The San Francisco-based Groundswell Fund has unveiled a plan to provide $100 million over five years to grassroots organizing and electoral efforts led by women, transgender, and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people of color.

The 501(c)(3) Groundswell Fund and the 501(c)(4) Groundswell Action Fund — the former the largest funder of the reproductive justice movement in the United States and the latter a leading funder of women of color-led electoral work — will work to distribute awards totaling $80 million and $20 million, respectively, with a focus on centering work led by women of color, including  Black, Indigenous, and transgender women; boosting giving in the South, Midwest, and Southwest; and supporting organizational development, healing and climate justice, legal aid, and data management. 

To that end, the Groundswell Fund will work over the next five years to foster connections among its grantees and among funders seeking to deepen their political education and learning; increase general operating support through its four main funds — the Catalyst Fund for Reproductive Justice, the Birth Justice Fund, the Liberation Fund, and the Rapid Response Fund — and continue to incubate its Black Trans Fund, the first national fund in the U.S. dedicated to supporting Black TGNC social justice leaders; and help women of color-led and TGNC people of color-led organizations build capacity and scale their work. For its part, the Groundswell Action Fund will work to increase the flow of resources to 501(c)(4)s through funder organizing efforts; award general operating support and short-term rapid-response grants to grassroots organizations; and provide capacity-building support in the areas of data, digital, and tech infrastructure, media amplification, political education, legal compliance, electoral planning and strategy development, and leadership development.

According to the fund, $13 million of the $100 million goal will be allocated by the end of the year. 

"Women of color, and particularly Black women, are the highest turnout, most progressive voters in the country," said Vanessa Daniel, founder and executive director of the Groundswell Fund and the Groundswell Action Fund. "From the streets to the ballot box, women of color and TGNC people of color showed up with bold demands and visionary leadership that helped avoid another four years of the Trump administration. And yet, they are almost completely shut out of the multibillion-dollar field of electoral funding. Resourcing women of color-led organizing in the electoral arena is not an addendum to winning — it is a requirement. That's why year-round integrated civic engagement has been Groundswell Action Fund's blueprint for success."