June 08, 2010

The Power of the Purse – Using Our Spending Power to Drive Change

It should not be surprising that one of my favorite BLOGS is called “Power of the Purse.” The author is Sondra Shaw-Hardy, J.D., described by Town and Country magazine as “the pioneer” in women’s philanthropy. Since 1995 Sondra has authored, co-authored or co-edited five books: Reinventing Fundraising: Realizing the Potential of Women’s Philanthropy; Creating a Women’s Giving Circle: A Handbook; The Transformative Power of Women’s Philanthropy; Youth Giving Circles: Inspiring Youth to Bring About Change; and Women’s Giving Circles: Reflections From the Founders. Her current book, “Women and Philanthropy: Boldly Shaping a Better World” will be published by Jossey-Bass in September, 2010.

Sondra’s latest entry is awesome. She instructs us on how we can use our spending power to drive change. Change takes work. Sometimes it is not convenient. But. Can you imagine what the good we could do, the power we could shift if we, and I mean the big WE, would do what she suggests??

“When making our purchases as the world’s largest economy (yes, author Tom Peters did say women were the world’s largest economy), I think we should ask these six questions that I The Power of the Purse and Vera Bradley call:

Six Spending Requirements From the Power of My Purse:

1.How many women are on the corporation’s board?
2.What charitable efforts does the company support?
3.What does the corporation do to help women and girls?
4.How is the corporation working to increase women’s roles in management and corporate executives?
5.Does the company have a plan for increasing diversity?
6.How is the corporation collaborating with others to further philanthropy?”

Read her full entry by clicking here. Better yet subscribe!

Money is a power tool, let us not forget this. With every dollar we spend, we give, we invest, we have the opportunity to let it speak our values. My goal is to not only do that increasingly myself, but to guide others on how to do that as well. What do you care about? What do you want to change? Then how do you use your money, as well as your time and knowledge, to make it happen?

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