TWR is a national giving circle dedicated to:

• Empowering women living in the developing world to become economically self-sufficient, and
• Promoting gender equality by funding projects that empower women and girls

The first official Together Women Rise gathering was in 2003. TWR attained nonprofit status in 2004. For us, tremendous growth occurred after being included in a 2005 New Ventures In Philanthropy study on giving circles. Since then, TWR has received unsolicited national media attention, having been featured in the New York Times, Woman’s Day Magazine, Real Simple, MORE, Quick & Simple, Guide Post, the Delta Sky magazine and on Good Morning America and the Today Show.

Since 75 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty are women and children who live in developing nations, it makes sense that if we are to change the level of poverty worldwide we do it through the empowerment of these women.

Also, 85 percent of money Americans donate to charitable purposes stays in the United States. Of the 15 percent that is donated internationally, private foundations rather than individuals give the majority of funds donated. Here are some startling statistics:

• 70 percent of the world’s 1.3 billion poor are women living on less than $1 a day.
• Women do 60 percent of the world’s work and earn 10 percent of the world’s income.
• Women spend 50-70 percent of time men do on paid work and still do 200 percent of unpaid work in comparison to men.
• Women produce 70-75 percent of the world’s food crops.
• One year of schooling for the mother reduces child mortality by about 10 percent.
• Women cultivate, plow, and harvest more than half of all the food in the world.

As Nicholas Kristof, NY Times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and co-author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide states,

“The oppression of women worldwide is the human rights cause of our time. And their liberation could help solve many of the world’s problems, from poverty to child mortality to terrorism.”

TWR selects non-governmental organizations with projects fostering economic independence and self-sufficiency. Selected projects focus on various issues, including health, education, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, agriculture, safety and security, and hunger.

Through the Grants Selection Committee and careful investigation, organizations are vetted and selected. Learn more. 

We have worked with projects in more than 39 countries from Morocco to Mexico. The grantees we support work with the neediest women in the poorest populations where our donations can have the biggest effect, so we have supported grantees in India, Kenya, Guatemala, Nepal, and Rwanda most often.

Our three top focus areas are economic sustainability (supporting programs that help women to learn skills, start businesses and better support their families and – very importantly – their daughters’ educations), education and health.

Our fundraising model is based on educated collective giving, in which chapters gather monthly to share a meal, some conversation and learn about the featured grantee, the challenges it is trying to address, the country it works in. Members donate what they can. All donations are pooled every month, allowing our individual gifts to have the greatest possible impact upon the projects we fund.

Contributions are voluntary, and no designated amount is expected of the members. Many members donate what they might have spent dining out at a restaurant. Donations can be made by credit card, check, automated payments, or on-line donations.  See our Donate web page for more information.

Please go to the Contact Us web page for more information