In today’s hyper chaotic world, we are hungry for connection and community. How are women being intentional about creating community to address big issues? How does technology both empower and hinder community-building?

Women have always come together in this country to address social issues. The history of women’s philanthropy in the United States is intertwined with large social movements such as abolition, suffrage, temperance, prison reform, civil rights, and women’s rights. Then, as now, women often worked along parallel tracks according to one aspect of their identity—women of color on one track and white women on another—and often by class and religion as well as race.

Today, some organizations provide opportunities to create community according to donor interests and also bring people together across community. Sociologists describe the ways people come together as social capital. There are two main types of social capital—bonding capital connects people within community, and bridging capital connects people from different communities. For examples, the two giving circles featured in this podcast, the Orchid Giving Circle and I Be Black Girl, are examples of bonding capital. The board of the Texas Women’s Foundation is an example of bridging capital.

Read the full article listen to the podcast episode about community building at the Women’s Philanthropy Institute’s Philanthropy Plugged In digital hub.