In 2018, as part of a partnership with Australians Investing in Women (AIIW), Perpetual, one of Australia’s largest and most experienced trustee companies, added two gender-related questions to its Impact Philanthropy Application Program (IPAP) grant applications.
The additional questions were designed to help funders and grantees consider the gendered impacts of their work and highlight the importance and value of a greater philanthropic focus on gender.
Seven years on, the case for applying a gender lens is backed by growing evidence of deeper thinking about gendered impact from grant applicants and better-informed funding decisions.
Why ask?
Gender gaps persist: poverty, homelessness and domestic violence disproportionately impact women in Australia and are focus areas for many philanthropists. Philanthropy can either help close these gaps - or unintentionally make them worse.
“If you’re not asking how the programs and interventions you are funding impact different genders differently, there’s a chance you’re unintentionally reinforcing inequality,” says Emily Wellard-Baring, Philanthropy and NFP Advisory Director at Perpetual.
“Women and girls are often left out unless we actively and intentionally include them.”
Factoring gender into the funding equation doesn’t just make giving fairer - it creates more impact. When funders support organisations that intentionally support women and girls, whole communities benefit economically, socially, and environmentally.
Embedding a gender lens at Perpetual
Over the last decade, Perpetual has seen activities specifically focusing on women and girls become more prevalent, with applications more than doubling from 90 in 2015 to 223 in 2024.
The two gender-related questions that were added to the IPAP grant application form were simple but effective:
- Have you undertaken a gender analysis of the outcomes of this project?
- How will you measure the gender reach of your project?
This small change prompted a noticeable shift in how applicants talked about their work and who it was helping.
“The idea wasn’t to create extra work,” explains Emily, “it was to get people thinking.”
“Many organisations don’t know what a gender analysis is, or why it matters and sometimes they assume their work is gender neutral. In practice, if programs are not analysed and understood from a gender perspective, they often reinforce unintended gender biases.
“Just asking the question makes people pause and think, and once they do, they often see ways to improve their project design.”
Seven years of IPAP data has yielded a number of key insights:
- Intentionality matters: Seventy-six per cent of projects that focused on women and girls also tackled gender inequality, compared to just 40 per cent of ‘gender-neutral’ ones.
- Leading the way: In 2025, the education and community-wellbeing sectors submitted the highest number of gender-aware projects (over 40 per cent), with arts and culture next with 34 per cent.
- Board diversity makes a difference: Organisations with gender-balanced boards were more likely to undertake gender analysis (47 per cent) than those with male-dominated boards (41 per cent).
- Size is a factor: Smaller organisations were more likely to apply a gender analysis (55 per cent) than larger ones (40 per cent).
- Change is happening: 31 large and medium-sized non-profits that hadn’t applied a gender analysis to their projects in 2018 had changed their practice to include it in 2024.
- Global thinking: International projects were most likely to include gender considerations (72 per cent).
- Still room to grow: 36 per cent of applicants considered gender in 2018. After a dip in 2020, attributed to COVID disruption, the number rose again to 45 per cent in 2025.
- On the ground impacts: Increasing the numbers of First Nations women in the Indigenous Rangers movement
The Karrkad Kanjdji Trust (KKT) partners with Indigenous Ranger groups in one of the most culturally rich and biodiverse regions of Australia: West and Central Arnhem Land.
KKT used grant funding facilitated through Perpetual’s IPAP process to help two of its community-controlled partner organisations, Warddeken Land Management and Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation, cover costs including the salaries of dedicated female ranger coordinators, ranger ‘troopies’ (vehicles), field gear, on-Country training and professional development opportunities. This ensured the programs were operating at their full capacity and were able to engage and support more First Nations women in their caring for Country work.
KKT Chief Executive Officer, Stacey Irving, says this funding is helping increase the numbers of First Nations women in the Indigenous Ranger movement, which for over a decade, consisted overwhelmingly of men.
“Warddeken Land Management Limited, KKT's co-founder, knew that First Nations women held unique knowledge and skills that would enrich and balance their efforts to restore Country to good health,” Stacey explains. “It’s why for several years now, one of KKT's six focus areas has been 'Investing in women rangers'. Through community-led efforts - like the purposefully designed women's ranger programs - there has been a gradual increase in women's representation in the Indigenous ranger movement, with First Nations women now constituting a third of the Indigenous Rangers Program’s workforce.
“As we know, resource scarcity impacts women the most, and in this country it is particularly pronounced for remote First Nations women; a group profoundly impacted by colonisation and failed policies by successive governments, as demonstrated by contemporary inadequate access to health services, housing and meaningful employment opportunities. The community-owned and controlled programs that KKT supports are designed to address the latter, but they require ongoing philanthropic investment to wholly thrive and demonstrate to governments the positive and lasting outcomes of comprehensive investment,” Stacey says.
“The impact of this kind of flexible philanthropic investment - founded upon mutual trust -cannot be overstated.”
On the ground impacts: Historic policy changes that are protecting girls in Somalia
Independent development and humanitarian organisation, Plan International Australia, works to advance children’s rights and equality for girls, who are most affected by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination.
“Every day we see firsthand the devastating impacts of gender inequity - girls forced into harmful practices like female genital mutilation (FGM), child, early and forced marriage (CEFM), and deep-rooted violence and discrimination,” explains Beth Cross, Philanthropy Advisor at Plan International Australia.
“These gender imbalances deny young people their fundamental rights, education, futures, and dreams.”
Beth says the Plan International Australia team were “genuinely inspired and deeply encouraged” by the inclusion of the gender-related questions on the IPAP application form.
“Funding addressing international gender inequality remains very limited - representing only a small fraction of philanthropic support available in Australia,” Beth explains.
“Seeing a funder boldly champion gender equity restored our confidence that philanthropy can truly lead visionary change and tackle entrenched injustice.”
Plan International Australia used funding from a foundation who uses the IPAP process to take powerful steps toward ending severe inequality impacting the lives of girls. In Somalia, this included the achievement of significant change at both systemic and local levels to tackle gender-based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.
This funding has also enabled targeted, hands-on interventions in internally displaced person camps - home to some of the most vulnerable families globally, Beth explains.
“We trained youth and community leaders to identify and challenge harmful gender norms; established crucial safe spaces for girls and women; and educated thousands of community members, sparking inspiring shifts in attitudes and behaviours.
“The funding has sparked profound intergenerational change, helping ensure girls grow up safer, more empowered, and capable of shaping brighter futures.”
Making philanthropy more effective
Applying a gender lens to philanthropy by intentionally considering gender-based inequalities is an approach that supports more equitable, effective, and sustainable social impact. It isn’t about giving only to projects that support women and girls; it’s about understanding the gendered impacts of social, cultural, economic and environmental interventions and using these to inform funding choices to make philanthropy more effective.
Research published by the International Monetary Fund shows that the multiplier effect of investing in women and girls routinely leads to improved family health, better education and stronger economic outcomes.
At Perpetual, the addition of the gender-related questions is expanding the understanding of many funders and encouraging intentional giving that delivers more impactful outcomes. While not all philanthropists who utilise Perpetual’s IPAP process use the information from the gender analysis questions to inform their giving, many now choose to.
“Our role is to give philanthropic families and individuals information and insights into the programs they are supporting so they can make better informed funding decisions that reflect their values and intentions,” Emily explains.
“Philanthropy has a unique opportunity to lead on this. If you’re not collecting or using gender data, you’re missing part of the picture.”
This is an edited version of an article first produced by Australians Investing in Women in September 2025.