Women have long played a leading role in philanthropic giving. But for decades, much of that work was done “without wide recognition” and often went “unrecognized or belittled.”
That has changed as big-name philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates step into the spotlight. And while Scott and French Gates have drawn a lot of attention, they’re only two figures in a large, emerging cohort of female funders. According to a McKinsey study, women are set to control a vast amount of wealth in the coming years. At present, women control about a third of U.S. household assets — about $10 trillion. By 2030, women are expected to control $30 trillion.
Change is also happening on the institutional leadership side, albeit more slowly. One place to find that change is at the nation’s largest community foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF). After several scandal-plagued years, SVCF appointed Nicole Taylor as its president and CEO in 2018. She is the first Black woman to take on the role.
Taylor embodies how the face of philanthropy is changing, and with it, philanthropy’s priorities. Under Taylor’s leadership, SVCF has shifted its overall strategic plan to support historically marginalized communities and advance gender, racial and economic justice in Silicon Valley.
Led by an all-woman executive team, SVCF distributed $2.27 billion in grants to almost 6,000 organizations in 2021 alone. That’s a 21.5% increase compared to 2020, which had already been a record-breaking year. In the Bay Area, SVCF donors gave $777 million to nonprofits.
As SVCF observed in a blog post last December, it is only one of four major foundations in the U.S. where more than 30% of assets are managed by firms owned by women or people of color.
“We’re witnessing a moment where the power dynamics are fundamentally shifting,” Taylor said. “This shift is naturally going to lead to a significant increase in grantmaking led by women. That’s what’s trending and what we’re seeing.”
Motivated by a desire for equity
Equity has long been a motivating force for Taylor. Her mother, a Jamaican immigrant, was an unpaid domestic worker during part of Taylor’s childhood. She did not earn a paycheck until Taylor was in middle school. But though they had little, Taylor’s mother instilled in her the importance of giving.
“She taught me to whom much is given, much is expected,” Taylor said, quoting a verse from the Bible. “That’s something she always maintained when I was growing up.”
After graduating from Stanford University with a master’s degree in education, Taylor began her career teaching middle school science at a public school in Oakland, California. Prior to that, she had been a student teacher in affluent Palo Alto, where Stanford is located.
“The two public schools couldn’t be more different than each other,” Taylor said. “I had any resource I needed and wanted in Palo Alto. In Oakland, I was teaching science and had no lab equipment. I felt it was really unfair that Black and brown kids didn’t have the same.”
These experiences prompted Taylor to think about systemic inequality and instilled in her a desire to leave the classroom to figure out how to increase equity for underrepresented and underserved communities.
Taylor’s subsequent roles ranged from running nonprofit organizations to leadership positions at community foundations, private foundations and as a senior administrator at two universities. In December of 2018, Taylor joined SVCF as its new leader.
“My goal and what drives me for everything that I’ve done has been about equity and opportunity and choice and trying to build more equitable systems so everybody feels like they’d have that same opportunity,” Taylor said. “That’s what led me back here to Silicon Valley Community Foundation.”
Equity is certainly in short supply in Silicon Valley, a region with one of the largest wealth gaps in the nation. The 2022 Silicon Valley Index, an annual report based on indicators that measure the strength of Silicon Valley’s economy and the health of its community, found that although Silicon Valley’s residents have an estimated collective wealth of $1.17 trillion, income inequality has grown twice as fast there as in the U.S. as a whole over the past decade. The wealth divide is even more stark. The wealthiest 25% of Silicon Valley households hold about 92% of the wealth.
For Taylor, joining SVCF represented an opportunity to address the significant inequities in a region she knew well.
“I spent my formative years here in college, and then also in my early career. I came back in the middle of my career, specifically here in Silicon Valley. So doing this work in this region really resonates deeply,” Taylor said. “When the board of directors reached out to me about not only the opportunity to lead the country’s largest community foundation, but to improve lives and communities in a region that I cared about, I knew I had to respond.”
Leading the nation’s largest community foundation
Although women occupy a large portion of full-time staff positions in the philanthropic sector, representation in leadership positions is much lower. At the 20 largest foundations in the country, 72% of trustees are white and 63% are male, according to a report from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) titled “Broken Ladders: Barriers to Women’s Representation in Nonprofit Leadership.” Of the 50 highest-paid executives who work in American charities and foundations, only four are women.
SVCF is an exception. As noted earlier, the entire executive team at SVCF is made up of women. That wasn’t planned. “I just hired the best people for the jobs,” Taylor said. “They just all happened to be women.” According to Taylor, the team includes women who have worked on the executive teams of other community foundations and donor-serving organizations, women experienced in the region’s educational and public policy issues, and women who have already led other organizations.
“It’s a pretty impressive group of women, and they are phenomenal partners and advocates for our community… They care very deeply about this field and take seriously our role and the responsibility that we have,” Taylor said.
Under Taylor’s leadership, SVCF has changed its strategic direction, focusing on four core pillars: reducing systemic disparities, supporting strong and engaged communities, growing a culture and practice of effective philanthropy, and being a trusted and enduring institution for Silicon Valley communities.
For Taylor, leading SVCF and working in a sector that remains, in many ways, the province of white men has brought its share of challenges. “Being a Black woman in this kind of leadership position is, sadly, still a rarity,” Taylor said. “Many people see my leadership as inspiring and as a mark of progress, which is immensely humbling to me.”
Taylor’s public role in a high-visibility region of the country also comes with a lot of pressure. “Being one of a small group, all eyes are on us,” Taylor said, referring to the pressure of being a Black woman CEO in Silicon Valley. “And I know for me, I don’t want to let anyone down.”
“There were so many years when I didn’t wear my hair curly because it wasn’t seen as professional… When I started this role, it’s this pressure of being the CEO. I felt that even in terms of how I look and how I presented myself,” Taylor said. “These days, I am who I am, and this is me. This is all of me, and I will choose to live authentically.”
Taylor recounted an instance early in her tenure at SVCF when a reporter made inappropriate assumptions about her marital status and questioned her parenting abilities. These are questions that men are rarely — if ever — asked. The incident emphasized to Taylor how much more work is required.
“Someone could say those are microaggressions. They felt a lot deeper than a microaggression. They were appalling… That wasn’t that long ago. That was three years ago,” Taylor said.
Another major challenge came with George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Taylor, whose son was 20 years old at the time, found herself facing even more pressure. “I’m raising a young Black man in the United States and watching [Floyd’s murder] and having my own deep, visceral emotions through that whole time,” she said.
Taylor was repeatedly asked for guidance on how to be a better leader during that time. “I got many calls from people wanting my advice on what they should do, and I’m holding all of that,” Taylor said. “It’s exhausting. But what else? What else am I supposed to do? I have to hold it off.”
In response to Floyd’s murder and the racial justice demonstrations of 2020, SVCF helped launch the California Black Freedom Fund to support Black leaders doing crucial racial justice work in the state. As part of its commitment to equity, SVCF has also launched other initiatives, including the LatinXCEL Fund, founded in partnership with the Castellano Family Foundation, to support Latino leaders and organizations in Silicon Valley.
Women philanthropists are “flipping the script”
Taylor’s experience underscores the fact that despite some exceptions, there are still few women in top leadership roles in philanthropy, particularly women of color. According to Taylor, this is to the detriment of the sector, since a lack of diverse perspectives and lived experience will make it all the more difficult to find the best solutions to any issue.
With women set to inherit and gain more wealth, however, it’s expected that giving to nonprofits will increase, including to those that serve women and girls’ causes. As a study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the University of Indiana noted, women are about 40% more likely to donate to charitable causes than men. Regardless of income level, women give more often and more generously. Thus, more wealth in women’s hands may well mean more funding for nonprofit organizations across the board.
“Women are really stepping into their leadership, their power,” said Sarah Haacke Byrd, CEO of Women Moving Millions. “What we’re seeing at Women Moving Millions is that women philanthropists are breaking from tradition. They’re flipping the script, and they’re modeling a new approach to philanthropy, one that is rooted in feminist philanthropy principles that are grounded in learning, listening, humility and trust.”
Women Moving Millions works to catalyze resources for gender equality. With more than 360 members worldwide, Women Moving Millions has helped move almost $1 billion toward gender equity.
“We know that if you don’t center women’s voices at decision-making tables, then their voices aren’t heard,” said Haacke Byrd. “Then you get this systemic inequality within philanthropy itself.”
“Women Moving Millions works to leverage the power of our communities, collective expertise, networks and resources to help our members become more effective philanthropists, but also to inspire others to invest with a gender lens, and [work] to really advocate as an organization to increase the amount of capital that’s going to advance gender equality,” she said.
Both Taylor and Haacke Byrd hope that more diversity among the people making the donations and the decisions will help diversify who benefits from philanthropy.
“The more that we have women in leadership roles, decision-making roles, I believe that a position shift is going to continue to happen in philanthropy,” Taylor said. “I believe we’re going to start making real progress because I don’t think we’re going to keep tolerating the inequities that we’re seeing.”
For Taylor, diverse perspectives extend beyond including women. SVCF has worked to embrace all gender identities, and while it is important to have women in leadership roles, so, too, is it important to include the perspectives of all gender identities.
“Equity is part and parcel of our entire sector, and my hope is that the sector really embraces it,” Taylor said. “I don’t just mean institutional funders; it’s all donors, individuals, families and corporate givers, because it’s going to take all of us working together and who are giving to take equity seriously, not just one part of the philanthropic sector.”