In fall 2019, I was proud to co-facilitate and serve as the Accountability Lead for a unique convening of 80+ leaders in gender lens philanthropy and investing called “Women & Money: Making Money Moves that Matter” in Austin, Texas. Presented by Changemaker Strategies and What Will it Take Movements, the event was produced by my longtime colleague and collaborator Tuti Scott (read about it in Forbes here). Now, in 2021, Tuti has published a new guide to gender lens investing, “Moving Money for Impact.”
Published by Tides and in association with the Women’s Funding Network, the guide is all about getting women (and anyone who supports women) to move their money in a way that is aligned with their values. It includes insights from the event we hosted together and an Open Space session on how we can collectively work together to move money for equity and justice (see page 60). On June 10th, 2021, during a virtual celebration for the guide’s launch, I was thrilled to reflect on the work we did together in Austin in 2019 and toast Tuti on Moving Money for Impact! Request a copy of the guide on The Women’s Funding Network site here and read my remarks and toast below.
Hello, I am Gwendolyn VanSant, CEO and Founding Director of BRIDGE, a minority and women-run nonprofit and BIPOC (and Global Majority-led nonprofit) in the Berkshires just surpassing its first million budget in 2020. I’m also an Equity & Inclusion Partner to Changemaker Strategies and Principal and Owner of Equity in Practice, LLC (a consulting firm for coaching dedicated cross-sector executive leaders, philanthropists & investors in equity). I should say I’m also a nurturer, catalyst, entrepreneur, creator, yoga dance teacher, mother, wife, sister, and daughter. After consulting and training for two years, I also now serve as an incoming Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation board member where equity has been moving to the center of our work there.
I am thrilled on every occasion to serve as a thought partner to Tuti Scott on her endeavors as the ripples of impact are far-reaching. As we planned the 2019 Women & Money event in Austin, Texas, I recall we collectively decided to prioritize a commitment to cultivating and embodying the practice of accountability. Just for a few brief moments, I want to return to these reminders of the qualities of accountability, i.e. what accountability looks like, feels like, and how it informs how we think and behave.
Values: As Tuti outlines in this gender lens investing guide, the work we do, needs to be value-based as we move through our investing, spending and philanthropic decisions for collective impact.
Impact: Center the thoughts, feelings, experiences and thriving of those most adversely impacted, (i.e. women of color). When women of color thrive we all thrive.
Actions: Act in alignment with your values and those historically marginalized, Amplify (don't extract), Acknowledge (don't appropriate), Activate (don't just analyze and reflect)
Results, Outcomes, and Transformation: Be clear on the results we seek, our vision of a future where all women thrive, ie where the global majority represented in this country and internationally thrive!
Repair: Assess and repair harm at every opportunity to build trust and weave our shared humanity back in.
Humility and Knowledge: As Tuti modeled in her sharing her money story and family journey this afternoon, seek to understand your identity, your bias, your blind spots and to learn from those who don't look like you or aren't trained like you. They will be your best teachers for sure. Do not believe you are the one to assess their value, their excellence, or their experience, but rather humbly learn, listen, and lean in!
Thank you all for being a part of this Women and Money community. This guide, Tuti’s heart work, can serve as a perfect accountability tool! This journey has been a constant inspiration for me, and now I will turn it over to Lex Schroeder to speak about our convening’s Open Space that went beyond my beloved “accountability commercials.”
A Toast!
Tuti, we are all gathered here to salute you and your work. Thank you for your tenacity and dedication! This guide here is a treasure trove of such sage wisdom with limitless strategies and possibilities. You, my friend, are a visionary… guiding us to the future we all seek. We have the honor of meeting fierce goddess warriors in our lifetime only once in a while and you are definitely one!
For me personally, you are my abundance guru! I will never forget our retreat back in Arlington, Virginia when you said, “Gwendolyn, we have enough tape! It's okay!” That simple, actually hilarious moment will stick with me. Scarcity and fear do not serve any of us well. As we launched that weekend into the gender parity work we were doing together, you were my partner, voicing loud and clear, “We all have what we need, and there is enough!” “Just get in the game, step into your power, and stick with it!” says Coach Tuti. What a great lesson for us all!
Tuti, I want to thank you. I know you are an amazing athlete, and I am learning more and more from you what a point guard does. But I still looked it up. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time. We see this in how you move and work. You attract beauty and excellence and radiate it back out a thousandfold! And we still have some work to do as you gather your White sisters and colleagues and speak necessary truths so we can advance towards the change we all want to see unapologetically! It is our job to guard the incredible work done by generations of women of all backgrounds before us.
Here, here Tuti, the most fierce badass women leader and to this latest accomplishment, Moving Money for Impact: A Guide to Gender Lens Investing!