VOA常速英语2007年-US Initiative Calls for Million-Dollar Gifts to

By Alex Villarreal
Washington
13 November 2007

Researchers in the United States estimate women will control 60 percent of the country's wealth by 2010.  Now two leading female philanthropists are trying to inspire women to use their growing wealth for social change.  VOA's Alex Villarreal reports from Washington.

The initiative, called Women Moving Millions, is the brainchild of two sisters, Helen LaKelly Hunt and Swanee Hunt, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Austria in the mid-1990s.

The Hunt sisters are urging women to make donations of $1 million or more to address a range of women's issues, including women's rights, violence against women and women's access to healthcare and education.

The Hunts, who came into wealth through an oil inheritance, have pledged $10 million of their own money to the initiative, which they are leading in partnership¹ with the Women's Funding Network, made up of 125 women's foundations from around the globe.

Helen LaKelly Hunt said she hopes Women Moving Millions will inspire female donors² to put their money where it is really needed.

"In the philanthropic flow, only seven percent of the funding goes to women and girls and yet women are shouldering a disproportionate amount of the burden of poverty," she said.  "Women and their children, obviously, make up the largest amount of those in poverty, and there has not been a response to that. People are instead funding the cultural centers of their cities, and it makes no sense."

What does make sense, says President and CEO of the Women's Funding Network, Chris Grumm, is recognizing women worldwide as solution-builders and supporting them to bring about change.

"It became very clear to me that women were critical if we wanted to solve problems at the local level, that we wanted to be sustainably solved, that it was a lasting³ effect, that we really needed to bring women to the table, and they were a critical part of the leadership that needed to be in place in order to make the kind of change that I think will bring the kind of health that villages and countries around the world need," she said.

Women Moving Millions has already raised $70 million. The goal is to increase that amount to $150 million by April 2009, which would boost the combined earnings⁴ of all women's funds past the $1 billion mark. 

Kavita Ramdas is President and CEO of The Global Fund for Women, a non-profit foundation belonging to the Women's Funding Network.

Ramdas says the Women Moving Millions initiative has the potential for broad impact, not only at the community level but at the international level as well.

"It is very inspiring for women in the rest of the world at a time when the United States reputation is not always the best in most parts of the world," she explained.  "An initiative like this that is focused on investing in women and the families that they lead really gives a very different, sends a very different message internationally, sends a message that talks about the willingness of Americans to truly put their own resources behind one of the most critical issues facing the world today, and that is gender⁵ inequality."

Women Moving Millions and its $1 million requirement set the bar high, but supporters hope the message reaches beyond the wealthy to inspire people from all walks of life to invest in women.

The Women's Funding Network says more than 80 percent of grants made by women's funds go to women and girls with low or no income.

Foundations included in this particular initiative range from local, to domestic, to global. Donors can choose which organizations they want their money to support.

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

4 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。