Supporting Social and Racial Justice Movements through Timely, Flexible Grants: Rapid Response Fund

Of the moment issues require in-the-moment support.

Since its inception in 2016, Groundswell Fund’s Rapid Response Fund (RRF) has been dedicated to providing fast funding to grassroots organizations led by women of color, low-income women, and trans and gender-expansive people in critical but unexpected fights to protect and advance reproductive and social justice.

The Rapid Response Fund supports organizations working to activate and mobilize their base for direct action, key campaigns, organizing opportunities, and building coalitions and alliances. The central themes of our 2023 Rapid Response Fund grantmaking included abortion access, reproductive justice, Palestine solidarity efforts, transgender rights, police accountability, and civic engagement in preparation for a crucial 2024 election year.

RRF also collaborated with Groundswell’s Birth Justice Fund to disperse $40,000 in grants to organizations responding to the Maui fires with relief and recovery aid for birthing people and postpartum families.

In 2023, the Rapid Response Fund awarded $820,000 to 96 local and national organizations.

I Be Black Girl

Helping Black women, femmes, and girls actualize their full potential through autonomy, abundance, and liberation 

Last year, I Be Black Girl, a Nebraska-based reproductive justice organization, organized around the LB626 abortion ban, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, resulting in a modified 12-week amendment to the current abortion ban.

Informed by a mix of medical experts and community members, I Be Black Girl campaigned for language changes to the current amendment that would push abortion past 20 weeks, similar to other ballot initiatives across the country. They have continued to push for petition language in Nebraska, akin to other states like Ohio and Kansas, that would spearhead ballot initiative work for the 2024 elections.

“It’s about diluting Black representation, Black power, and change that needs to happen in the Black community. Others may tell a different story as to why it is, but we see it in the lack of resources that go into those communities.”

— Moné Holder, Senior Director of Advocacy and Programs, Florida Rising,
speaking about Jacksonville City, FL gerrymandering

 SOURCE: gswell.info/FloridaRisingquote

Florida Rising

Building independent civic power in Florida that centers historically marginalized communities to advance racial and economic justice 

In May 2023, the Jacksonville City Council agreed to settle a federal lawsuit charging that the city had long deployed an unconstitutional, racially gerrymandered voting district map that denied Black voters fair representation in city council and school board elections.

Florida Rising was one of the ten plaintiffs in the settlement, which resulted in using a new redistricting map that included insight from experts, activists, and citizens, marking a critical step toward ensuring fair representation for the city’s Black residents.

We continue to defend the most vulnerable communities through Groundswell’s Rapid Response Fund with timely, flexible grants. RRF ensures we move resources to states where BIPOC and LGBQTIA2S+ community-led organizations are under-resourced despite having the deep-rooted wisdom to bring forth valuable, sustainable solutions.

Reproductive and social justice movements had a steep uphill climb in 2023, and 2024 isn’t any easier.

Together, we can ensure grassroots organizations have the resources and support needed to address the pressing needs of communities long in crisis, under new economic pressures, and rising authoritarianism today and beyond.