Democratic Philanthropy in Action
For SPF and its grantees to continue forging ahead, our plans and actions must be thoughtfully nuanced, flexible, and sustainable. The Social Justice Institute (SJI) was born out of this need in 2009 and serves as SPF’s leadership development and capacity-building arm, which houses the foundation’s varied programming.
Programs under SJI are designed to build knowledge, teach best practices in organizing and organizational management, and help participants network and develop a collective understanding of civil and human rights issues in the context of historical southern movement building. SJI’s formal Capacity Building Fellowship strengthens nascent grassroots organizations by helping them become more grounded and effective community leaders, while its Young Leaders for Social Change Fellowship, created for aspiring young grassroots leaders in the South, covers many of the same topics. SJI’s purpose is to strengthen organizations and leadership in the rural South by preparing and supporting the growth of new and existing grassroots leadership with capacity training in the following areas:
- Educational outreach.
- Executive Coaching for rural, grassroots nonprofit leaders.
- Fundraising and resource development training.
- Organizational development information, resources, and best practices.
- Media, marketing, and communications support.
- Community organizing strategies and support.
- Young leadership development
- The culture and tradition of social justice work in the rural South.
Fellowships
Young Leaders for Social Change
Sustaining the racial and economic justice movement requires our future leaders’ continued support and cultivation. The Young Leaders for Social Change Fellowship is designed to enhance skills, knowledge, and civic participation among young and emerging community organizers and nonprofit professionals aged 18-35 who are committed to progressive social change across the rural South.
An SPF member-based committee reviews all of the applications before selecting up to ten rural-based aspiring leaders to make-up that year’s YLSC cohort. Fellows are awarded stipends to help facilitate their grassroots-organizing oriented projects that designed to benefit their local communities. Programming for fellowship ranges from the history of organizing, social change and movement-building efforts, capacity building, relationship building, issues, organizational development, and budgeting to utilizing change theories to mobilize our collective power. This program seeks to:
- Prepare young leaders as they transition into key leadership positions
- Increase their involvement in philanthropy
- Build upon an intergenerational model of civic engagement
Projects have ranged from creating a mobile dream lab for K-12 students, a know your rights campaign for poultry plant workers, and a youth activist toolkit to 24/7 accessible micro pantries in Bowling Green and a restorative-justice-focused healing space for Black and Brown girls.
YLSC Spotlight: Takeiya Smith
Takeiya Smith is a West Virginia native and Executive Director of the Young West Virginia Power Building Movement. She is also one of SPF’s only Social Justice Institute (SJI) participants to have completed the Young Leaders for Social Change and Capacity Building fellowships.
Takeiya began youth organizing as a student on campus and now helps other young leaders become active participants in the systems impacting their daily lives. Over the last decade, she has mobilized young people throughout the state to address a variety of social issues, ranging from equality in schools to economic justice and voter education. Takeiya utilizes her lived experience, skill in grassroots organizing, collaboration with value-aligned partners, and the vitality of students to fuel her work toward making a safer, more equitable home for all West Virginians.
“We get people registered to vote, help make voting plans, and educate folks about what will be on their ballot. We have helped people call their senators for the first time, and bring democracy directly to the doorstep through our canvassing. We’ve hosted student town halls, provided education on bills and on how to take action, phone banked, and provided civics training. Voter registration tables, social causes, and community organizing were all once cultural staples, and we are working to revive that mentality in the communities we grew up in.”
“The fellowship helped us connect over shared experiences, gave us space to collectively problem solve, and generate new ideas with others. We were able to learn from facilitators outside of our normal scope to help us expand the way we looked at our work. It was also a space where we learned about other opportunities to help our work be sustainable.”
Capacity Building Fellowship
The Capacity Building fellowship seeks to strengthen rural community organizing by encouraging best practices in organizational development, specifically for community organizing efforts. It primarily introduces SPF and addresses organizations in their start-up phase, while offering an advanced workshop on fundraising. Every year, SPF staff conduct interviews with a selection of applicants who represent the leadership and key stakeholders of their organizations. The staff compiles and reviews the interviews to assess if the applicants meet the criteria to participate in the program. This is followed by an SPF membership assessment, which aims to identify the following: What organizational capacity components are missing in the field? What training is needed for leadership? What are the priority issues for community organizing in the rural South?
Capacity Building Spotlight: Portia Shepherd
Blackbelt Women Rising is a gender and environmental justice organization dedicated to advocacy, prevention, and support. We work to address systemic issues impacting women and marginalized communities in the Black Belt, particularly in areas of sexual violence, LGBTQ+ support, and environmental justice. Our work includes providing direct services, creating safe spaces for survivors, and advocating for policies that protect our communities from environmental and social harm. Through partnerships, outreach, and grassroots organizing, we strive to ensure that those most affected have a voice in the decisions that impact their lives.
My organizing experience with Blackbelt Women Rising has focused on advocating for environmental justice in the Black Belt, where our communities face disproportionate environmental burdens. I’ve worked to inform residents about environmental hazards, hold corporations and policymakers accountable, and push for sustainable solutions that protect both people and the land. A big part of my work has been engaging with public officials, ensuring that community voices are included in decision-making, and addressing issues like wastewater infrastructure, landfill expansions, and pollution. The lack of public input in these decisions, especially when they directly impact women and marginalized communities, is what drives my advocacy.
In Epes, AL, Blackbelt Women Rising is engaged with local leadership to address environmental concerns, particularly around biomass and other pollution sources. By meeting with Mayor Porter and attending council meetings, we’re ensuring that community voices are heard in decisions that affect their health and environment.
“Since SPF funding began, we’ve been committed to addressing wastewater issues in the Black Belt by gaining a deeper understanding of the region’s challenges. A key part of this effort has been our Wastewater for Kids program, which has reached over 300 children across six schools in three counties, focusing on K-6 students. These students are the future waterboard members and water operators, and by educating them early about wastewater management and environmental responsibility, we’re helping to cultivate a generation of leaders who will understand the importance of clean water and environmental stewardship.
My biggest takeaway from the Capacity Building fellowship has been the importance of building strong partnerships and the power of data-driven advocacy. Additionally, the fellowship has helped me refine our organizational strategies, from strengthening our outreach efforts to developing more sustainable programs. It’s been a great opportunity to not only grow as a leader but also to see the tangible impact of capacity-building work in real-time.”
Programs
In addition to the Capacity Building series and the Young Leaders for Social Change fellowship outlined above, SJI has continued to conduct other programs that focus on various protecting access to the ballot box, primarily for historically underserved communities. With the severe gravity of recent and future elections, the election protection program has expanded to incorporate specific trainings. These began with the 2020 Census, followed by redistricting, and on identifying voter suppression tactics—from gerrymandering to last-minute poll location changes and ambiguous voter ID requirements. SJI facilitates these trainings with a body of organizers, community activists, grantee partners, and young leaders.
Election Protection
SPF’s Voter Protection work focuses on providing resources to coalitions of grassroots organizations that are working to alleviate voter suppression activities in minority and lower income communities in Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina. These organizations have been working collectively to further develop and enhance strategies that facilitate appropriate action against laws and practices that restrict access to the ballot box, such as nebulous voter I.D. requirements, precinct closures and other suppression activities.
Findings from this work are being utilized to create a model for grassroots organizing that can be used as a step-by-step guide across the Southeast region where voter suppression has become the primary means of slowly dismantling the Voting Rights Act. It is our hope that takeaways from this work can be re-applied in other areas of the country where these flagrant threats to democracy are employed. In the meantime, they are already being shared and discussed as part of an ongoing webinar series, Pathways to Democracy.
Census & Redistricting
SPF’s Census and redistricting work began in 2019 when the board voted to integrate funding towards the foundation’s primary focus areas into this work with the knowledge that Census counts shape the federal funds apportioned to each state for state-based programs, education and infrastructure; and that fair redistricting is critical towards achieving equitable political representation. We started by working with grassroots community leaders and organizations we support with the goal of helping to “train the trainers” when it came to targeting chronically underfunded hard-to-count (HTC) areas that were typically rural and inhabited by lower income families, predominately of color.
Census work continued through the count, before shifting to redistricting in December 2020 with a four-part webinar series, Drawing the Lines: Understanding Redistricting & What Communities Need to Know to Change the Narrative. The series was designed to educate communities on the importance of redistricting and the opportunities it presents for positive change, as well as how to keep these communities from getting split up in the face of gerrymandering efforts. A shared concern that communities lacked trained demographers and access to map-drawing software prompted the creation of SPF’s ‘Redistricting Cohort,’ consisting of 12 regional allies, one from each of the 12 states SPF funds. These allies have since been professionally trained to draw and present fair and equitable maps to their local redistricting committees. This work is already picking back up in preparation for the 2030 Census.
Convenings
2024 Regional Grantee Gathering: Protecting Voter Rights in the Rural South. In preparation for the 2024 elections, SPF organized a convening of its grantee partners that were already spearheading voting rights and engagement initiatives in their respective communities. In addition to providing an opportunity to build coalitions amongst organizations working on similar issues, the convening included a number of workshops and breakout opportunities to delve deeper into the work and share skills.
20th Anniversary Gala. The Welcome Table: Lifting Up Every Voice celebrated a huge milestone for SPF and provided an opportunity to honor its grantee partners, members, and generous donors. MCed by on-air radio personality, KD Bowe, and keynoted by the Reverand Raphael G. Warnock, who currently serves as one of GA’s United States senators, it was a pleasure to celebrate with our community.