I was introduced to Carrie Rich and The Global Good Fund by way of my brother Voltaire Xodus, the founder of WeUp. In 2018, Voltaire invited me to take on the CEO role at WeUp and lead a global marketing tour for our gamified goal achievement platform for social good. The international tour honored high achieving women in the areas of business, technology, caregiving, and philanthropy. We honored Carrie during our #WeUpWomen Tour stop in Washington, D.C. and presented her with an award named in honor of our late mother Adelaide Smith.
Like our Mom, Carrie is an enterprising and philanthropic woman and mother. Carrie empowers others through The Global Good Fund to change the world; which was what our mother strived to do as well. I respect and appreciate Carrie’s leadership, vulnerability, and transparency related to an email campaign last year. In it she shared areas of opportunity for improvement. Thus, I felt moved to make an end of year gift in 2021 as a gesture of encouragement for her and the dynamic Global Good Fund team to keep going!
Also, I love supporting women who work to uplift others because it is a form of philanthropy that is often unrecognized. In fact, more than giving away money, acts of service reflect the definition of philanthropy found in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary; which is “goodwill to fellow members of the human race, especially active effort to promote human welfare.” Another definition of philanthropy is “an act or gift done or made for humanitarian purposes.”
Although the narrative in the media disproportionately portrays philanthropists as middle aged white men, the IRS reports that 47 percent of the country’s top wealth holders (defined by having assets of $2 million or more) are women. I am sad to say that once upon a time, I was influenced by the media and imagined an old guy sitting behind a desk writing checks when thinking of the term philanthropist. However, that image changed for me 12 years ago after seeing a woman named Janet McKinley featured as a “Philanthropist” in a magazine. Janet McKinley is the Founder, Chairwoman, and Principal Investor at Advance Global Capital. In addition to her more than 35 years of investment experience, she has been defined as an “active philanthropist” for over 30 years. I had the pleasure of meeting Janet and watching her in action as the former Board Chair at Oxfam America, which was a client of my consulting firm.
Besides Oprah, Janet was the first woman I saw who was a philanthropist featured in a magazine. I was so inspired that I cut out the article and put it on my vision board so that I too could one day, even if on a modest level initially, uplift others financially and be of service. The $100 gift that Carrie received to start The Global Good Fund is an example that we all can give what we have to make a difference where we are. Thank goodness for women like Janet and Carrie who are changing the narrative of philanthropy and continuing to uplift others.
About Ramona Wright
Born in Washington, D.C., Ramona Wright is a third generation entrepreneur and the daughter of an enterprising single mother. During her childhood, she grew up in Southern California, where her family faced homelessness on occasion and at one time they lived in a church temporarily. However, such adversity and financial insecurity did not stop her.
Ramona is the first person in her family to graduate from college and has since become a serial entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, producer, philanthropist, and author with more than 15 years of strategic communication expertise. She’s an early pioneer who taught public relations and social media marketing at her alma mater Loyola Marymount University from 2007 – 2011. Presently, Ramona is the CEO of WrightOne Media Group and the Co-founder & CEO of WeUp (www.weuptheworld.com), a gamification goal achievement platform for social good