Power of the Purse

“Philanthropy is not about the money,” Melinda French Gates, the trailblazing philanthropist, once said. “It’s about using whatever resources you have at your fingertips and applying them to improving the world.”

This belief is more relevant than ever. Today, women are harnessing the power of the purse to spark transformative change – both in Jacksonville and around the world. From powerful grants to hands-on advocacy, they are proving that true philanthropy is not just about wealth, but the will to make a difference.

Melinda French Gates exemplifies this ideal through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where, over the past three decades, she has overseen more than $77.6 billion in grants – funding everything from local education initiatives in Jacksonville to groundbreaking COVID research at the University of North Florida. And she’s not stopping there. In 2024, Gates committed to donating $1 billion over the next two years to support women’s rights and health, continuing her legacy of transformative giving.

Meanwhile, MacKenzie Scott, the philanthropic force and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has shattered expectations by giving away $12 billion to 1,200 organizations in just five years. Her generosity has had a profound impact in Jacksonville, with the Wounded Warrior Project receiving $15 million and the Boys and Girls Club of Jacksonville benefiting from $6.8 million to further their vital work.

These women are not only rewriting the rules of philanthropy – they are proving that the power to create lasting change is in the hands of those who dare to make it happen.

Locally, women philanthropists like the members of the Women’s Giving Alliance (WGA) and philanthropic leader Delores Barr Weaver are modeling the current upward trajectory of this strength. In May 2024, the WGA awarded $750,000 in grants to 18 Northeast Florida nonprofit organizations – the largest grant pool in the alliance’s 23-year history.

And in 2023, Weaver made a $61 million gift to the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.

“I’ve always had issue with it being a man’s world,” Weaver said. “Women are just as capable as men. And to quote others, if you want a job done, give it to a woman.”

The new normal

A growing number of female philanthropists and female-led organizations are part of the trend – creating a “new normal” in community giving:

• Jill Davis, chair of the MOSH Genesis capital campaign and vice chair of the MOSH Board of Trustees announced in Summer 2024 that more than $40 million had been raised toward the development of the new museum on Jacksonville’s Northbank
• Amelia Island resident Julie Wood gave $4.9 million through the Indiana-based Tom and Julie Wood Family Foundation to the Nassau County Council on Aging in June 2024. It was the largest gift received in the agency’s history.
• Local philanthropist Roseann Duran, who passed away in January of 2024, was the first female officer in the history of Barnett Banks. She gave a record-breaking gift of $565,000 to local nonprofit READ USA to reduce illiteracy in children.
  Always conscientious about the health of children, she received one of Wolfson Children’s Hospital’s top honors back in 2018, as a member of its DreamCoat society, earning the coveted “Dreamweaver” award. Recognized as one of its most generous and committed donors to the children’s hospital, she was also responsible for support and investments in the Duran Genetics Center on the campus of the children’s hospital.

In Northeast Florida, no one demonstrates the power of the purse more concretely than Weaver, who established the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida in 2012 with a $50 million gift and has since made multiple, multimillion-dollar gifts to The Community Foundation, including a $61 million gift in 2023.

Weaver gives independently of her husband and former Jaguars owner Wayne – who said, “Delores has always been the philanthropist in the family” – and dedicates herself full-time to her donor work.

A co-founder of the Women’s Giving Alliance and creation lead of the Jaguars Foundation, Delores Weaver supports many issues that affect women and girls, including domestic violence shelters, support for women in the military who have been victims of sexual assault, See the Girl and the local nonprofit ReThreaded. But she also gives broadly to numerous other causes in Northeast Florida and around the world.

Carrying the torch

Despite her impact, Weaver said she is just carrying the torch.

“I’m not leading the way but following in the footsteps of Jessie Ball duPont and Lucy Bell Gooding,” Weaver said, noting two of the Jacksonville area’s pioneering female philanthropists.

DuPont and her husband, Alfred I. duPont, built their estate, Epping Forest, in Jacksonville. She led her husband’s business enterprises and became trustee of his estate after his death, funding scholarships for college students and giving to colleges and universities, charities, children’s homes and art museums.

Gooding, who came to Jacksonville to work for Independent Life and Accident Company in 1929, established the Lucy Gooding Charitable Foundation Trust in 1988 and made major gifts to the Boys Home Association, Episcopal School of Jacksonville, The Bolles School, Hope Haven, Sulzbacher and Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, among many others.

“Philanthropists are born every day,” Weaver said, “and I believe many women will follow the pathway left to them years ago.”

There have been many inspiring female philanthropists in Northeast Florida following this pathway through the decades, and most of them are behind the area’s most important resources and community assets. Consider Ellen Cavert – who founded the Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital in 1972 following the death of her infant granddaughter, Abbie – and Betsy Lovett, who blazed similar trails during her life, adding her signature zest and style to countless projects and nonprofit organizations, including the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, the Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville Historical Society, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, The Bolles School and many other agencies and institutions. Like Weaver, Lovett pursued philanthropy on her own terms.

Mary Virginia Terry, who died in 2022, also gave generously to the community along with her husband, C. Herman. The Terrys are the named donors on countless community resource facilities, including Jacksonville University’s Terry Concert Hall, Terry Heart Institute at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Ascension St. Vincent’s Mary Virginia Terry Cancer Center and the University of Georgia’s C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business.

The list of inspiring female philanthropists and community change-makers is long, and many names can be found in the annals of the Florida Times-Union’s EVE Awards, an annual recognition program honoring women who have made a difference in the Northeast Florida community. Included on the lists of EVE of the Decade and the EVE Lifetime Achievement Award are such familiar and prominent forces for good as Frances Bartlett Kinne, Ph.D, Pamela Paul, Sister DeSales Wisniewski, Sherry Magill, Dr. Edith Perez, Janet Owen and many more.

A growing trend

Trends in female philanthropy follow general social and cultural trends. More women are working outside the home, traditional roles are shifting, women are making and investing more money, and more transferred wealth is ending up in the hands of women. In short, women are increasingly more empowered and fully loaded to give. Also, women tend to give to missions with which they identify personally and feel connected.

“Research shows how women’s giving has evolved as more women are participating in the workforce and as women are leaning into higher levels of achievement and shifting family roles,” said Isaiah Oliver, CEO of the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. “As a result, in our engagement, households are giving more jointly, and a significant number are giving separately.”

In Northeast Florida, women, along with their partners, are the ones opening their pocketbooks to give their time, talent and treasure to some of our area’s most important missions.

Longtime philanthropist Barbara Harrell demonstrates these findings. She and her husband, William, have given generously to many local nonprofits over the years, including HabiJax, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, World Affairs Council of Jacksonville, Elevate Jacksonville, All Saints Episcopal Church and others.

Another star philanthropist, Linda Berry Stein, encouraged others to open their pocketbooks for a cause near and dear to her heart. As campaign chair and a major donor, Stein helped raise $14.5 million for the Jacksonville Humane Society and to rebuild the JHS Adoption, Education and Pet Help Center, which was destroyed by fire in 2007. The new building is named for Stein in recognition of her generosity.

Cracking the pocketbook

There’s no question women are making a big difference when it comes to giving and many times women like Weaver and other women philanthropic leaders in our community are making the decisions about what and to whom their gifts should make an impact. According to a 2015 study from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at the University of Indiana’s IUPUI Women’s Philanthropy Institute, women – especially single and older women – are gamechangers for giving. Here are the study’s key findings:

• “Consistent with prior research, single women are more likely than single men to give to charity. Single women donors on average give higher dollar amounts to charity than single men.
• Divorced/separated, never-married and widowed women are more likely to give, and give higher amounts, than their male counterparts.
• As women’s incomes rise, they become more likely to give to charity than their male counterparts. For the top 60% of income earners, women are more likely to give, and give more, to secular causes than their male counterparts.
• Millennial, Boomer and older (Silent/Greatest Generation) women are more likely to give in general and to secular causes than their male counterparts.
• High net worth single women and single men do not significantly differ in their likelihood or amount of giving – either in total giving or in giving to religious or secular causes.”

Purpose-driven purse

There’s no blocking the path when women unite to stir positive change in Northeast Florida. The Women’s Board of Wolfson Children’s Hospital is, of course, another example of this femme-might. In mid-2024, board leaders announced the organization had raised nearly $1 million for the hospital from its signature annual events, the 2023 First Coast Design Show and the 2023-24 Florida Forum.

The Pilot Club of Jacksonville, which organizes important fundraising and service projects to this day, is another similar group. Other female-led philanthropic groups include The Women’s Resource Network, Inc., including the Rape Crisis Center, Hubbard House, and the Women’s Center of Jacksonville, began because a group of women came together to make the important community resource a reality under the leadership of Shirley Webb. Similar momentum was created when Ann Baker and Susan Fisher – with the support of other local environmentalists, many of them women – established Greenscape in 1975. Over the years, the local organization has sponsored tens of thousands of tree-plantings across Northeast Florida and successfully provided more green space, shade and healthier air for the community.

And what began a century ago as the Ladies’ Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society is now a formidable organization that raises important funds for the River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged in its current 40-acre location in Mandarin, serving 180 residents. At its annual fundraising gala in 2023, the River Garden Foundation Gala raised important funds for the River Garden mission.

Rooted in the same female-led energy, The Junior League of Jacksonville continues to be “a force for change in our local community, The women-led organization headquartered in Jacksonville’s Riverside neighborhood, celebrated its 100th anniversary in Jacksonville this year with much fanfare and reflection. Its volunteer efforts address unmet needs in the community, including issues related to food insecurity, food deserts and nutrition education.

The women of the Junior League of Jacksonville have partnered with more than 65 local organizations since its founding and contributed more than 10,000 volunteer hours to the Jacksonville community. Kimberly Barrett, who has been a member of the Junior League since 2015, is the league’s president for its 2024-25 year. She said the league has gotten increasingly interested in preparing its members for philanthropic leadership.

“At one point, we were more of a giving organization not only of time and talent but of money, and over years, that focus shifted into creating a stronger platform for training our members – it’s a prong of our mission that has really blossomed,” Barrett said. “In so many ways, we’ve always trained our members in any committee they serve on whether it’s fundraising or the amazing women who put on Whale of a Sale during the past 30 years – we’ve always had an amazing tradition of training fundraisers, but now realize there’s more we can do to be pivotal trustees. We’ve evolved in a sense that we now offer a wide variety of training opportunities and have a larger affiliate base to give volunteers.”

Growing stronger together

Also growing in popularity among women philanthropists are giving circles or alliances. According to a report from University of Indiana’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, giving circles in general and for all genders are on the rise.

“The number of giving circles (GCs) in the U.S. has tripled in the last decade,” the report said. “GCs are now located in every state in the U.S., and engage people from a wide variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, gender identities, and age groups. GCs are estimated to have given as much as $1.29 billion to charitable causes since their inception.”

Locally, this trend can be seen through groups like the Women’s Giving Alliance. Founded by Weaver, Helen Lane and other charitable luminaries such as Courtenay Wilson, Ann Baker and Doris Carson, the WGA aimed to recruit 50 members during its inaugural year. It attracted three times that number.

In 2001, this Community Foundation initiative included 163 women. With rising membership, interest and funding, the group is providing opportunities for local women to pool their resources for maximum impact in Northeast Florida. Today, there are more than 470 members, and the group successfully directs endowed funds of $5.9 million.

“My experience is that women, perhaps more so than others and this is a personal opinion, first identify what their passions and life experiences are,” said Sheila Collier, immediate past president of WGA. “Those experiences as a woman lend itself to a passion for issues that affect women and girls.”

In its latest grant cycle, the WGA gave to the following local nonprofits, and announced a new area of focus concerning women and girls:

• Barnabas Center: $50,000
  (Nassau County)
• Betty Griffin Center: $50,000
  (St. Johns County)
• Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center:
  $10,000 (All Northeast Florida counties)
• Delta Research and Educational Foundation:
  $5,000 (Duval County)
• Family Promise of Jacksonville:
  $50,000 (Duval County)
• Feeding Northeast Florida: $50,000
  (All Northeast Florida counties)
• Hubbard House: $50,000
  (Baker and Duval counties)
• Lee Conlee House: $50,000
  (Putnam County)
• Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida:
  $15,000 (All Northeast Florida counties)
• Lutheran Social Services of Northeast Florida:
  $50,000 (Duval County)
• Muslim American Social Services:
  $50,000 (Clay, Duval, and St. Johns counties)
• Northside Community Involvement:
  $50,000 (Duval County)
• Operation New Hope: $40,377
  (All Northeast Florida counties)
• Rebuilding Ex-offenders Successfully Through Opportunities Rehabilitation and Education (R.E.S.T.O.R.E.): $50,000 (Duval County)
• ReThreaded: $50,000
  (Clay, Duval, and St. Johns counties)
• Sulzbacher: $50,000
  (All Northeast Florida counties)
• Volunteers in Medicine Jacksonville:
  $49,554 (All Northeast Florida counties)
• We Care Jacksonville: $30,000
  (Duval County)

“WGA was founded with the critical mission of improving the lives of women and girls across Northeast Florida,” Collier said. “We have grown from a small group of committed individuals into a powerhouse grant maker. Our recent growth in membership directly translates into increased support for women and girls across Northeast Florida.”

WGA leaders also announced a new grantmaking and community involvement focus for the 2025-2026 grant year and beyond: “Addressing Violence Against Women and Girls: Preventing, Surviving, Thriving.” The new focus – selected following rigorous research, discussion with community leaders, and a vote of members – includes violence against women and girls, including child abuse and neglect, harassment and bullying, intimate partner and domestic violence, predatory social media, rape, and sex (human) trafficking.

Women supporting women’s and girls’ issues – and issues of social justice and cultural concern – is also a national trend. This is creating an important infusion of support for nonprofit organizations serving women and girls.

According to the Women and Girls Index study from October 2022, “women’s and girls’ organizations received nearly $8 billion in philanthropic support, or less than 2% of overall charitable giving, in 2019.” Other key findings include: “Reproductive health and family planning organizations received the greatest amount of philanthropic support for women’s and girls’ organizations in 2019. Gender equality and employment organizations experienced the largest increase in charitable giving to WGI organizations from 2012 to 2019;” and “Among collectives of women, organizations serving women and girls receive greater philanthropic support – and grew at a much faster rate from 2012 to 2019 – than those serving the general population.”

The future

There is an urgency to ensure women learn about service opportunities and philanthropy early in their education and careers. Youth Leadership Jacksonville offers youth of all genders the knowledge and experience to support their community. An eight-month leadership program, YLJ engages more than 50 high school sophomores from Baker, Clay, Duval and St. Johns counties, preparing them to become thoughtful, ethical leaders committed to active community involvement. The curriculum and activities focus on specific facets of the community such as government, criminal justice, human services, diversity and business. Each day combines a behind-the-scenes experience, small group discussions and interactive sessions with community leaders.

Other organizations, such as the Girl Scouts, Girls Inc. and the Junior League of Jacksonville, prepare young women to search their purses for the right resources in similar ways. Through programming, meetings, and hands-on experiences, these organizations are attracting more female philanthropists to the scene.

The Weaver Philanthropic Initiative, meanwhile, is a hands-on program designed to identify, nurture and train the next generation of philanthropists. Of the recent 2024 class of 11 graduates, eight were women.

“Women that embrace their authentic selves are the torch bearers for women following in their footsteps,” the Nonprofit Center’s Dawn Lockhart said. “We need to continue to empower young women to lead in the areas they personally connect to so we can build the future generation of nonprofit executives, board leaders, and philanthropists.”