Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC)

Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC) is the primary national philanthropic intermediary exclusively committed to resourcing organizations and movements that center girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth of Color. Since 2020, we have raised and awarded grants to 385 organizations in all fifty states, Guam, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Building from the operational intention to resource movements working to elevate justice for girls and femmes of color ages 25 and under in the U.S. and beyond, G4GC leads with the notion of understanding philanthropy through a lens of reciprocity, intersectionality, and cultural responsiveness. With an infrastructure that reflects our values, a culture of partnership, healing, reciprocity, and love.

The four signature initiatives include:

Love is Healing Fund: Launched in 2020 to provide grants to organizations directly supporting girls of color in the wake of multiple pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding priorities include: preventative or responsive health strategies ; interventions to support institutionalized girls of color and survivors of gender-based violence; economic and educational response strategies explicitly focused on girls of color; multigenerational immigrant justice organizing, and power building through organizing, participatory research and advocacy to amplify the needs and experiences of girls of Color and their communities. This fund also resources strategies to protect the security of youth organizers working to dismantle systems of oppression.

Black Girl Freedom Fund & #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign: Launched via an open letter in Essence magazine, the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign is a ten-year philanthropic initiative to invest $1 Billion in the braintrust, innovation, artistic vision, health, safety, education, research, and joy of all Black girls and their families. Each year, a different theme is chosen by the co-founders, and a group of Black Girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth ages 12-25 are recruited into a paid 8-week participatory grantmaking process. The articulation of priorities for the fund, Black girls are not just “recipients” of resources, G4GC’s Black Girl Freedom Fund provides a platform for the development of transferable skills that will increase their capacity to stake claim in their own liberation.

New Songs Rising Initiative: In partnership with Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous People’s Thriving Women’s Program, this initiative expands opportunities for Indigenous girls through grantmaking, convening, and community building, and mentorship and peer support through an upcoming fellowship program. Specific emphasis on Indigenous cultural work. Funding priorities include: multi-generational healing and organizing amongst Indigenous girls and women; advancing the capacity of Indigenous girls and women to resist state and colonial violence and gender-based violence particularly impacting Indigenous girls and women; art, music, and poetry to advance healing, safety, visibility, and movement-building for Indigenous girls and women.

Holding a Sister Initiative: Launched in the fall of 2021 and in partnership with the Black Trans Fund, this initiative centers what we call “new world-building” work led by trans and gender-expansive youth of Color. To date, this initiative has accounted for more $1.8 million in giving to trans communities, exceeding the average giving to trans communities among most national philanthropic institutions.