October 13, 2022
FY2022 Grantee Partners At-A-Glance
by Ms. Foundation
We announced more than $5.2 million in direct grants for the 2022 fiscal year, increasing our grantmaking capacity by more than $1 million since last year. These grants provided general operating support for more than 150 grantee partners throughout the country, overwhelmingly led by and for women and girls of color, to help advance a wide variety of projects in order to strengthen reproductive justice, improve economic security, and support equity and justice for all. “Community and grassroots organizers possess the solutions to society’s greatest challenges, but philanthropic giving does not always reflect this truth,” said Teresa C. Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation. “The Ms. Foundation is proud to uplift this year’s grantee partners who represent trailblazers at the helm of social justice. We urge the rest of the philanthropic community to make space for organizations led by and for women and girls of color, which have the power to create radical change if we are explicit and intentional with our giving efforts. Our communities and our fundamental human rights are under attack, and there has never been a more crucial time for this work.” Below, learn a bit about this year’s docket from the program officers leading each initiative, then head to the initiative pages to see their grantees! Read our full press release HERE. S.H.E. S.H.E. is an integrated cross-movement building strategy to advance women’s safety, health and economic justice. “For the last several years, Ms. Foundation for Women has supported intersectional feminist work through a unified, overall grantmaking and capacity building program approach across social justice issues and movements. We fund thriving, resistant, and vibrant social movements led by and for people who are directly targeted by white supremacy and the patriarchy. Our grantee partners are leading the most innovative social justice efforts of our time, and by deepening our investment in them, we are supporting equity and justice for all.” See the full list of S.H.E. grantees HERE. Building Connections Initiative The Building Connections Initiative is a single-year general operating grants to foster increased coordination across social movements, sectors, and inter-generational to ensure the issues impacting women and girls of color are centered to maximize collective impact. “Building Connections increases partnerships and collaboration across social movements and sectors because we understand that our advancements and obstacles are interconnected. We fund these organizations because of their work to elevate and write into history the collective power of women and girls. Our work is to amplify our grantee partners creating change by funding them and being in relationship with those who do the work on both a local and national level.” See the full list of Building Connections Initiative grantees HERE. Activist Collaboration & CARE Fund The Activist Collaboration & Care Fund (ACF) is a single-year grant supporting transformational movement building to strengthen collaboration across organizations, learn with movement leaders, and increase investment in social justice movements across the country to build collective power “The Ms. Foundation has a long history of funding where the road ends. We aim to be innovative and proactive in supporting intersectional feminist movements and we strongly believe that communities most impacted by social problems are also best equipped to develop solutions. The central focus of this years funding opportunity came in direct response to continued multi-pronged attacks, threats, reversals of fundamental rights and the ongoing criminalization of women, girls and nonbinary people of color, particularly in queer and trans communities.” See the full list of Activist Collaboration & Care Fund grantees HERE. Girls of Color Initiative Launched in 2020, the Girls of Color Initiative is a national initiative that provides grantmaking, leadership development and capacity building resources to support the advocacy and movement building of adolescent girls and gender expansive youth of color in the U.S. and its territories. The Girls of Color Initiative envisions a world where the power and possibilities of girls and gender expansive youth of color are not limited by race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disabilities or other axes of identity. “We believe that girls and gender expansive youth of color are the experts of their own experiences, and with the right opportunities, they have the ability, ideas, and passion to write their own stories, create their own futures, and drive change in their own communities and in the world. We are convinced that the ideas and solutions of girls of color are essential to carry this vision forward. Girls and gender expansive youth of color don’t just want to see change in their communities around these issues, they want to create it.” See the full list of Girls of Color Initiative grantees HERE. Ms. South Ms. South is a multi-year grantmaking strategy to support the sustainability and leadership of organizations led by women and girls of color (WGOC) in the southern region of the United States “We envision Ms. South as part of a new and transformative ecosystem, a catalyst, to help grow and support resistance in the South. Given that, we have committed to these groups, who we believe are doing the work to ensure that women and girls of color can step into their power and create the structural changes needed to live full and healthy lives.” See the full list of Ms. South grantees HERE. Birth Justice Initiative The Birth Justice Initiative is new grantmaking strategy to build power within the birth justice movement, increase connectivity and collaboration between birth justice organizations and movement leaders, and provide philanthropic advocacy, thought partnership, and thought leadership, to influence the movement of more resources to the Birth Justice movement. “Black, Indigenous and women of color are key experts and decision-makers in shaping policy and culture change around birth justice. By investing directly into organizations led by and for women and girls of color, we are ensuring that the movement to address racial based disparities in healthcare including birth experiences and outcomes is led by those who are impacted most. Strengthening the collective power of communities of color is critical to addressing the root causes of these disparities and advancing birth justice for all.” See the full list of Birth Justice grantees HERE.