Nurturing Wāhine Fund

To learn more about HR 9495 and how you can respond, read: Bill Threatening Nonprofits Advances in US House—Again (Nonprofit Quarterly)

We wanted our Nurturing Wāhine Fund Board to reflect the voices of each island and, in Carlayna, we found a perfect match. Carlayna played a key role in securing housing for aid workers and offering valuable insights into our relief initiatives and programs. Hau?oli Lā Hānau, Carlayna Nakamura. May this next year bring you the same nurturing spirit you so freely share with others.

11/14/2024 International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation What has been the greatest challenges for Indigenous women?

This Veterans Day we’d like to share about the initiative we’ve been working on to improve the mental health of women in communities where military presence is a central part of daily life. Hawai‘i is the most militarized state in the U.S. This significant presence has created a complex legacy, from the military’s involvement in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy to the environmental impacts on sacred lands like Kapūkaki (Red Hill) and Mākua Valley. At the same time, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities have long served in the military, benefiting from opportunities in employment. Our initiative seeks to acknowledge these diverse realities while working toward healing. On this powerful 11.11 day, a time for purification and transformation, we reflect on the shift from dependence on external forces to a collective self-awareness and empowerment. We recognize that healing begins within and in community. BaseLine to Positive Community Impact’s three key goals: ??improving women’s mental health through locally-led efforts ????co-creating a healing process that centers those who have experienced systemic harm ↗?building a path forward that will consider both the sacrifices and moral injury of service members and the needs of local communities More details to follow soon. #VeteransDay

#repost The Pōpolo Project newsletter: In October, the Pōpolo Project and our partners at Nurturing Wāhine Fund, Sister Circle at UH Mānoa, Weaving Our Stories and other community members welcomed more than twenty Black women executive directors from across the US to talk story while they were in Honolulu for a planning retreat coordinated by national organization Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault. Each of the visitors heads a Black-led, Black-serving community organization dedicated to ending sexual violence and supporting survivors. We shared our community’s experiences and visions for the future. We all left with the intention to keep Hawai?i part of these important conversations. Mahalo to the Box Jelly for sponsoring space for us to meet and fellowship.

We’re excited to announce the launch of the?Intersectional Dashboard Design Cohort, a collaboration between?Women’s Funding Network?(WFN),?Candid, and members of Women’s Funding Network. Together, we’re building an intersectional dashboard that provides an in-depth look at nonprofit leadership trends in the context of race and gender, making this data publicly accessible to all. This project is grounded in the feminist idea that data and data gaps aren’t neutral—rather, they reflect the structures of power, priorities, and inequality from which they emerge. The strength of this work comes from the expertise and perspectives of the cohort members, whose backgrounds span advocacy, data analysis, leadership, evaluation, and equity-focused research.? Carolyn Van Nelson, Director of Finance and Technology, @Women’s Foundation of Minnesota? Shawnda Chapman, Former Director of Innovative Grantmaking and Research, Ms. Foundation for Women? Dr. Travis Speice, Applied Research Director, The Women's Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation Aleeka Kay Morgan, Executive Director, Nurturing Wāhine Fund?? Viviana E. Alvarado Pacheco, M.A. Pacheco, Senior Research and Policy Manager, The Women's Fund Miami-Dade? Taryn Kearns, MPA, Learning and Evaluation Officer, Global Fund for Women? Maria Lidia C., Database and Reporting Associate,?Fairfield County's Community Foundation’s Community Foundation & Fund for Women and Girls? Mara Kennedy Montante, Knowledge Management Coordinator, WNY Women's Foundation Solace Mensah-Narh, Data Analyst, Grantmakers for Girls of Color Cesar Del Valle, Partnerships Director, Candid Demographic data about nonprofits is increasingly recognized as an important element of organizational transparency and funder accountability, but until recently has not been easily accessible to the public. Nonprofits make up 10% of the U.S. workforce, yet the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) only releases data about the nonprofit sector every five years—and without the comprehensive demographic analysis available in quarterly and annual reports generated about the private sector. Together, this talented team will build a tool to meet a community need to apply an intersectional lens to data analysis and bring visibility to disparities within the nonprofit sector that are often masked by aggregated data. With data sourced from the?Demographics via Candid?dataset, the tool will provide funders, researchers, and nonprofits with a quantitative baseline to evaluate and build upon equity strategies.?Work on the project will begin in November 2024 and will be featured at the upcoming UN World Data Forum in Medellín, Colombia.? Please join us in sharing a big thank you to our cohort members and partners in this work.

Post-Election Message: We are at a point where the cracks in the women’s movement are becoming impossible to overlook. Yet these exposed gaps create an opportunity—to confront setbacks with clarity and to sidestep them on the path to progress. Many systems are still rooted in outdated models that weren’t designed to address the complexities of modern intersectional feminism. How can we achieve empowerment without solidarity? Even as trailblazing “firsts” navigate uncharted territory, they will need more than applause—they will need our mental health support programs to sustain them in these roles. Today we are thinking about reproductive rights, paid family leave, climate change, the wave of ballot measures aimed at protecting our bodies and perhaps we are also thinking of those personal moments when speaking up about unethical behavior came at a cost. It will feel like men can fail, offend, or fall short countless times without being defined by it. For women, every crack shows. Every gap counts. These struggles, both personal and collective, are not separate from our progress. Let setbacks and progress both serve as a blueprint-they are one and the same. There is no beginning or end, only continuation. “History is the fruit of power, but power itself is never so transparent that its analysis becomes superfluous. The ultimate mark of power may be its invisibility; the ultimate challenge, the exposition of its roots." - Michel-Ralph Trouillot

We’re channeling our election-day nerves into focused planning for the 2026 art exhibit we’ve been telling you about. It will feature works that highlight themes of womanism, motherhood, and Indigenous perspectives. As a sneak peek, we’re sharing captivating pieces from inspiring artists like @camillasejberg. It’s a privilege to discover new artists while curating this show. Camille, a criminologist, caught our attention first through her report on violence against socially vulnerable women- reasons behind their exposure to violence, the types of violence they face, and the profiles of perpetrators. Her artwork helps us reflect on violence against women as we approach Election Day—and we hope it gives you pause, as well.

Nurturing Wāhine Fund is offering FREE child care on Election Day for O‘ahu voters. Text (808) 561-2107 to book the child care you need. #elections

Collaborating for Equity Through Community-Built Tools We’re excited to announce the launch of the Intersectional Dashboard Design Cohort, a collaboration between Women's Funding Network (WFN), Candid, and members of Women’s Funding Network. Together, we’re building an intersectional dashboard that provides an in-depth look at nonprofit leadership trends in the context of race and gender, making this data publicly accessible to all. This project is grounded in the feminist idea that data and data gaps aren’t neutral—rather, they reflect the structures of power, priorities, and inequality from which they emerge. The strength of this work comes from the expertise and perspectives of the cohort members, whose backgrounds span advocacy, data analysis, leadership, evaluation, and equity-focused research. Carolyn Van Nelson, Director of Finance and Technology, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota Shawnda Chapman, Former Director of Innovative Grantmaking and Research, Ms. Foundation for Women Dr. Travis Speice, Applied Research Director, The Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation Aleeka Kay Morgan Executive Director, Nurturing Wāhine Fund Viviana E. Alvarado Pacheco, M.A. Senior Research and Policy Manager, The Women’s Fund Miami-Dade Taryn Kearns, Learning and Evaluation Officer, Global Fund for Women Maria Casey, Database and Reporting Associate, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation & Fund for Women and Girls Mara Montante, Knowledge Management Coordinator, WNY Women’s Foundation Solace Mensah-Narh, Data Analyst, G4GC Cesar Del Valle, Partnerships Director, Candid Demographic data about nonprofits is increasingly recognized as an important element of organizational transparency and funder accountability, but until recently has not been easily accessible to the public. Nonprofits make up 10% of the U.S. workforce, yet the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) only releases data about the nonprofit sector every five years—and without the comprehensive demographic analysis available in quarterly and annual reports generated about the private sector. Together, this talented team will build a tool to meet a community need to apply an intersectional lens to data analysis and bring visibility to disparities within the nonprofit sector that are often masked by aggregated data. With data sourced from the?Demographics via Candid?dataset, the tool will provide funders, researchers, and nonprofits with a quantitative baseline to evaluate and build upon equity strategies.?Work on the project will begin in November 2024 and will be featured at the upcoming UN World Data Forum in Medellín, Colombia. Sincerely, Sara Keilholtz Women’s Funding Network Director of Data and Strategic Insights