As we approach the closure to 2023, we are filled with gratitude for all of our partnerships created and nurtured, and continue to be in awe of the leadership, power, vision, and genius of girls and gender-expansive youth of Color.
We’re filled with hope as we witness the brilliance and resiliency of our youth as we continue to “co-create a philanthropic home for co-investors in the wisdom and leadership of girls and gender-expansive youth of Color, and abundantly investing in their liberated futures,” as Dr. Monique Couvson, our President and CEO, shared in our 2023 Impact Report. Since 2020, we have mobilized more than $25 million to nearly 400 organizations centering and/or led by girls and gender-expansive youth of Color. In our report, you’ll find details about our funds, initiatives, projects, and impact.
We are beyond grateful for a year of resourcing our incredible grantee partners, building community, and hosting and supporting events and convenings to mobilize resources. Our staff grew to a team of 17, we celebrated Black Girl Freedom, Indigenous joy, launched multiple youth cohorts to advise our grantmaking, uplifted the wisdom and leadership of our youth with our Pass the Mic Project, presented the G4GC documentary “In Conversation with Nikki Giovanni” at Martha’s Vineyard, and created a safe community space at a Liberation Camp — just to name a few things (details below and in our Impact Report!).
As we take an organizational break this winter (our G4GC offices will be closed December 18 to January 8th) we want to extend deep gratitude for the countless ways you show up for our communities, and each other. This year has not been an easy one for any of our communities. We wish you all rest, abundance, health, and the joy that our communities deserve. We look forward to a phenomenal 2024, where girls and gender-expansive youth of Color are abundantly resourced, where their braintrust and genius is celebrated, and where they are safe and free.
In community,
G4GC team
G4GC End of Year Giving campaign
As the end of 2023 approaches, we’re calling on you to be a part of something incredible. Your donation to G4GC will help us advance the power, well-being, and brilliance of girls and gender-expansive youth of Color. 🌈 Let’s create a more just future together! Learn more and donate today, or share the link with someone looking for an end-of-year home where their donation will make a significant difference!
2023 New Songs Rising Fellows
We’re honored to have these 10 incredible Indigenous girls and gender-expansive young people supporting the New Songs Rising Initiative. The fellows will meet virtually, across an 18 month period, to build community and sense of self, celebrate Indigenous identity and belonging, expand their leadership skills, support a participatory grantmaking model, and influence the visioning of NSRI. Learn more about these amazing young people, here.
Transformations Liberation Camp
This year our Holding a Sister Initiative (HASI) hosted Liberation Camp, a leadership development retreat for Trans communities of color in the Ozarks, Arkansas, in collaboration with Transformations (@kctransformations).
Led by G4GC’s Nahr Suha and Transformations’ Merrique Jenson, the camp hosted a brilliant group of emerging trans leaders— including six young people in HASI’s first cohort. Their wisdom guides our developing strategy to robustly resource queer and trans communities. Learn more about the camp here, and watch our camp highlight reel here.
A Future of Justice and Democracy: Black Girl Freedom Week 2024
A Future of Justice and Democracy: Black Girl Freedom Week 2024
Our annual Black Girl Freedom Week is just around the corner! We want to encourage you to register (✨we’ll have raffle giveaways for some early registrants and participants!) and to join us February 12-18, 2024 for a week of virtual events around our “A Future of Justice and Democracy” theme, and centered on the creativity, brilliance, joy and leadership of Black girls and gender-expansive youth. You can register at 1billion4blackgirls.org.
#1Billion4BlackGirls Has A New Site!
We’ve put a lot of care and planning into creating a new home for the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign. You can watch past Black Girl Freedom Week videos, learn more about our co-founders, and find ways to get involved with and support the campaign to raise $1 billion for Black girls and gender-expansive youth by 2030. Check out the revamped website at www.1billion4blackgirls.org.
G4GC embraces a model of engagement that reflects our commitment to supporting and uplifting our grantee partners, colleagues, and organizations in philanthropy, and others working at the forefront of social impact spaces, focused on building a just and equitable world. Below are just a few conferences and spaces where our G4GC team has been to over the past few months:
Change Philanthropy Unity Summit
What a joy it was to connect with other philanthropic colleagues in Los Angeles for Change Philanthropy’s Unity Summit. Members of our team led panels at the conference on “How Philanthropy Can Build a Culture of Safety with Community” and “Economic and Reproductive Justice for All.” Stay tuned for videos from those panels on our YouTube page.
Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Social Justice Fund Grantee Cypher
G4GC President and CEO Dr. Monique Couvson passed the mic with leaders in the social justice, philanthropic, and entertainment sectors at Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund’s 2nd Annual Grantee Convening. On her panel, Dr. Couvson (third from left) shared how G4GC embeds the wisdom of our ancestors in philanthropy.
Justice For Black Girls National Conference
We’re proud sponsors of the Justice For Black Girls National Conference at Spelman College in Atlanta, on November 12th.
The Conference highlighted Black girls as theorists of their own experiences, freedom fighters, resistors, creatives and innovators, and created the liberated spaces that Black girls have always deserved.
Check out some highlights from the conference here.
Urgent Action Fund (UAF)
Offering grants to support women and trans human rights defenders/activists or organizations led by women or trans activists when an unexpected situation arises that requires an immediate and time-urgent response to uphold human rights. Apply here.
Ben & Jerry’s Foundation
Grants for small, non-profit grassroots constituent-led organizations throughout the U.S. It prioritizes organizations that are led by and center the leadership of Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color that approach their work using anti-oppression values. Apply here.
Bush Foundation
Offering grants to support organizations solving community challenges, and efforts that help people lead in strong, equitable and connected ways – for projects located in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or the 23 Indigenous/Native nations that share the same geography. Apply here.
Saxena Family Foundation
STEM education grants for girls, femmes and gender-expansive youth – applications are accepted throughout the year. Apply here.
Ms. Foundation’s ‘Living with Pocket Change’ Report
Ms. Foundation for Women (@msfoundation) has released the next installment of their groundbreaking report, “Living with Pocket Change: What It Means to Do More With Less.” This report examines the impact of chronic philanthropic underinvestment in the leadership of women and nonbinary people of color.
As a foundational piece of research informing G4GC’s work and the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign, we congratulate Ms. Foundation President and CEO (and G4GC Advisory Board member) Teresa C. Younger and the Ms. Foundation team on this critical research for the field!
Share your org’s work with G4GC
Are you interested in having your organization’s latest work featured on the G4GC blog and our socials? Does your organization have a funding opportunity, upcoming conference, or other celebration centering girls of Color you want to share with the G4GC community? Share it with us! We would love to amplify your mission and efforts that center the wisdom and leadership of girls, femmes and youth of Color. You can fill out this simple Google form at least 3-4 weeks in advance for events and any deadlines, and email any photos or video to share to [email protected].