The Feminist By Design: Blueprint for Philanthropy podcast is LIVE!

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Feminist By Design
April 23, 2024

Pictured: Feminist By Design Cover Art by Maggie Hellis

We are thrilled to launch the first season of Feminist by Design: A Blueprint for Philanthropy, a series in which we go beneath the surface of philanthropy to understand urgent current issues in feminist giving. 

Episodes 1 and 2 available anywhere you stream podcasts: Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music/Audible | Podchaser

Pictured: Khara Jabola-Carolus, Director of Feminist Philanthropy at the Global Center for Gender Equality

Join host Khara Jabola-Carolus as she unravels the intersections of wealth, power, and gender inequality in dialogue with feminist leaders and thinkers challenging patriarchal systems across the world.

This season is an invitation to philanthropists and listeners to explore the structures that shape our society, to rethink charitable giving, and to reshape the very frameworks that maintain inequality. Each episode is crafted to challenge preconceptions, highlight innovative strategies, and delve into the systemic barriers that stifle progress and maintain injustice. Because you can’t change the system unless you understand how it works. 

This series isn’t just about deconstructing the problem, it’s about designing the solutions. We are offering you, the philanthropic community, a blueprint for transformative impact. By tuning in, you'll gain a nuanced understanding of how to leverage your power, resources, and influence to catalyze systemic change and support feminist movements who are driving progress on gender justice worldwide.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a conversation that's redefining feminist philanthropy and impact.

“When the episode stops...you start.”

-Khara Jabola-Carolus

We’re so glad you’re here! Our Feminist By Design newsletter is a space designed specifically for feminist philanthropists who want to take it a step further. Each issue brings you deeper into discussions that challenge the status quo, highlight urgent calls to action, and provide you with the resources you need to make your giving strategy feminist by design. 

Episode 1: Gender and Palestine: How Feminist Philanthropy Can Advance Peace in the Middle East

If you are concerned about racial justice in this country, you have to be concerned about Palestine. If you are concerned about queer justice in this country, you have to be concerned about Palestine. If you are concerned about gender equity in this country, you have to be concerned about Palestine. There are so many intersections that bring Palestine to all of these movements. And I think the time has come for us to really think through those intersections and begin tackling them all together, one in the same.

Sandra Tamari, Executive Director, Adalah Justice Project

Host Khara Jabola-Carolus examines why peace in Palestine is a feminist issue, how a feminist lens reveals root causes of the conflict, and how philanthropists seeking system change can engage the Middle East. Guests Sandra Tamari and Shana Marshall offer insights into how the systems and actors in Palestine operate globally, as well as strategies for disruption and how listeners can support longterm change. The episode is a call for listeners to examine assumptions about feminism, philanthropy, and solidarity, as the series begins to chart a path toward solutions that are feminist by design. 

Featured Guests

SANDRA TAMARI

Sandra Tamari is a Palestinian organizer and the Executive Director of Adalah Justice Project (AJP). She is an expert in cross-cultural solidarity building, with a focus connecting liberation efforts between Palestinians and Black communities in the US. She is a co-founder of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and was a co-chair of the Steering Committee for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights from 2015-2018.

Dr. SHANA MARSHALL

Shana Marshall is the Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she teaches on Political Economy of the Middle East. She is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and a member of the Middle East Research & Information Project/MERIP editorial committee as well as part of the Arab Studies Institute’s Political Economy Project. She is also a member of the Forum on the Arms Trade and co-organizer of the project on Global Capitalism and Transnational War Economies with Security in Context. Her primary interests include the global military industrial complex, US foreign policy, and the political economy of militaries in the Middle East. Her current research examines the role of private equity and venture capital in the expansion and transformation of weapons production. Dr. Marshall earned her PhD from the University of Maryland-College Park, and prior to joining GW held postdoctoral fellowships at The Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeston University. 

This episode’s featured Feminist Principles:

Apply a root cause and power analysis to gain deep understanding and develop durable solutions. 

Use imperial wealth to disrupt imperial power and systems, which create pathways and impediments to gender equality around the world. 

As a reminder, refer to our Feminist By Design Principles for Philanthropy to guide you in developing your feminist wealth management and giving strategy. 

Discussion Prompts

Ready to dig a bit deeper? Here are some questions to get the conversation going.

  1. Does the presence of women leaders in powerful institutions and processes lead to less violent outcomes?  

  2. To advance gender equality, should we only give to organizations and efforts that focus on “women’s issues” or should we expand our criteria? How?  

  3. Can we have peace and safety for women without countering the institutions promoting war?  

  4. Why is it important for feminists to adopt an internationalist perspective when discussing issues like Palestine? How does it contribute to better understanding and addressing systemic injustices?  

  5. Reflecting on the episode, how has your understanding of Palestine as a feminist issue evolved? Are there any specific insights or perspectives shared in the episode that resonated with you? 

Want to learn more about the Global Center for Gender Equality and our work in Feminist Philanthropy? Find us here. 

Calls to Action / Who You Can Support: 

Episode 2: Built To Burn: Feminist Disaster Response in  Lahaina and a World On Fire 

We're almost there at the point where community is, it has built power, where they actually have a real say in how line is going to be rebuilt. And that's where our imaginations can run wild. Like if we had a schooling system or a policing system that wasn't patriarchal, what would that look like? And if we even want to begin to approach those answers, we really need to be empowering and giving women leaders the space to even, like have those conversations...

Kaniela Ing, National Director, Green New Deal Network

Host Khara Jabola-Carolus looks at the wildfires in Lahaina to show how mainstream U.S. environmental disaster and humanitarian crisis response without a feminist analysis leaves women’s rights in ruins—and this is by design. Guests Kaniela Ing and Nadine Ortega discuss the role of feminist organizing after the Lahaina wildfires to disrupt disaster capitalism and capture the moment’s unity to build community autonomy and power. The episode illustrates both the tragedy and opportunity within climate and environmental crises—how patriarchal systems are at their most vulnerable when people are at their most vulnerable, and how disaster-impacted communities can implement feminist solutions that will challenge entrenched systems of inequality to prevent catastrophe. 

Featured Guests

KANIELA ING

Kaniela Ing is the National Director of the Green New Deal Network and co-founder of Our Hawaii—a movement to create a Hawai'i that puts kama'āina and kānaka maoli — not big money interests — first. He is a proud feminist and Native Hawaiian from Maui, which he represented at the Hawai'i State Legislature for over half a decade. 

NADINE ORTEGA

Nadina Ortega is the founder and executive director of Tagnawa, an environmental justice organization dedicated to strengthening Filipino systems of care for land and immigrants in response to the 2023 Lahaina fires. She spends part of her time as a lecturer at the Ilokano Language and Literature Program at the University of Hawaii Manoa. Nadine is also a veteran feminist organizer who has played a major role in women's movement-building in Hawai'i.  

This episode’s featured Feminist Principles:

Build place-based, contextualized solutions that reflect the priorities of the impacted community.

Recognize the interconnection between wealth accumulation, environmental collapse, and women’s status to disrupt disaster opportunism.

As a reminder, refer to our Feminist By Design Principles for Philanthropy to guide you in developing your feminist wealth management and giving strategy. 

Discussion Prompts

Ready to dig a bit deeper? Here are some questions to get the conversation going.

  1. How can feminist philanthropists contribute to breaking cycles where economic and political systems prioritize profit over people? 

  1. How can philanthropy better identify and support grassroots movements that are already successfully implementing feminist and culturally-appropriate disaster responses? 

  1. How can philanthropic efforts be structured to not only address immediate disaster relief but also contribute to long-term recovery and empowerment of communities, particularly focusing on women and marginalized groups? How can philanthropy help shift power dynamics to enable these communities to lead their own recovery efforts? 

  1. In what ways can philanthropists challenge and counteract disaster capitalism? How can their funding support community efforts to rebuild in ways that resist exploitation by external investors and corporations? 

  1. Beyond funding, how can philanthropists use their influence to advocate for policies that support feminist approaches to land and water management, disaster response, and economic development? 

Want to learn more about the Global Center for Gender Equality and our work in Feminist Philanthropy? Find us here. 

Calls to Action / Who You Can Support: 

Stay tuned for Episode 3, out on Tuesday, Apr 30!