Dear Friends,

Fall greetings from all of us at the Global Fund for Women!

The spring brought great excitement as we held the first formal celebration honoring our 20th anniversary in New York City, on June 5th. Seven hundred supporters and friends of supporters attended and helped us raise $2 million for women’s human rights worldwide. Because of the passion conveyed by the speakers and attendees – leaders in their fields of social justice, politics, business, the arts and media – this remarkable gala was filled with inspiring moments of courage, hope and generosity.

Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, and a Co-Chair of the event, delayed a flight to South Africa in order to open the evening with a personal greeting to her Excellency, President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected president in Africa. Her Excellency inspired the audience with her speech during which she acknowledged the critical role that Liberian women’s grassroots organizing had played in paving the way for her to be peacefully elected. As more women become leaders of nations, it is incumbent upon women to seize the opportunity to create alternative models of leadership in which the goal is a safe, peaceful world for everyone, free of poverty, violence and injustice.

Six passionate and experienced grantee partners from South Africa, Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malaysia, Liberia and Egypt, joined us – not just at the gala, but at a symposium hosted by Hunter College and a journalist’s breakfast held at the New York City Yale Club. These visionary women work alchemy with the money they receive, leveraging relatively small amounts many times over to create great waves of positive change.

In this newsletter, you will find excerpts from the symposium, an article that appeared in the Financial Times about a long-time supporter and her passion for funding women’s rights, and an inspiring story about the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund, an initiative that we are proud to support. We are deeply grateful that you are a part of our global network of allies and supporters who share the vision held by our founders that investing in women’s rights is indeed the best way to transform the world.

Sincerely,

Kavita N. Ramdas
President & CEO