Groundswell Fund Series

As Reproductive Rights Collapse, Funders Are Disappearing. Why?

Grassroots organizations are on the frontlines of defending human rights at this moment. Yet, it’s alarming that major funders are leaving the field right when groups working to defend bodily autonomy and democracy need them most. 

In the 2024 presidential election, we saw the consequences of what happens when donors abandon grassroots organizations—where a billion dollars were raised for the Harris campaign at the expense of movement organizations in key battleground states. In a presidential election lost to low voter turnout, the decision to underfund grassroots groups—those best equipped to knock on doors and mobilize voters—proved dangerously short-sighted.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund.)

Democracy, Divestment and the Power to Choose Liberation: On Cultivating ‘the Menopausal Multiverse’

It’s time we reimagine menopause as an expansive, intersectional journey through radical divestment and collective empowerment for all marginalized voices.

Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that nobody’s menopause experience is overlooked or left behind, and that requires us to break from the mainstream “landscape” and forge an empowering community of our own.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund.)

Knowing Our Neighbors: A Crucial First Step to Organizing in Times of Despair

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Whether it’s lending or borrowing a cup of sugar, or providing others bare necessities when the power goes out on your block for two weeks, it is essential that we break our prolonged isolation and build relationships across differences. 

Building face-to-face relationships across differences is the first act of resistance—and the foundation for community defense, disaster response and democratic revival in the South.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund.)