We Are Enough, a women’s education nonprofit organization, this week launched it 3.3.3 Challenge that aims to spur 3 million women to make $3 billion in gender-lens investments over the next three years.
“We Are Enough is undertaking this ambitious campaign to educate women why they should invest in women-led and women-owned businesses or with a gender lens,” Tracy Gray, venture capitalist and We Are Enough’s founder, said in a press release announcing the challenge.
“The benefits from investing with a gender lens include employee satisfaction, recruiting a diverse talent force, promoting innovation and avoiding reputational risk. Women-led businesses typically outperform males in every measure of profitability,” she said.
Gray said We Are Enough believes this is an opportune time to introduce the 3.3.3 Challenge because by 2030, women are expected to control $34 trillion in financial assets. Widowed women and their daughters are expected to inherit roughly $40 trillion between 2024 and 2048.
Fueled by inheritance, longer life expectancies and rising career earnings, this transition is more than just a financial event — it’s an opportunity for women to shape the future of wealth, philanthropy and especially investment in women-owned and women-led businesses, Gray said. Those businesses are more likely to address social concerns like education, health care and alleviating poverty, she said.
“So, we women, at every economic level, need to be a bit sexist with investment capital and invest in women-owned and led businesses. The path to changing the world for everyone is through women and our wallets,” Gray said.
The We Are Enough website provides women with the tools and knowledge to begin investing through its northstar investment platform, which identifies companies and investment products that meet gender-lens investing requirements where women can invest now.
By aligning financial decisions with personal values, women can enhance their prosperity and drive positive change in areas such as gender and racial equality, education, gender-based violence and climate action, the group says.
“With 75% of discretionary spending being within women’s control, the current landscape offers an unprecedented opportunity for impactful investment decisions,3” said Vanessa Gray, executive director, We Are Enough. “We are issuing a call to action to all women of every social and economic level to be less risk averse, go beyond philanthropy, be comfortable with building wealth and move some of those dollars into for-profit businesses led by women.”
We Are Enough is supported by grants given by Nasdaq Foundation, Pivotal, JPMC, Marc Benioff and Lynne Benioff Salesforce Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, Nia Capital, American Endowment Foundation and Tara Health Foundation.
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