- Elizabeth Colton
IMOW Board Chair 1997 - 2011

About the FundThe Elizabeth Colton Global Impact Fund recognizes Elizabeth's 17 years of extraordinary and visionary leadership of the International Museum of Women. This special fund fuels IMOW's growth as a truly global institution and funds initiatives including:

• Global Curators who work on the ground to source women's art, stories and social change ideas
• International events, installations and "pop up" museums
• Multi-lingual online exhibition content
• Global outreach
• Creative campaigns on issues of international women's human rights
  
  

Elizabeth's Story

Elizabeth's story is the story of the creation of the International Museum of Women. More than 20 years ago, when Elizabeth's daughter was four years old, Elizabeth set out to find a place where her daughter could connect with her identity, power and potential as a woman, honoring both women's history and contemporary issues. Even a letter to noted feminist activist Gloria Steinem was met with a disappointing answer: no such place existed. Finally, Elizabeth came across the Women's Heritage Museum in Palo Alto and began to volunteer.

In 1997, Elizabeth was inspired to transform the Women's Heritage Museum into the International Museum of Women. With other board members, Elizabeth led a campaign to ask 250 women and men to contribute $1000 each. The International Museum of Women was born.

Under Elizabeth's leadership, IMOW grew to become a global hub for women's self-expression, creativity and activism. 600,000 women and men from over 200 countries engage with our content every year, and that number is growing daily. Elizabeth's enduring passion is the International Museum of Women, and accelerating the success, global reach and social change impact of our work.

The Work Continues

The issues that propelled Elizabeth to lead the foundation of IMOW are as pertinent now as they were 17 years ago. We continue to live in a world that denies gender equality and basic human rights to far too many women. Women's voices, imagination and creativity are too often absent in the arts, culture and media. We lack global institutions that value - or capture - the contemporary realities of women's experiences.

Your gift to the Elizabeth Colton Global Impact Fund will propel Elizabeth's vision into the next decade, creating a unique global space for a new generation of young women to express themselves, unleash their imaginations and connect with worldwide movements for social change. Please give today>>

To read the original letter from Elizabeth announcing her new role for IMOW, click here (PDF).

Thank you.