Written by Philanthropy Fellow, Fiona Lu
This past year had countless accomplishments for women in public leadership. With over 60 national elections and over hundreds of state and local elections, women from all political parties have won close and difficult races with the support of nonprofits, funders, and community members, and now, are ready more than ever to lead. According to one of our national grantee partners, She Should Run, 136,000 women from diverse backgrounds, most of whom hadn’t considered running before, are engaging with resources on civic participation and over half consider themselves more likely to run for office.
As we head into a new year of record amounts of women leading in public offices, the following are some questions we have heard.
Q: What type of work did women’s civic engagement organizations focus on in 2024?
A: Crimsonbridge is honored to partner with nonpartisan nonprofits across the nation to expand civic engagement literacy and opportunities and empower women to run for office. These premier organizations include IGNITE National, She Should Run, Running Start, RepresentWomen, All In Together, League of Women Voters, and Center for American Women and Politics. The top priorities include engaging in research to fuel action, policy advocacy, and building resources, community-based convenings, and coaching programs for women whose voices are underrepresented in leadership positions, and sparking a “multiplier” effect, where graduates of their programs then go on to create more impact in their own communities.
Q: How did the Crimsonbridge Foundation support women’s civic engagement in 2024? What were the Foundation’s funding priorities?
A: In 2024, the Crimsonbridge Foundation invested $340,000 in grants to women’s and girl’s leadership and civic engagement organizations, fostering 15 total partnerships with nonprofits. We focused on supporting national organizations and nonprofits in the Greater Washington region that serve inclusive and diverse communities and who continue to do this work in a nonpartisan way. These organizations built their capacity, resources, training programs, online platforms, and built connections with community-based partners across the country.
Crimsonbridge recognized that these partners faced distinct pressures during the presidential election year. In 2024 the Foundation allocated an additional $150,000 in the form of wellness grants to support coaching, training, personal or professional development, and the wellness of the teams of these partner organizations. Part of our focus on women’s leadership and civic engagement is helping the people powering this work.
Q: How can we expect women’s civic engagement to progress in 2025 and onwards?
A: 2024 was a year of groundbreaking progress for gender parity across local, state, and federal governments and voter engagement. For women seeking to run for office, Kamala Harris’ nomination by a major party as the first woman of color dismantled many barriers and inspired them to seek new levels of leadership and representation. We need to build on this progress to bring full gender parity and advance women’s leadership across the country.
As Crimsonbridge Founder and Executive Chair Gabriela Smith shared, “Crimsonbridge continues to make impactful contributions to elevate our partners’ work advancing women’s leadership and civic engagement. Across the country, women are inspired and committed to public service to build a bright future for all Americans.”