Women and Giving

Finding your path in philanthropy

Beth Sawi

When Beth Sawi retired at 50 from her role as Chief Administrative Officer of Charles Schwab, she reflected on what would make the next phase of her life as fulfilling. She took a large chunk of the stock she had accumulated in the company since its early days and put it into a donor-advised fund, then rolled up her sleeves and got to work in giving it away effectively. “I had written checks before,” she said, “but my main focus was on work and family. This new phase was really dedicated to learning how to do it right and support the most capable nonprofit leaders.”

Sawi has been transformed by her experience in philanthropy. “This is what keeps me grounded. There is abundance in this country, but it isn’t fairly distributed and that makes you all the more grateful for how much you have.”

It is the individuals she has encountered along the way who make all the difference to her, instilling a sense of gratitude for “all the hard work that is being done out there by people with very big hearts.” She remembers traveling to New Orleans after Katrina when she was on the board of the Ms. Foundation, and she was touched deeply by the people who were working at small grassroots organizations, putting in long hours with little pay and physically and emotionally demanding work. “There are so many people out there at these organizations who are really the ones making a difference, and they do so virtually anonymously. They are what keeps me going—these people who have little pieces of angel in them. What would this country be without them?”

Sawi is a hands-on donor, and recommends that donors who have the time and are passionate about an organization learn to examine its financials. Joining the board is the next step, “but only once you know what excites you— give yourself a year to get familiar with the group and then accept the invitation.”

Philanthropy has been a learning experience. She knew that joining the board of the Alameda County Food Bank would involve fundraising, but it was an awkward task for her. In this new role, encountering the generosity of others early on left an impression on her and was another example of how people have really made the difference in her experience as a philanthropist. “I made a relatively large ask of a donor I only vaguely knew on my first try at fundraising—$100,000.” She was convinced that she’d spend a long time making these asks before getting anywhere, “but he said ‘yes!’ Wow. I was just stunned seeing that there were people out there who are so generous.”

Beth and her husband have devised a sharing method so that they have a pool of funds that they give collaboratively, and then their own separate funds to grant as they choose. “It really makes you think about your values as a couple. We’re good thought partners.”

Beth’s children are also involved in making some of the giving decisions. Having multiplied the Food Bank’s assets dramatically during her tenure on the board has been a large part of her legacy, but she also sees instilling philanthropic values in her children as an important facet. “My husband and I taught our kids the basic value of ‘Don’t be greedy—by giving more, you have more.’ I think my kids understand that now, and that certainly is a legacy I’m proud of leaving behind.”

Philanthropy, with entrepreneurship and collaboration, helps redefine a neighborhood

Jane Rosenthal

Her business partner is Robert DeNiro. She’s produced more than two dozen Hollywood movies, including Wag the Dog and The Good Shepherd. But in New York City, she has special status as one of the philanthropist-entrepreneurs that created the Tribeca Film Festival. Her inspiration? She wanted to help spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“I was really obsessed with rebuilding the spirit of our neighborhoods,” she told Barron’s in a 2009 interview. “People were afraid to go south of Canal Street, the military was walking around with guns and helicopters were clattering overhead. My starting point was the question of how we could create a new ‘normal’; how we could give people something to look forward to?” She joined with DeNiro and her husband Craig Hatkoff to found the festival. “Nelson Mandela, on his first trip to New York after his release from prison, had talked about the unifying power of film and mentioned that movie nights at the prison had been his favorite times, because the guards and prisoners could unite in enjoying the show. So when we wanted to move on, to signal that the mourning period was over but at the same time combine entertainment with something inspiring, we thought of this.”

Tribeca has grown into one of the world’s most influential film festivals, screening over 1200 films from over 80 countries since its start in 2002. More importantly for the philanthropic mission, the festival estimates that it has generated $660 million in economic activity for New York City.

“I’m still surprised by the people we have reached,” said Rosenthal. “We knew early on that this had to have an educational element, and offer a way for all kinds of new and diverse voices to be heard, not just another film festival. So it became about more than economic revitalization; it was about promoting understanding and tolerance between people—and all through storytelling, which is the heart of the human experience.”

Ms. Rosenthal and her partners also founded the Tribeca Film Institute after 9/11. The nonprofit supports filmmakers through grants and professional development, offering educational programming that “leverages an extensive network of people in the film industry” to help New York City students.

“Knowing that you have helped to give someone self confidence or the power to express themselves,” said Ms. Rosenthal about the film education project, “well, that’s all we could hope for, really.”

Continuing the family tradition while leaving room for innovation

Rockefeller Women

There have been numerous Rockefeller women over the generations who have given with distinction—both broadening and deepening the family’s philanthropic heritage. They continued the Rockefeller legacy of giving while staking out their own territory. In this manner, they demonstrated strategic independence—the signature trait of Rockefeller women philanthropists. Here are three of them from three separate generations.

Laura Spelman Rockefeller

“Surely whatever others may think, it is our opinion that women, even as man, ‘can paddle her own canoe.’” Those were the words of Laura Spelman at her high school graduation in Cleveland in 1855. The daughter of an Underground Railway operator, an outspoken opponent of slavery and eventually an independentminded teacher, she went on to become the wife of a philanthropic pioneer and industrial titan, John D. Rockefeller. She helped him with his business as well as his philanthropy. “Her judgment was always better than mine,” said her husband, who built Standard Oil into monopolistic the first modern industrial corporation. “Without her keen advice, I would be a poor man.” Her deep religious faith drove her charitable activity, and her efforts to provide educational opportunity and training to newly emancipated African Americans were reflected in the strong support the Rockefellers gave to Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta, which was named in her honor.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

The progressive, art-loving daughter of a U.S. Senator, she married John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1901, and created her own approach as a philanthropist. She supported a variety of causes ranging from the YWCA and Planned Parenthood to the Red Cross, but she made her biggest impact in an area her husband strongly disliked. She loved the new ideas, interpretations and forms of modern art. He called the art she loved “unintelligible,” preferring medieval sculpture and tapestries. But she wasn’t deterred. And in 1929, she co-founded the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with friends Lillie P. Bliss and Mary Quinn Sullivan. Over many years, she gave of her time and leadership, as well as her financial resources, helping to build the museum to iconic stature. “For her to have accomplished what she did must have seemed really amazing at the time,” said grandson Rodman Rockefeller, quoted in a PBS television special on the family. “She lifted us from a fairly narrow definition of life to a lot more fun in life, at the same time keeping this very constructive sense of obligation … this sense that there are things to be done and worlds to conquer and places to make improvements.”

Ann Rockefeller Roberts

Author, activist and daughter of Nelson Rockefeller, she first became involved in indigenous people’s rights as a teenager in the 1950s. She eventually became a leading philanthropist for Native American issues, founding the Fund for the Four Directions in 1990. The fund supported environmental projects and the “revitalization of the lifeways and cultures of Native Americans of North America.” Eventually, the Fund for the Four Directions evolved so it was “directed by Native people for their own benefit,” according to Ms. Roberts. The fund is now part of the Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Flying Eagle Woman Fund (FEWF). Ms. Roberts has also served on the boards of many nonprofit groups, including the National Museum of the American Indian, the Philanthropic Collaborative and the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Approaching a community problem from multiple angles – food deserts in NYC

Laurie Tisch

Laurie Tisch made a big decision in 2007. The former nonprofit board chair—and co-owner of the New York Giants—became a full-time philanthropist, founding the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

“Basically, money makes stuff happen,” she says of her approach to driving social change. “My family is quite maledominated… This is my way to be in the business world, not just to write checks, but to work with a budget and metrics and success. It’s not the same success as the bottom line in a company, but there are some parallels.”

The Tisch family is well-known in New York City for its business success (the multi-billion dollar Loews Corporation with a wide array of diversified business holdings) and for its philanthropy (New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the NYU Medical Center’s Tisch Hospital and the Tisch Children’s Zoo in Central Park).

Inspired by her parents’ generosity, Laurie Tisch sought to make her own mark on the city in a more strategic way, by improving access and opportunity for all New Yorkers.

Her foundation funds projects in education, arts, health and public service, but is perhaps best known for its Green Carts campaign, a multi-level strategy to respond to food “deserts” in New York City. These “deserts” are areas where fresh produce is hard to find and many people suffer from obesity and diabetes.

Starting with a $1.5 million seed grant, Tisch worked with Mayor Michael 1 8 1 9 Bloomberg and city staff to introduce the Green Carts, which sell fruit and vegetables in areas that are underserved. By 2012, there were 524 active cart permits, translating to employment for 900 people. According to Ms. Tisch, the project also encourages “entrepreneurship, with each vendor owning and operating their individual carts.”

With philanthropic dollars, Ms. Tisch also sought to help people learn how to better incorporate produce into their diets and funded a new cookbook with recipes from chefs around the city. The idea, she says, is to make recipes and information about fresh produce just as accessible as the fruits and vegetables themselves. The green cart vendors distribute the cookbooks for free (10,000 have been printed) while on their rounds.

A third prong of the strategy was funding a documentary called The Apple Pushers, which had its premiere in 2011. The film, which looked at the Green Carts project in detail, was also backed by Ms. Tisch. She wanted to build public knowledge and support for the project, broadening impact by encouraging other communities to consider their own version of the Green Cart model. So far, Ms. Tisch says, eight other cities have shown interest. Ms. Tisch approaches her philanthropy in a business-like manner. She devotes a great deal of time not just to her foundation, but to understanding her grantees and the wider issues they address. Still, the serious purpose comes with a sense of humor.

“Someone asked me why I’m doing this,” she recounts. “I said, “Because I looked in the closet and saw enough black shoes.”

“Girls Not Brides”: Partnership-based philanthropy

Jennifer Buffett

Jennifer Buffett, and her husband Peter, started the NoVo Foundation with the aim of empowering women and girls as “agents of change” to help move global society from “a culture of domination to one of equality and partnership.” Ms. Buffett is president of the foundation, guiding vision, strategy and grantmaking.

NoVo seeks to make change in three ways: ending violence against women and girls; advancing “Social Emotional Learning,” which brings together academic achievement with positive emotional development and social understanding; and improving educational and economic opportunities in the developing world. The idea is that societal change will eventually flow from a new balance of power between the genders. “We believe that once empowered, women and girls will play transformative leadership roles; and as women and girls become more equal partners with men and boys, a spirit of collaboration can better prevail in society.”

In September 2011 at the Clinton Global Initiative, NoVo launched their support of a global project to end child marriage in a generation. Ms. Buffet explained the approach in a Huffington Post blog:

“At the NoVo Foundation, we know that prioritizing girls and women is one of the most fundamentally sound methods of changing our world for the better. We’ve learned that helping girls and women help themselves raises living standards for everyone.

Each year a girl stays in school boosts her future income by 10 to 20 percent. And since girls and women are likely to invest 90 percent of their income in their families — as opposed to a man’s 30 to 40 percent — the education and empowerment of girls and women has an impact that ripples across a society.

“So what happens to girls early in their life makes a huge difference. On a learning trip to Ethiopia, where 49 percent of girls are married before they are 18, I came face to face with one of the biggest challenges that holds back the world’s female population and keeps countries mired in poverty: child marriage.”

The practice is widespread. Some studies estimate that one-third of underage girls in the developing world are married, according to NoVo. So when The Elders, a group of global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela, established a global campaign to end child marriage, NoVo offered early support, partnering with the Nike Foundation, the Ford Foundation and a number of other funders.

The campaign, Girls Not Brides, will work with NGOs, the private sector and governments to raise public awareness and galvanize change. Key to the project’s success, says Ms. Buffett, are the partnerships the project will build with local activists. “There are passionate and dedicated people around the world who have been struggling against this practice for years,” says Ms. Buffett. “Our role will be to support and enable their efforts, and to raise consciousness on what they are doing and why.”