Our work is anchored around four core pillars.
We believe in a world where every person enjoys fundamental rights, freedom from violence and oppression, sustainable access to resources, and equal economic opportunity. All the work we do is grounded in five shared principles:
We adopt an intersectional feminist approach that shifts power to those who have been historically excluded.
We recognize that no one is free until we are all free. We are working to eliminate the harmful and extractive structures, systems, and narratives that hold so many of us back, and turning our imagination towards a better world.
We unlock the full range of our resources — financial, social, and political — for justice. We leverage our power in solidarity, across generations, identities, and lived experiences.
We cultivate our interdependence as a community, valuing the diverse range of lived experiences, expertise, and gifts that we all bring to this work.
As we work to transform the culture, systems, and structures that enable ongoing harm and oppression, we know we must interrogate and transform our own role in those systems.
WDN is both a learning and giving community. We organize in myriad ways: connecting by region, funding collaboratively, and learning alongside peers. From virtual events to our annual conference, we offer inspiring opportunities for transformative growth – and to find resilience and joy alongside one another. Some examples include:
Regional gatherings foster local collaboration and deepen members’ connections to frontline work in their communities.
Peer communities are member-led spaces organized around shared identity or issue focus that provide space for reflection, learning, and action.
Our Impact Collectives are leadership spaces for members to engage deeply in our collective funding by shaping our grantmaking strategy, in close alignment with WDN staff and movement leaders.
Virtual learning journeys and events enable members to explore timely issues with movement partners and experts.
Our annual conference brings together hundreds of donor activists, movement leaders, and peers in philanthropy to connect, learn, and mobilize for change.
