How would you turn a moment into a movement? That’s the question that organizations supporting women running for office have been asking themselves over the last year.

There are nine national organizations dedicated to training and supporting women running for office. These are long-established organizations like Ignite and Emerge America. In addition, there are newer organizations dedicated to supporting women of color running for office such as Latinas Represent and Higher Heights. Regardless of when they were started or where they focus geographically or demographically, none of these organizations have experienced a moment like this – because, of course, the country has never experienced a moment like this.

Individual donors have increased their giving to these organizations substantially over the past year. However, there are two shadows hovering around the silver cloud of increased giving to these efforts. The first is that individual donors too often want to give anonymously. The second challenge is that giving from institutional philanthropy has not yet risen to meet the moment. There are no national foundations making the support of women running for office a priority. Here are suggestions for ways that philanthropy can meet this moment:

  • Foundation, STEP UP! Ingrid Duran said it best: “Foundations should consider giving to the field. Not just for voter registration, but giving to voter turnout would be a huge help."
  • Invest in Laying the Groundwork. Investing more in educating girls about the importance of running for any office, literally from student body president to school board to Congress, would be tremendously helpful.
  • Research, Research, and More Research. Investing in research on women in elected positions of power is critical to fully understanding how to make investments.

Read the full article about how philanthropists can help women lead America by Allison Fine at Philanthropy Women.