SURPRISE, SURPRISE: EDUCATING MEN IS KEY TO GENDER EQUALITY

March 5th, 2010

A bevy of research projects into how public policies can enlist men and boys in the struggle for gender equality are currently under way in Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, China, Croatia, India, Mexico, South Africa and Tanzania, with more countries in the pipeline.

The goal, according to the International Center for Research on Women, the organization conducting the research, is to provide “insights on how to achieve large-scale impact in promoting more cooperative and equitable relations between women and men, reducing gender inequities and calling attention to men’s gender-related vulnerabilities.”

And findings from the projects, just released in a sort of interim report card, recommend a host of comprehensive policies that could engage men and boys in ways that benefit both sexes.

The report offers eight recommendations for policies that can achieve those aims, including these highlights:

•  Education, especially early childhood programs that create classroom atmospheres where girls are freed from sexual harassment and sexual violence, and where boys are freed from bullying and violence from other boys.

•  Public security, including armed forces, police and real deterrents that act as a force for protection rather than oppression and that take women’s accounts of violence seriously and hold police accountable.

• Health policies that pay heed to the gender-specific needs of women and men.

• Violence- prevention policies that target men and boys, including programs for male perpetrators that are integrated with the judicial sector.

• Engaging men as fathers and caregivers, including paternal leave policies, parenting education courses and programs that promote men’s participation in prenatal care and help them see how their families benefit from men’s greater participation in family life.

All this is helpful and well thought out. Now, how do we put it into action?

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TEACHING KIDS THE VALUE OF A BUCK

March 1st, 2010

What impact does family wealth and affluence have on kids? “Usually, the more that money is handed out, the more the fire in the belly goes down,” says Bay Area financial adviser Joan DiFuria.

How do you raise self-sufficient and confident adults from children who are accustomed to all the comforts of well-upholstered homes and top-rated schools? What will motivate them to strive and achieve?

With more or fewer zeros to their credit, all families face similar challenges. “The culture speaks with a boom. The sound of parents is much softer,” says Joline Godfrey, a consultant who provides financial education to kids. As parents, one way or another, we model the behavior that kids pick up on.

Beyond what you know (and perhaps let slide)—like saying no even when it will spark an argument—here are suggestions from advisers and parents about instilling a sense of identity, productivity and compassion in kids:

• Start bringing kids to meetings with financial advisers and pros, say, from age twelve or so.  That way, they can become knowledgeable early on, learning about financial issues and seeing what it takes to assemble a good team.

• Follow Warren Buffet’s example: Let your kids know they won’t inherit much money.  Says one mother who inherited family money: “Kids have a better chance of creating their own lives and acting on their own vision and values without the burden of wealth.”

• Set up financial vehicles that hold the money in trust in some way, so kids don’t have unlimited access but are still supported. A 529 educational savings program, for instance, can shelter money for qualified educational expenses. Have a chat with a seasoned adviser to review options.

• Get kids involved in philanthropy at young ages. Form a family foundation or establish a donor advised fund and make sure your teen is in the room when it’s time to make decisions.

• Work with advisers who understand and talk about the emotional issues of money, not just the investment side of things.

• Collaborate with kids to draft a family compact or mission statement. Such meetings typically cover the source of the family’s money, how family members view their responsibilities, potential giving plans and purposes or goals that can unite the family. “I am such a believer that if you don’t manage the emotional and family aspects, the money doesn’t matter,” says Susan Remmer Ryzewic, who manages the finances and investments of her family’s foundation and business.

• Set up coaching sessions. “It’s a good idea to start early and find someone who can speak the young adult’s language,” says financial adviser Darcy Bhatia.

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TALKING ABOUT MY AND YOUR GENERATION

February 16th, 2010

There’s been scarcely any research into how giving changes based on which cohort you’re born into — which is a pity, because we could sure use some.

Even so, one representative nationwide study a few years back by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute in Indianapolis offers some suggestions about how such differences play out in terms of values, aspirations and behavior.

In that study, boomer women gave the most to charity while millennials gave the least. And boomer women gave more than boomer men ($1,129 vs. $1,847 per year, on average).

Millennial women are three times more likely than Gen X or boomer women to respond to a message about “improving the world.” Boomer and older women are more likely than boomer men to respond to a message that urges “responsibility to help those with less.” Millennials do not perceive charity in the same way as boomers do.

The WPI concludes that heightened sensitivity about generational differences in the workplace transfers to philanthropy.

Any group or organization trying to engage donors or volunteers ought to be thinking about such demographics as well as about their message and narratives. Programs and marketing materials need to appeal not only to both genders but to different generations, too.

Have you engaged a millennial woman in giving today? Do you know how to shape a message that will resonate with Gen Y, men and women?

It’s time we learned.

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LOSING MONEY IS A LESSON PROFESSIONAL WOMEN NEED TO LEARN

January 23rd, 2010

Too many women haven’t learned to cut their losses and move on. They haven’t realized that to profit from investments you must also lose some bets.

When stocks go wrong, men blame it on advisers, the market or economic conditions. Women blame loss on themselves.

Men assume they’ll somehow make up the loss. Women feel like it’s lost forever or they keep trying to prove themselves right.

While you’re in growing or peak earning years, you can afford to burn some money in order to learn how to invest for yourself. It will give you the power, smarts and confidence to make investing decisions later, when you can’t afford to make money mistakes—at age sixty to, say, ninety.

The path to becoming an educated investor is not to sign up for one of those endlessly proliferating women-only brokerage seminars (which, I should point out, have self-interested agendas). Nor is it to attend a continuing ed course, like “Reading the Wall St. Journal” (though that can’t hurt).

Rather, allocate some dough to invest as a learning exercise and, step by step, educate yourself. “It’s about confidence and the level of socialization,” says one woman entrepreneur, who taught herself about stock trading and says she’s done well, including with early investments in Dell, Yahoo!, Microsoft and RIM.

Start by doing your own research, online and off. Consult the analysts and market gurus, whether in financial trade journals or through online outlets or cable TV business programming. See how what you think jives with what you read or hear. Then start trading with the money you’ve earmarked.

After that, you’ll be more inclined to feel like your financial advisers are working for you rather than the other way round.

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THE RISE OF THE FOURTH SECTOR

January 21st, 2010

Increasingly, social responsibility is gaining marketplace currency. From global conglomerates to the shop down the block, enterprises are deepening their charitable giving, while making sure to market their virtue in doing so. Such efforts are creating a so-called fourth sector. While such efforts are welcome, the blend of selling the brand while “doing good” has some inherent tension that is worth keeping front and center.

Here’s a snapshot:

Giving from large, multinational corporations even rose slightly (1.3%) in 2008, during the recession, reaching a median total per company of nearly $26 million, according to the annual survey by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), the international group cofounded a decade ago by the late actor and activist Paul Newman.

Motives cover a lot of territory. Some corporate moves, while creating a glow of good PR and high visibility, are out-and-out donations. For instance, early in 2008, Goldman Sachs earmarked an extraordinary $100 million to teach entrepreneurship and business to women in developing countries. Toward the end of last year, Goldman pledged $500 million to help small businesses, citing its role in the financial crisis as part of its motivation to give back.

More often, the fourth sector is an umbrella for several blended approaches that go by varying labels, from “social entrepreneurship” to “hybrid” or “for-profit philanthropy.” Whatever the moniker, the hallmark of such giving is a combination of altruism, pragmatism  and marketing.

One of the most high-profile examples is Google’s DotOrg initiative—officially, Google.org. The project grew out of the well-known pledge made by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when the company went public in 2004. At the time, the well-heeled pair promised to reserve 1% of their total profits to “make the world a better place.” However, it wasn’t until January 2008 that the effort launched.

While Google.org funds both nonprofit and for-profit companies to “address the global challenges of our age: climate change, poverty and emerging disease,” the initiative promotes its investments in small and medium-sized for-profit businesses in the developing world. DotOrg has “committed” (but not yet granted) $100 million and has announced it will spend $175 million in an initial round of grants and investments through 2011—still multimillions short of 1% of Google’s massive profits.

At Salesforce.com, whose stock spiked in the last quarter of 2009, the Salesforce.com Foundation has a 1/1/1/1 model, delivering 1% Time, 1% Equity, 1% Product to nonprofit organizations. Since its inception, Salesforce.com and its employees have given over 40,000 hours of their time, millions of dollars in grants and products to more than 1,600 nonprofits. More traditional models include Timberland and its international employee days of service. Plus, the CECP now boasts an international membership of 175 CEOs and chairpersons, with member companies accounting for more than 40% of reported corporate giving in the US.

On the flip side, larger charities are picking up the tools of marketplace branding and using these to generate profile and revenue, too. The biggest nonprofits are spending nearly $8 billion per year on branding, marketing, and public relations, according to a 2006 study by fund-raising consultancy Changing Our World.

None of this is necessarily a bad thing, especially in an age when it’s so tough for any one cause or nonprofit to stand out from the crowd. However, it does argue a need for taking it slow. Just because you’ve heard buzz about a nonprofit “brand” doesn’t mean that organization is doing a good job.

Just remember, even for larger, more visible charities, due diligence is in order.

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STEPPING UP

January 10th, 2010

Increasingly, the survival and safety of women around the world are motivating American women to deepen their involvement. The result tends to be more focus, and more active engagement.

Diana von Furstenberg fits that bill. In addition to being chief executive of her global fashion business, the veteran designer is also a mother, the wife of media mogul Barry Diller, a founder of the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

So it’s the more compelling that within weeks of attending a lunch a few years back to hear about Vital Voices Global Partnership, von Furstenberg decided to join its board. “Vital Voices resonates the most for me because it embraces all the things I believe in and stand for,” von Furstenberg told me. “That’s why I want to be more involved.”

Set up in 1997 by then First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after the two attended the UN Conference on Women in Beijing, Vital Voices supports women community leaders worldwide. The group has rallied support from women across the political spectrum, including actress Sally Field, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Texas Republican senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Besides marketing expertise, von Furstenberg has contributed space in her boutiques for performances of Seven, the donated work of seven women playwrights. The collaborative play dramatizes the lives of seven women supported by Vital Voices who are fighting the odds and the cultures in places like Russia, where one exposed domestic abuse; Pakistan, where a young girl who was gang-raped brought her attackers to justice; and Afghanistan, where a midwife defied the Taliban. “I thought if we illuminated their lives this way onstage, it might help to call attention to them,” says playwright Carol Mack, who initiated the project and wrote a portrait of Inez McCormack, a Protestant Irish trade unionist.

Similarly, Jewelle Bickford shifted the significant resources she contributes, notably as board member of Randolph Macon College and the Trisha Brown Dance Company, after a wrenching trip to Rwanda. Bickford, who was a senior advisor at Rothschild Group investment banking firm when she visited Rwanda and currently is a philanthropy consultant at GenSpring, returned to New York and got involved with Women for Women International, which aids women who are victims of war.

“It changes your life,” Bickford said to me. “Nothing has affected me like this. We can no longer tolerate what happens to women in developing countries.”

Bickford has joined the Women for Women board and is shedding her other charitable commitments. “One woman can make a difference,” she says.

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CLEARING THE HURDLES

December 29th, 2009

Beyond the uncertain times and wobbly economy, women are still shying from giving and from defining themselves as philanthropists.

The barriers to women’s giving have proven to be tough and tall. They haven’t changed all that much — or nearly enough — over the past decade.

I believe much of this stems from women’s attitudes toward money. We don’t like to own financial decisions. We’re often uncomfortable being in control of money. We frequently spend and save without any plan at all.

The emotional and psychological sides of money for women rate scant attention. Instead, the fuss and focus typically goes to the rules of personal finances, to investing and budgeting, to issues of asset allocation and growing the portfolio.

Sure, all that’s critical, but those topics still seem to occupy all the air in rooms about money. The emotional side gets lost. But money and means aren’t merely the paper stuff we use to buy and sell things. Money also represents emotions and values that we learn from our families, our bosses, the culture and that we internalize. We all bring individual agendas, histories, fantasies, expectations and anxieties to our financial transactions.

Certainly, we’re a society in transition about male and female roles, yet many of the timeworn stereotypes still hold true in the financial arena. This doesn’t apply to all women and all men, of course, but generally speaking: Women take care. Men take charge.

We’re still living with stereotypes of male and female roles – men are the Tom Cruise or Matt Damon types who go off and have adventures and find treasure. For women, money is what keeps us safe. It’s the anchor and future that comes along with Prince Charming. Among other gender-based characteristics, men look at money as a spigot, something they can control and turn on and off. Women see money as a pool that is finite and can be used up, drained. That’s not altogether off base, because women do earn less than men throughout their lives. Women are in and out of the workforce taking care of children and relatives. So women have less income and less for retirement. In fact, two thirds of American adults who live below the poverty line are women — that’s two out of every three. Men do have more control over the faucet of money.

As women, we must therefore wrestle with the idea that money represents security and how we can find the will and the comfort level to use the money for the things that have meaning for us. Money is power.

And because that’s true, society is not kind to women with wealth. Society is uneasy when women take up the reins of power. Most of the time, images of women who wield money and power in media, in movies, on TV, are depicted as bitchy or indulgent, undeserving or just plain dumb. Of course, men with wealth, are viewed as smart, hardworking, attractive, accomplished and powerful, you know like Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates. They’re players.

Women need to become players too.

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GIVING IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS

December 23rd, 2009

I’d like to make a pitch for helping to alleviate the need in communities around us, especially lately.

I was told by Sheryl WuDunn, author with husband and New York Times columnist Nick Kristof of the bestselling “Half the Sky,” that the pair’s mission for investing in women and girls is focused abroad because: “There is an order of magnitude and brutality in the developing world that really you don’t see here.”

And, said WuDunn, “as with any philanthropic endeavor, your money goes farther when it’s spent wisely abroad.”

She’s certainly seen that first-hand in Asia while I have not. However.

When I look around in the US, I’m seeing an order of magnitude here that’s increasingly disturbing: joblessness, foreclosures, hunger, lack of hope and comfort.

With all the money going out to the needy around the world, I’d like to see some more of it focused at home. My wish for the new year.

Call me a homebody.

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GEN Y IS POWERFUL

December 15th, 2009

A while back I posted an entry that argued that Gen Y is going into the giving business and, as the generation matures, will likely reengineer the country’s values, redefine business and relaunch the American Dream.

Now, the Pew Research Center has anchored my observations and research with solid metrics.

A Pew poll, released on December 11, says we know the following about Millennials:

  • They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation’s history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white.
  • They are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day exit polling, this is the largest gap ever seen in a presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30.
  • They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.
  • They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.
  • They are more inclined toward trust in institutions than were either of their two predecessor generations — Gen Xers (who are now ages 30 to 45) and Baby Boomers (now ages 46 to 64) when they were coming of age.

Why aren’t nonprofits harnessing the idealism, the smarts and the enormous skills and potential of Gen Y? We need their help.

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YES, IT’S SIMPLER TO WRITE A CHECK, BUT IS IT SMARTER?

December 6th, 2009

If philanthropy does not require gobs of cash, it is nonetheless both wiser and more effective to craft a customized financial plan before you begin. A plan can help maximize the impact of your gift, both right away and in years to come. It also pays to define exactly what income and categories of assets you possess, how much those assets are worth (today and down the line, if and when they appreciate), and whether they are being appropriately managed and leveraged — for your family and your future, as well as for philanthropy.

“This isn’t just a discussion about what’s on paper,” explains Candace Bahr, a wealth manager in the San Diego area. “You need to talk about inflation and its effects, how to manage all the separate money and investment accounts and so on. The problem of managing money by simply following the markets is that people get caught up in the emotion of it. There’s so much noise constantly coming at you, it’s difficult to differentiate the noise from the real information.”

We love it when a plan comes together.

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