We Can't Make Social Change Without Your Generosity. Here's Why We Work So Hard For It.
In last week’s post, we talked about how we need more financial resources in order to move our work from success to social change, and we announced that we have secured a new, anonymous $25,000 matching grant. Every dollar donated will be matched, up to $25,000, and those dollars will fill a critical budget gap between limiting our work and creating an opportunity to reach the fullness of what we can do, to realize the real power of our voices to change whose voices are heard.
Why do we keep asking you for money? Because that’s how our future is made possible. Your one-time or monthly donation makes the change we create together possible.
As we continue to innovate and promote our mission, our costs have risen, and what we need now is to keep financial pace with our growth. As a non-profit, we are operating on a tight budget within the parameters of our belief system. It has been suggested that we just walk up and down Wall Street and ask for contributions, but GenderAvenger does not — and will not — take any corporate money. We will not share our good name with any organization that might not meet our standards all the time.
A big reason why GenderAvenger succeeds is because of the people who work for it: 90% of the cost to run GA is the talent that drives this movement. We are one of the few organizations that pays guest bloggers. We pay people what they’re worth — we always have, and always will.
For this reason, we thought we’d introduce you to members of the GenderAvenger team and show you, in their own words, what they do at GenderAvenger and why they do it. These are the people behind the tally, the website, the newsletters and the social media feeds that live our mission, to create a community that ensures women are represented in the public dialog every day.
Meet the GenderAvenger team:
Amber Coleman-Mortley, Social Media
What I do at GenderAvenger:
I fan the flames of rage… meaning, I spend my time retweeting relevant content, finding hot topics on social media, and listening to our community online. I work hard to ensure that your voice is heard on social media because we can’t call out all male panels without you. It takes courage to call out patriarchy when we see it. My goal is to hear you. Elevate you. Support you online. …Because your voice counts.
Why I do it:
I’m a mom and I hope that one day the fight for gender equality will be over in my daughters’ lifetimes. When we intentionally or unintentionally ignore the perspectives and experiences of women, especially women of color, queer women, and transwomen, we fail to understand the fullness of the human experience itself. I joined GenderAvenger because I really can get behind a nonpartisan organization whose mission not only calls out gender inequity but also works to name and highlight the intersectionality of womanness, something often ignored by so many other woman-centered empowerment movements.
Candace DeLeon, Administrative Assistant
What I do at GenderAvenger:
I help with the day-to-day tasks, research, and organization. I also assist the team with tasks such as creating and formatting content and media for fundraising and awareness.
Why I do it:
Working for GenderAvenger allows me to do work that is meaningful, which is important to me. GenderAvenger provides powerful tools that everyone can use to effect change, and I think that’s awesome!
Elan Morgan, Web Designer + Editor
What I do at GenderAvenger:
This is a big question, because I’ve been with GenderAvenger for over six years, and my job has grown and changed with the organization. I began as a web designer when GenderAvenger first began, and I continue in my design and technical capacity, plus I edit copy for the website, curate our daily #GAReads, manage the newsletter, help with some of the technical aspects of fundraising, and dive in wherever else my various skills can help out.
Why I do it:
I do this work because it is powerful and meaningful. Women’s voices are still left out of so many conversations that change everything in our world from design to politics to the arts to science and more. We are working to build a world in which women’s voices in equal number are the expected norm, and seeing the slow but steady shift to equal representation is incredibly rewarding.
Kris-Ann Race, Content Manager
What I do at GenderAvenger:
I do a few different, but related, tasks for GenderAvenger. One, I’m the master counter. I’m the person who tallies the speaker lists, best of lists, New York Times front pages, and almost everything else we feature in our weekly newsletters, the Action Alert and the Weekender. Two, I write those newsletters! Three, I maintain the editorial calendar for our blog posts as well as serve as the liaison between GenderAvenger and our guest bloggers. Four, I scour the internet far and wide to find the very cool people we feature as Avenger of the Week (so if you know anyone, let me know!)
Why I do it:
It needs to be done! If no one calls attention to big conferences and major publications who are not featuring enough women, how can we expect anything to change? Also, it’s really fun to introduce the world to bad ass women (and men) like Jade Hameister through our Avenger of the Week feature.
Dan Schultz, Technology Lead
What I do at GenderAvenger:
I help GenderAvenger use technology to build things and collect information. I joined the team around five years ago, and in that time we have added dozens of new features to the Tally and explored ideas including conference trackers, social campaign toolkits, and automatic media monitoring. Most recently we have been working on Ballotmania, which makes it easy for you all to count women running for office in your area!
Why I do it:
It is so easy — both as individuals and as communities — to fall backwards into status quo when it comes to equity and representation. Supporting the GenderAvenger mission with my time and training is a moral imperative, but it also serves as a constant, conscious reminder of the challenges we face in our quest for healthy diversity within any context involving information and influence.
Lina Srivastava, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, GenderAvenger Futures Project
What I do at GenderAvenger:
As the Entrepreneur-in-Residence, I am charged with imagining the future of gender representation and the role of GenderAvenger in getting us to parity in the public sphere. I research, I test, I write, I strategize, and I talk to leaders across industries to gain a deeper understanding of how GenderAvenger can help us all move toward gender equity.
Why I do it:
It's a privilege to do this work: how many other small nonprofits have the foresight and dynamism to establish an innovation unit or a futures project within their core business model? It's also incredibly fun and demanding work. Finally, it's also very necessary. The obstacles women and underrepresented genders face in being heard hinder our progress and our leadership. With GenderAvenger, I've taken a year away from my core work to concentrate on fixing this issue. Basically, I have stopped talking about the problem and started doing something about it.
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