7 Takeaways from this follow-up report.
The XX Factor: A Comprehensive Framework for Improving the Lives of Women and Girls
2017 / Download Report
The XX Factor examines the inequalities and opportunities experienced by women and girls, providing the first comprehensive and evidence-based framework to help funders take action. It was created by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) with the support of Tara Health. The report identifies the five dimensions of a woman’s life that are critical to her flourishing, and identifies ways to measure progress in the lives and well-being of women:
Economic Empowerment
Education
Health
Legal Rights
Personal Safety
Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s Women Give 2019: Gender and Giving Across Communities of Color
March 2019 / Download
“The first study to explore the intersection of race, giving and gender. The report finds that generosity is a value shared by all communities, and that women across race and ethnicity are leading through philanthropy.
As communities of color grow in wealth and influence, the study demonstrates the unique perspectives women of color bring to philanthropy and underscores the importance of understanding and engaging donors from diverse backgrounds.”
Women’s Philanthropy Institute: Measuring Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Causes
2024 / Download / Press Release
“Women’s and girls’ issues have received increased attention in recent years, but for a number of reasons, quantifying charitable giving to these causes has been challenging.
Until now. With the creation of the Women & Girls Index, which identifies 45,000+ organizations in the United States dedicated to women and girls, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute can measure giving to these organizations from individuals, foundations and corporations.”