Today, the Ms. Foundation for Women announced its new strategic plan, which centers its grant-making and advocacy structure to invest — inclusively, and intentionally — in women and girls of color as a means to create social, cultural, and economic equity for all genders.
The nation’s oldest women’s foundation is taking a bold, and unapologetic approach to building power and advancing democracy by investing, over five years, $25 million towards resources and support for organizations led by and for women of color. In addition to financial resources, they will extend their grantee-partner support to help build capacity, support policy advocacy, and strategic communications, and will form its first ever 501(c)(4) fund to support grassroots political movements.
“An accurate her story tells us that women of color have been on the frontlines of nearly every movement in this country — from reproductive rights, immigrant rights, and civil rights, to economic justice, and criminal justice reform,” said Teresa C. Younger, President & CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. “We are a political force to be reckoned with, and in 2018, we delivered unprecedented electoral wins in Alabama, Georgia, and New York — yet we are sorely underrepresented in philanthropic investment, with only 2% of that spending going to women and girls of color. It’s time that we champion and do all we can to ensure that women and girls of color are in power, at the tables of power and are supported as movement leaders.”
There is an urgent need—now more than ever—to support leaders and organizations led by and for women of color who remain on the frontlines of a wide range of issues including immigration rights, reproductive and economic justice, voter suppression, violence against the trans community, and state sanctioned violence, as well as those setting a path to propel more women—particularly women of color—into elected and appointed positions...