Last week, we linked to several lessons on philanthropic work offered up by Katie Couric of ABC News and Ann Friedman of the SEED Foundation (among other women leaders) in The Atlantic. This week, MSNBC reports that “Women exert new influence on philanthropy:”

“Women are taking ownership,” said Andrea Pactor, associate director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University, which has found that female-headed households are more likely to give to charity than male-headed households; and that in nearly all income groups women give more than men.

Women are exerting a greater influence on how philanthropy is done as they accumulate wealth and use their clout to change the way funds are raised and distributed.

Interestingly, as the article points out, new women leaders in philanthropy and giving “are likely to change not only what is funded but how they raise money, because female philanthropists often prefer to raise money in a group [... Moreover,] Insiders say women have their own culture in grant-making.”

Do you agree? Are changes in grant-making and giving the result of more high-level female donors and Board members — or are those changes more simply the byproduct of an ever-more diverse donor community? What positive changes in the philanthropic sphere could or should new women leaders catalyze?