filia.die frauenstiftung

Private capital activates money for the interest of girls and women
based on a speech given on 22.11.2007 on the occasion of the 1st filia Project Party

„It is simply not possible to neutralise private capital!“ – I was faced with this statement recently during a discussion on effective donations and subsidies. It was intended to say: The responsibility that comes with money should be taken personally, it cannot be “passed on”. Anyone who has money to distribute should take it into his or her own hands. Everything else simply “does not work”.
Is that true? filia.die frauenstiftung thinks quite differently. Or perhaps not; as we comprehend the question differently. It is true that as a public foundation we are not really a democratic institution, but we create the transition from personal monetary power to a mutual, responsible utilisation of this power.
Many people with money are motivated to pass some of it on to others; as a matter of course because they have experienced need or poverty personally, or in order to give something back, or for religious reasons. But to whom should they give that “excess”? Too many stagnate at this stage, with a vague “I should really….” or an urging “You should have ….. a long time ago“. But how should I go about it? If I don’t play a personal part in something, I can’t trust it. And I do not have sufficient time and energy to spend on this.

So what should I do with the power that comes with money? Does everyone have to become a donor? And if so, does this mean that the imbalance in power is then overcome? The classical type of donor has in fact finally given her capital for a charitable purpose, but definitely still holds the reins in her hands. Foundations are not democratic institutions. They are democratically legitimised within the framework of the laws governing charitable organisations, so-to-speak as an extended arm of the social state. But the people they serve are not able to participate in the actual decisions; instead, foundations have the task of fulfilling the donor’s wishes. This has its effect on the sponsoring programme, in the long term and in everyday decision-making. Even if a foundation works professionally, with respect and transparency for the needs of the deserving groups – everyone is not sitting in the same boat. On the one hand there are the money-givers, on the other the money-seekers, with potential contrary interests and all problems arising from this situation.

This model only overlaps with the ideals of the women’s movement to a small extent. The women’s movement is a movement for social equality. It encourages awareness of the existing power gradient and also applies this encouragement to itself. That is the basis of its authenticity: the journey is the reward. The values of the movement - diversity, access, transparency, respect – form the counterbalance to the dominance of the powerful.
So how do we combine this, foundation and movement? Feminist women’s foundations should be understood neither as communities of female benefactors nor as strategic distributing centres. They regard themselves as a meeting place for the respective interest groups – women with money and women with ideas and experience. Their administrative bodies are led by women from the practical side of the movement. The strategic planning body is elected. Where possible they sponsor without high inhibition thresholds, seek contact at eye-level with the people they sponsor – to mention only a few of the most significant values.

Whoever puts money into this foundation is giving it to the women’s movement – not only as far as the targets of the sponsorship are concerned but also the HOW of sponsorship, and the WHO of decision-making. The persons sponsored are also part of the whole picture. It is for them that the foundation collects money: Without their reports to the foundation, without their participation in the success of the foundation, nothing would be possible.
Private capital is not „neutralised“ in feminist foundations. The power that is associated with this money does not simply disappear. Instead, whoever becomes one of our female donors or sponsors ACTIVATES this money for the interests of girls and women – partially, according to mutually negotiated rules, in an uninterrupted, thoughtful process.
Ise Bosch,27.11.2008  

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