TITLE
CATEGORY
SHARE
There is a phrase that gets used a lot in social justice spaces—the work—and if you pay attention to who is actually doing it, the pattern is hard to miss. Women, and disproportionately women of color, are the backbone of the nonprofit industry and the engine of most social movements. They are the majority of the sector’s workforce, the majority of frontline organizers, the ones who absorb the administrative load, hold the relationships, and stay when the funding runs out. And yet, as organizations grow larger and better-resourced, they remain underrepresented in the most powerful and best-paid roles. They are asked to carry the movement. The credit goes elsewhere.
This is not coincidence. It is an ancient, enduring structure. And this Women’s History Month, it has a name and a face: Dolores Huerta, 95, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, who revealed this month that she had been sexually assaulted by her movement partner—and silenced for decades. She stayed quiet, she said, because she feared the truth would damage the cause she had devoted her life to. As his March 31st birthday approaches and monuments bearing his name come down across the country, the question being asked—haltingly, belatedly—is one that social movements have been slow to answer: when women are asked to sacrifice themselves to protect a cause, is it still liberation?
The question is not rhetorical. It echoes in this month’s political news: Congress is currently debating legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Among those who could be affected are an estimated 69 million married women whose current legal names no longer match their birth certificates—a detail that has received far less attention than the bill’s stated purpose. This, in a country that leads the developed world in maternal mortality and where Black women die in childbirth at nearly three times the rate of white women, where reproductive healthcare has been effectively criminalized across large swaths of the South, where the history of controlling women’s bodies, particularly Black women’s bodies, is not distant history at all.
None of this work happens without the women who sustain it—inside our grantee organizations and within SPF itself. This issue celebrates both: the remarkable women who make this foundation what it is, and two grantee partners building power in communities that have been on the losing end of these systems, with a clarity about what is actually at stake that rarely makes it into the national conversation. Their work is Women’s History Month.
SPF Updates
2026 Grantee Gathering | March 26 – 28
SPF is convening this week for a grantee gathering focused on education and immigration—bringing together grantee partners from across the rural South to connect, share strategies, and build collective power around one of the most urgent issues of this moment. Amidst this climate, this gathering is a critical opportunity to strengthen the relationships and organizing infrastructure that keep our communities engaged and protected.
Southern Star: Pathways to Democracy Mixtape | April 1
This webinar series continues Wednesday (every first Wednesday of the month), April 1st, from 11:30am – 1:00pm EDT and opens space for SPF grantee partners to dialogue with one another, focusing on Voter Engagement and Mobilization, Education,
Environmental Justice, and Immigration. The webinar series will also explore the civic engagement landscape, navigating nonpartisan coalition-building and the overall climate of our overlooked and often underestimated southern communities. Join us for our next session focusing on the Southern Strategy with Dr. Robert Greene from the South Carolina Progressive Network. Click here to register.
Hubert E. Sapp Regular Grant Cycle RFP | April 6
This grant cycle supports grassroots community organizations in the rural South working toward racial, economic, and environmental justice. The deadline for applications is May 6th. If your organization is interested in applying, visit our Grants Portal for registration, eligibility, and application details.
Office Hours | April 14
SPF’s next monthly virtual office hours will be held April 14th, from 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT. Click here to join.
Annual Membership Meeting | April 21 – 24
This is one of SPF’s most important convenings of the year, bringing together our membership of grassroots leaders from across the rural Southeast to vote in new members, elect members to the board of directors, set direction, celebrate community, and deepen our collective commitment to racial, economic, and environmental justice.
Southern Partners Fund (SPF) is a 501(c)3 regional community foundation that is located in Atlanta, GA, governed by people of color grassroots leaders from rural communities across 12 states in the Southeast. Its mission is to support grassroots community organizations in the rural South seeking racial, economic and environmental justice by providing financial resources, technical assistance and training, and access to systems of information and power.
For more information on SPF’s grants process or its grantees, please contact: grants@southernpartnersfund.org
As a nonpartisan public charity, SPF does not support or oppose any political party or candidate; our work is rooted in advancing dignity, safety, and self-determination across the rural South.