Jacqueline Ackerman
Director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute (WPI)
Putting Numbers Behind the Gender Giving Gap
Addressing SDG 5
Jacqueline Ackerman is the Director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy where she has spent over a decade translating research on gender and charitable giving into action. WPI's mission is to conduct, curate, and disseminate research that grows women's philanthropy.
At the heart of WPI's work is the Women and Girls Index which was launched in 2019. The Index tracks giving to women's and girls' organizations across the United States and has produced a striking finding: only about 2% of charitable giving in the US goes to women's and girls' organizations, a modest share given the scale of gender equity challenges globally. A significant spike in giving concentrated on reproductive rights and advocacy followed the 2022 Dobbs Supreme Court decision, and WPI continues to track whether that momentum translates into sustained growth.
Women & Girls Index - Database
Women & Girls Index - Research & Reports
The Index has already demonstrated measurable impact: a significant portion of wealthy households surveyed in IU's biennial affluent philanthropy study reported increasing their giving to women and girls specifically because they had seen the 2% statistic. The methodology developed for the Women and Girls Index has since inspired three parallel indices for LGBTQ+ communities, communities of color, and military and veteran’s communities, extending WPI's framework to a broader range of underfunded groups.
WPI's research on women as donors consistently finds that women are more likely to give to charity than men and also give more relative to their income across nearly every cause category. However, they receive less recognition for their philanthropy in part because they spread their giving more broadly. Ackerman's work aims to close that recognition gap by equipping women donors with the data and confidence to fully realize their philanthropic power, while giving fundraisers and nonprofits the tools to more effectively engage them.
A newer and growing area of WPI's work examines women as leaders within nonprofits and philanthropic foundations. Led by Dr. Young-joo Lee, WPI's endowed chair in women's philanthropy, this research addresses a dimension of gender equality that extends beyond givingincluding whether women hold decision-making power within the very institutions that shape where charitable resources flow. As this pillar develops, it adds an important layer to WPI's broader mission, connecting SDG 5 not just to who gives, but to who leads.
