Feminist Giving Day—what we learned through a values-aligned partnership

This spring, GiveMN served as the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s (WFM) campaign advisor and fundraising platform to host the first ever Feminist Giving Day on GiveMN.org. We’re pleased to report that this inaugural campaign raised $437,754 to support women, girls, and gender-expansive people across Minnesota—and we’re grateful for everyone who participated in its success!

The seed for this idea was planted about a year ago when WFM was reflecting on a report from the Lilly School of Philanthropy that showed less than 2% of all giving nationwide went to causes centering women and girls. As the first and largest statewide women’s foundation in the United States celebrating their 40^th year, they decided to rewrite the story of giving to gender equity—because they knew that, by giving together, we could launch a movement for women and girls+ that spread beyond our borders.

WFM approached GiveMN soon after with a big, bold idea—a statewide giving day centering women, girls, and gender-expansive people. And after a bit of shared visioning, we made our partnership official and set the date for May 9, 2024.

GiveMN is guided by our organizational values of operating from abundance, connection to community, equity in action, and courage to try. The Feminist Giving Day partnership was an opportunity to put all of our values into action in pursuit of our reason for being: to ignite generosity and grow giving to Minnesota nonprofits and schools.

Our abundance mindset leads us to believe that generosity and possibility are limitless, bound only by how far we’re willing to reach, and how ready we are to ask. In all that we do, we center our core values and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities in our sector. We believe that when given the opportunity, donors will expand their own generosity portfolio to put their values into action, too.

When we practice 'courage to try,' we inevitably create space to learn. And as fundraising coaches, we’re always ready to share a few tips, tricks, and takeaways. So here’s what we learned from Feminist Giving Day, and how it applies to your fundraising:

1. People give when they are asked: When we asked donors to give during Feminist Giving Day, 338 people answered, proving that, when invited in, our community will show up and follow through. People give when they are asked to, and it’s our job as fundraisers to facilitate generosity in support of our missions and shared aspirations.
2. We do better when we work together: Fundraising in partnership with WFM for Feminist Giving Day helped us facilitate new relationships and spark new conversations about giving and asking together. In fact, 48% of the folks who gave during the campaign were new to the cause and to WFM. Working together and transcending competition works!
3. Embrace the mentality of ‘both/and’ rather than ‘either/or’: Can you do more than one giving day? You betcha! We know from survey results that Minnesota’s giving holiday, Give to the Max, remains a vitally important fundraising opportunity for causes across the state. We also know, from our 2023 community listening efforts, that we must do more to honor the needs and amplify the work of organizations centering BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and rural people. Feminist Giving Day was a day to work toward rectifying systemic gender- and racial-based funding inequities. We encourage organizations we coach to ask and engage with their audiences often throughout the year. So if there are opportunities to amplify your work based on cultural celebrations and public attention, go ahead and engage your supporters! We, for one, will be applying what we learned from hosting a single-cause focused campaign this Give to the Max and beyond, and we’ll continue to look for ways to connect with you 365 days/year.

We’re so grateful to our partners at WFM for the opportunity to build something new for Minnesota, together. As your partners in generosity, we’re here to help you dream big, too. Through our fundraising platform and our coaching and consulting services, we’re here to help solve your biggest fundraising challenges and realize your biggest dreams. All you have to do is ask!