This shift in the distribution of wealth has changed the face of philanthropy in America. While voluntarism is still an important aspect of women's contribution to charity, more and more, their influence is felt through the power of the purse. The size of gifts given by women is growing at a rate four times faster than those of men. In 1979, there were only five such funds in the United States. Today, there are 95.
Many funds hold millions of dollars in permanent endowments.
In 1997, the Women's Funding Network, a coalition of more than 70 funding agencies, commissioned a study of women's giving habits. This report was called the Donor Research and Marketing Project, or DRMP, and constituted the first wide-scale look at the way women make their charitable decisions. But WFN decided to go one step further, and study a group that had never before been considered. Through focus groups, in-depth phone interviews, and a lengthy mail survey conducted in the spring and summer of 1997, Ordinary Magic constructed a portrait of a dynamic community of women, one that defied easy pigeonholing. Their reasons for giving or not giving to women's funds were as varied as their personalities.