Female donors tend to give from the heart, but it’s still important to involve them intellectually.

By Paul Barbagallo

And according to the Center for Women’s Business Research, a nonprofit research and leadership development foundation, women who own businesses participate in volunteer activities at a significantly higher rate than the average adult and the average business owner in the United States. CWBR’s late 1990s report, “Giving Something Back: Volunteerism Among Women Business Owners in the U.S.,” says nearly eight in 10 women business owners spend time volunteering, and a majority encourage their employees to do so as well. What’s more, 65 percent of women who volunteer spend time helping a community-related charity. Other charities that women business owners volunteer for include education-related (35 percent), religious (28 percent), health- or disease-related (21 percent) and the arts (19 percent).