When you hear the word philanthropist, who comes to mind? 

Perhaps it’s someone with extraordinary wealth making a multimillion-dollar gift. But philanthropy has never belonged only to billionaires. 

Every day, women give their money, time, expertise, networks and voices to the people, places and causes they care about. And new Australian research suggests their influence over philanthropy is only set to grow. 

Released in February 2026, She Gives: Growing Women’s Giving in Australia is the largest mixed-methods study of women’s giving ever undertaken in Australia, informed by more than 2,000 women. Its findings paint a picture of women’s generosity as powerful, values-driven and increasingly influential. 

The timing is significant. Australia is approaching an estimated $5.4 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer, with women expected to control the majority of that transfer in the decades ahead. 

But perhaps the most interesting change isn’t simply how much women are giving. It’s how they are choosing to give. 

Giving shaped by what matters to us 

Around the world, there are extraordinary examples of women turning deeply held values and personal experiences into action. 

The late Dolly Parton became as renowned for her generosity as she was for her music. Her Imagination Library began in her home county in Tennessee in 1995, inspired by her father’s inability to read and write. 

What started as a deeply personal response to something that mattered to her grew into a global early-literacy movement. Today, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 330 million books to children around the world – including Australia. 

Closer to home, Australian entrepreneur and Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins, together with husband and co-founder Cliff Obrecht, has committed the vast majority of their Canva equity – around 30 per cent of the company, worth approximately US$12.6 billion based on Canva’s most recent US$42 billion valuation – to doing good in the world through the Canva Foundation. 

Their approach is ambitious and distinctly contemporary: build something of significant value, then use that value to help address some of the world’s biggest challenges. 

The scale of these examples is extraordinary. But the principle behind them is much more universal. 

What matters to you? And what can you do with what you have to help create change? 

Philanthropy doesn’t have to begin with extraordinary wealth 

Across Australia, the traditional picture of philanthropy is changing. 

The 2026 She Gives research found women are already driving charitable giving in Australia, while Philanthropy Australia’s first national research into collective giving describes people pooling their resources and sharing funding decisions as one of the most important, yet under-recognised, shifts occurring in Australian philanthropy. 

Collective giving provides a different way to participate. 

Instead of one person needing to make a transformational gift, many people can bring their individual contributions together. They can learn from one another, make decisions collectively and amplify what their generosity can achieve. 

It opens the door to a much broader idea of who gets to participate in philanthropy. 

And here in Geelong, we’re seeing that idea take shape. 

The power of women giving together in Geelong 

In 2026, 104 women became Founding Members of the Geelong Women’s Impact Collective, united by a shared desire to create meaningful, lasting change for women and girls across our region. 

Each member contributes individually. Together, those contributions become something bigger. 

In May, the Collective awarded its inaugural $40,000 grant to McAuley Community Services for Women, supporting the Safe at Home Program and a dedicated children’s practitioner working with children and families impacted by family violence. 

It was the first tangible demonstration of what this model can make possible locally: women pooling their generosity, sharing in the experience of giving and directing meaningful funding towards an issue affecting women and girls in their own community. 

But the Collective is about more than a single grant. 

It is also about building connection, learning more about the challenges facing women and girls in our region, elevating different perspectives and creating opportunities for women to participate directly in local philanthropy. 

That places the Geelong Women’s Impact Collective within a much broader movement. 

Across Australia, collective giving is growing as more people come together to pool resources and jointly decide how and where funding can make a difference. Philanthropy Australia describes the model as an accessible way for more people to participate in funding social change. 

A new chapter for women’s giving 

Women have always been generous. 

What is changing is the growing recognition of their influence – as donors, decision-makers, leaders, advocates and collaborators – and the opportunity to harness that generosity in new ways. 

The coming decades will see enormous changes in who holds and directs wealth in Australia. But the future of women’s philanthropy won’t be defined by wealth alone. 

It will also be shaped by women choosing to give at different scales, supporting causes informed by their values and experiences, and increasingly recognising what becomes possible when they give together. 

From a literacy initiative inspired by one woman’s relationship with her father, to an Australian entrepreneur committing extraordinary wealth to global change, to 104 women pooling their generosity here in Geelong, the scale may be different – but each begins with a decision to act on what matters. 

Perhaps that is a more useful way to think about philanthropy. 

Not simply in terms of how much we have to give, but what we care about, what change we want to see, and what we might achieve together. 

Membership of the Geelong Women’s Impact Collective is now open. 

We’d love to welcome you into our growing community of women and allies giving together to create positive change for women and girls across our region. 

As a member, you’ll be invited to events throughout the year, have opportunities to connect and learn more about the issues affecting women and girls in our community, and help shape and vote for the Collective’s next grant. 

Join the Geelong Women’s Impact Collective and be part of what comes next.