Women are leading Australia’s giving revolution. Will the sector catch up to enable their giving at scale? 

Australian women don’t want jargon when they support charities. They just want to know how their giving will help. 

“Women want to feel that whatever they give is going to have an impact and make a difference,” said Melissa Smith, founder of the landmark research report on women’s giving in Australia, She Gives: Growing Women’s Giving in Australia. 

Published by Noble Ambition, with the Centre for Social Impact, University of Western Australia as academic partner, it is the largest mixed-methods study of women’s giving conducted nationally and the second-largest Australian study of giving overall. 

Drawing on surveys of nearly 2,000 women, more than 20 roundtables, and interviews with more than 140 women, the report reveals that women are already driving charitable giving in Australia and why they are poised to reshape it entirely. 

The study combined a Network Group engaged through the She Gives network with a National Group drawn from a broader survey sample, creating a dataset reflecting the wider population. 

Key findings included: 

• Women were highly influential in philanthropic giving, with more than 60% of women who lived with a partner saying they always or usually made household giving decisions 

• More than 80% of women in philanthropic networks and 64% of women nationally said they want to give more 

• Financial security and feeling overwhelmed by the number of requests featured among the top barriers to giving 

• Women’s top reasons for giving include caring about the cause, wanting to make a difference, trusting the organisation, and wanting to give back 

• Societal expectations and tax incentives were among the lowest motivations for giving 

• While nearly half of women in philanthropic networks engaged in structured giving including foundations, trusts or collective giving, just 6% of women in the broader national sample did so 

• Financial literacy, role modelling and storytelling were identified as key enablers 

An important insight from the research was that many women felt uncomfortable describing themselves as philanthropists. 

“This is an example of the tall poppy challenge, which limits the discussion of giving,” Ms Smith said. “And there are gender inequity challenges on top of that. As a result of these cultural norms, women often find it even more challenging to speak publicly about their giving.” 

Women’s giving spans financial donations, volunteering, board leadership, advocacy and community engagement. But because those forms don’t match the traditionally dominant image of a ‘philanthropist’, women often discount their own contributions, Ms Smith said. 

But things are changing. Pre-campaign, a media audit found that of the 100 most-read articles on philanthropy in Australia in a single financial year, 54 featured men, 32 featured organisations, and only 14 featured women (two of those in memoriam). One year into the She Gives campaign and engagement strategy, that figure climbed to 26. 

“It is in having these conversations, where women see themselves and their peers giving like them, that they feel valued, important, and part of a bigger whole,” Ms Smith said. 

Tanya Hosch AM, Director of the Goodes O’Loughlin Foundation and chair of the Advisory Committee for the Centre for Indigenous People and Work (UTS), said the report recognised the different motivations for giving and leadership, and the diverse ways women gave. 

“I hope the evidence in this report encourages more women to see themselves reflected in it and to recognise the value and impact of the contribution they are already making,” she said. 

According to JBWere’s 2024 The Bequest Report, women are poised to inherit approximately 65% of Australia’s $5.4 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer over the next decade, the timing of the report is significant. The number of female millionaires in Australia is growing faster than men, and women now represent 52.5% of people claiming tax-deductible donations. The She Give report found women consistently gave a higher proportion of their income to charity than men across most years of the past decade. 

The report identified three priorities to build on women’s capacity. 

• Building ecosystem capacity to support women’s philanthropic ambitions, including support for financial advisers and clearer pathways into structured giving. 

• Strengthening collective and community-based models, recognising that many women prefer to give collaboratively. 

• Recognising women’s crucial role in giving, with greater visibility in national honours and media coverage. 

The findings have direct implications for how charities engage women donors. 

“The advice to charities and NFPs is to build authentic, transparent relationships with all your donors. Be clear about the role philanthropy plays within your organisation, and how their gift is part of that collective impact,” Ms Smith said. 

“Women are hungry to make a difference, and they’re getting on with it. Yet we can all play a role in realising the full potential of women’s giving, whether we are peak bodies, intermediaries, professional advisors, NFPs, or charities.” 

She Gives: Growing Women’s Giving in Australia is available at shegives.com.au