All Hands on Deck
2022 Impact Report from She Should Run
This report marks another year of hard-won, yet painfully incremental progress for women and our field as a whole. First fueled by inflation and a lingering pandemic, 2022 was set ablaze with the massive disconnect between policy and public opinion months before what many warned would be a contentious midterm election season. Through it all, She Should Run was at the table, working relentlessly to understand and amplify the messages and messengers that can move women into elected leadership.
As a national, nonpartisan nonprofit working to drastically increase the number of women from all walks of life considering elected office, we have a bold goal to inspire 250,000 women to take their first steps toward public leadership and join our community by 2030. Last year showed us once again that gender equity is fragile. The gains are slow and the margins are slim. If we want to speed up the process, we need more hands on deck.
Thanks to the incredible and catalytic support of our investors, partners, supporters, and community, we are one step closer to engaging a much wider ecosystem in the effort to change the face of government. Here’s a quick glance at what we accomplished in 2022:
Two-Part Market Research
We commissioned a market research study to uncover the motivators that can move women towards elected leadership, filling an essential gap in current field analysis and yielding three key findings.
Part 1: Motivators
Women are motivated by the issues that directly affect them and their communities.
“I am no longer making excuses and relying on others to keep my community safe, protected and healthy.”
Marie Alvarado-Gil
California District 4 State Senator & She Should Run Community Member
Current messaging aimed at pulling women into the political process is not reaching a majority of women.
(Potential Market = 24 million women)
“Rage is a powerful motivator. A significant number of American women would be more likely to consider a future run for office as a result of some spark of angst, and a realization that no one but her is going to do anything about it. So yes, I hope women everywhere are, for a lack of a better word, enraged. I want them to turn their anger into action by considering a place in elected office for themselves or encouraging another woman to run.”
She Should Run Founder and CEO Erin Loos Cutraro’s op-ed in Fortune following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked opinion in May 2022
Turning Learnings Into Impact
Community Growth
We encouraged 3000 women to join our Community and take their first steps towards considering elected leadership.
Power in Purpose
We launched two, two-part sessions of our new series “Power in Purpose,” an interactive workshop aimed at helping women uncover the reasons why they are meant to lead.
In October, we convened a hybrid “Power in Purpose” event in Jackson, MS in partnership with Mississippi Women in the Lead, a collaboration of The Women’s Foundation of Mississippi’s Women’s Policy Institute, the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable’s Black Women’s Leadership Institute, and One Voice of Mississippi’s Mississippi Black Leadership Institute.
Building a Better Community
In the lead-up to midterm elections, we launched “4 Steps to Building a Better Community,” our first-ever email course designed to support individuals with self-driven learning about civic engagement.
Thirty-five percent of course registrants were new to She Should Run programming.
Part 2: The Encouragers
If we want to bring more women into the political process, we need to activate beyond the women we aim to see lead.
“I encourage young and female candidates to run because the demographics are in their favor, but they need to be prepared to dedicate huge amounts of their time to their campaign for at least a year or two prior to the election.”
Caryl
She Should Run Encourager from Florida
“I remember meeting someone from She Should Run, and they gave me a sticker to write the name of a friend of yours that you thought should run I thought to myself, ‘Oh, my God, can I have 15 of those?’ because there are so many women in my life that I think should run for office. It’s easy to feel like we are not the right person for a job and that someone else should do it. But that’s wrong, we are the right person.”
Aurora James to Ebony Magazine, November 2022
Turning Learnings Into Impact
The Way Forward
In December, we launched “The Way Forward,” the first of many initiatives we will conduct to empower individuals to encourage women in their communities to explore their leadership potential. We saw 100 people sign-up to become “encouragers” as of January 1.
The Women’s Funding Network
We ended the year sparking a new partnership with The Women’s Funding Network, and set out to build an ecosystem of funders supporting our mission two-fold: through their philanthropic investments and by serving as trusted messengers to their existing communities of engaged women ready to make a difference.
The Multiplier Effect
Our incredible partners helped us reach women where they are and amplified the call for women’s leadership on a broader scale in 2022.
*This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a few highlights from our year of exciting partnerships. We continue to appreciate the generosity of our returning donors whose annual investments sustain our growth for years to come.
“With the news of another school shooting and a crisis in healthcare access I feel like I need to do something to help make a change. Whether that is running for office or join another campaign, I would like to explore the options.”
Mel
She Should Run Community Member
Bringing Others Along
In 2023, we will continue to advance our mission to drastically increase the number of women considering elected office when we:
Develop new modalities for our signature programming, allowing learners of all kinds to benefit from the education and community we offer
Lean into the issues we know women care about and are poised to impact them the most in the future
Continue to mobilize a movement of people and communities that encourage and uplift the women in their lives to lead
Utilize partnerships with the existing communities women know and trust to share our call for women’s leadership
She Should Run is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit working to drastically increase the number of women from all walks of life considering elected office. As the only lead-finders for the field of women’s representation, we have a bold goal to inspire 250,000 women to take their first steps toward public leadership by 2030. Our programs mobilize women from all walks of life to awaken to the power of their leadership potential. Learn more at sheshouldrun.org.
Donate today to support our 2023 impact.