Origin story
G4GC began as a coalition of movement philanthropic leaders (including youth leaders) who coalesced around one core belief–that resourcing movements and organizations that centered the wisdom of girls and gender-expansive youth of color is essential to any philanthropic effort to achieve equity and justice. It became a convening and gathering space for these funders and movement leaders to strategize with one another and build community around moving money to the field of organizations serving and supporting the leadership of youth.
Beginnings
In April 2020, Dr. Monique Couvson became G4GC’s first Executive Director (now President & CEO). Dr. Couvson is an award-winning author, scholar, and documentarian with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and criminal justice, and philanthropy.
The country had just shut down due to the global pandemic. Just one month before, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor had been shot and killed by police in her Louisville apartment and, weeks later, the murder of George Floyd sparked a global movement for racial justice and against anti-Blackness. All of these events shook the world—and they placed a harsh spotlight on what we have always known: girls and gender-expansive youth of color face multiple, intersecting systems of oppression, and–despite these conditions they are always on the frontlines of social and cultural change.
Our first fund and advisory board
Recognizing the disproportionate impact of the pandemic and the exacerbation of preexisting disparities on young people, we launched the Love Is Healing COVID-19 Response Fund to mobilize support directly into our communities, and uplift organizations directly responding to young people. In our first 8 months, we moved over $4 million to more than 120 organizations in 23 states.
We also created our first advisory board, consisting of a group of philanthropic leaders with a long history of resourcing social movements, and established a youth advisory council that spent our first year and half informing a youth engagement strategy for all aspects of our work including our governance, operations, communications, and programming.
Expanding our reach
On September 15, 2020, the anniversary of the racially-motivated bombing that killed four little girls in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Couvson came together with Black women leaders to launch the Black Girl Freedom Fund and the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign via an open letter in Essence magazine. The campaign brings together artists and philanthropic leaders to call for a $1 billion investment in Black girls and gender-expansive youth and their families.
In July 2021 we launched the New Songs Rising Initiative, a partnership with the Seventh Generation Fund For Indigenous People’s to resource Native and Globally-Indigenous girls and gender-diverse, and their families, and their communities with abundance and intention.
In November of 2021, we partnered with the Black Trans Fund to create our Holding a Sister Initiative dedicated to trans girls and gender-expansive youth of color.
Today and beyond
Since our inception, we have regranted over $28 million to 406 organizations in all fifty states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. We believe in following the leadership and wisdom of girls and gender-expansive youth of color and have built out participatory models that directly engage young people from across identities and geographies to inform and serve as advisors and decision-makers on how we move resources.
In five years, we’ve built relationships with hundreds of organizations, young people, and institutional and individual donors nationwide who are now part of the growing G4GC community. We’re honored to continue working together to amplify the brilliance of young people and to ensure a world where they have an abundant future.
