The Movement for Black Girls and Women

The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is a collective of Black women in philanthropy, activism and girls’ work, who hold deep roots in movement-building.

Latest News!

Black Girls Defense Fund is back!

Defense Fund Grants

  • Opens: May 5th, 9am EST
  • Grant Workshop: May 7th, 7pm EST
  • Deadline to Apply: May 14th, 8pm EST

Louisiana v. Callais

Supreme Court Decision

Don’t Take No Wooden Nickels

A message from our Executive Director on the April 29, 2026 Supreme Court Ruling

Two Part Series: Mental Health in Practice

Sage Exchange

Rooted to Rise: Building a Culture Where Your Team Can Actually Thrive

Tuesday, May 19th, 1 PM EST

Join us for next our quarterly

State Networking Meeting

June 30th at 8pm EST

We have awarded

1,000

#BlackGirlJoy Challenge Awards

We Fund Dreams

We act to improve the lives of girls and women across a region where funding has lagged

We have awarded grants to over

250

Black women-led organizations

Since 2020, We have given

500

#BlackGirlJoy Challenge Awards

Join the Movement for Black Girls & Women

SBGWC amplifies the voices, stories, and leadership of Black girls and women, creating spaces for community care, growth, and resilience

Youth Ambassadors

We engage Youth Ambassadors as ‘program advocates’ to help the next group of Black girls seeking to win the #BGJ Challenge.

We Need Your Wisdom

Help Us Select Our Next Grantee Partners. The Wisdom Council is an intergenerational
group of leaders who represent the 13 states served by the Consortium.

Spread Black Girl Joy

The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is a network of activists and philanthropists who fund Black girls’ needs with the aim to create space for Joy.

Who We ARE

The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium (Southern Black Girls) is a collective of Black women in philanthropy, activism and girls’ work, who hold deep roots in movement-building. Led by four anchor institutions including the Appalachian Community Fund, the BlackBelt Community Foundation, the Fund for Southern Communities and the TruthSpeaks Innovation Foundation, Southern Black Girls has become a disruptor in grantmaking and is positioned as a catalyst to fundraise and provide greater resources toward underfunded organizations that, intentionally, support and empower Black girls and women in the South.

Fed up with reports confirming that Black women and girls receive less than one percent of the $4.8 billion in philanthropic investments in the south, Southern Black Girls launched the Black Girls Dream Fund to embody our mission and raise $100 million over the next decade to financially empower the goals of Black girls and women. To date, we have already awarded $11.4 million to over 250 organizations and special projects across 13 southern states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Texas.

We Fund the South

Invest in Southern Black Girls & Women, Strengthen the Nation

0%
Over half of the Black population lives in South
0%
Black women and girls receive less than 1% of the $4.8 Billion in philanthropic investments in the South
0M
To date, Southern Black Girls has awarded $11.4 million to fund the dreams of Black girls and women in the South

Follow on Instagram

@southernblackgirls

📣 Calling all bridgebuilders.

New Profit's Connected Futures Cohort is now accepting applications, and we want our network to know about it.
This Catalyze cohort is for organizations that bring people together to solve problems collectively, whether your work lives in health, economic mobility, democracy, or education. What connects you is your approach: building the relationships, skills, and structures that make collective change possible.

Selected organizations receive:
✨ A one-year $100,000 unrestricted grant
✨ A $10,000 leadership development grant
✨ Strategic advisory support
✨ In-person and virtual convenings with the cohort

🗓️ Deadline: Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET

Review the eligibility criteria and submit New Profit's Discovery Form at www.newprofit.org/new-profit-launches-connected-futures-cohort-discovery-forms-now-open/ (link in bio).

Questions? Reach out to selection@newprofit.org.

Tag an organization that should be in this cohort. 💗
TODAY: Black Girls Defense Fund Deadline

The clock is ticking. Applications for the Black Girls Defense Fund close today at 8pm EST.

If your organization is doing the work to protect, defend, and advance the wellbeing of Black girls and women across the South, this is your moment. Last cycle, we moved resources to 12 organizations on the frontlines of care, advocacy, and community defense, and we're ready to do it again.

Learn more and apply at www.southernblackgirls.org/bgdefensefund
Who's holding space for the people holding space?

The work of building a more just world for Black girls and women is important, urgent, and (let's be honest) heavy. Those of us in nonprofits and philanthropy carry it every day, often while quietly absorbing secondary trauma, organizational stress, and the particular exhaustion of doing equity work inside systems that weren't built for us.
Join us for Session 2 of Mental Health in Practice, our Sage Exchange series with Black Girls Smile, a national leader in culturally responsive mental health education.

✨ Rooted to Rise: Building a Culture Where Your Team Can Actually Thrive
🗓 Tuesday, May 19
🕐 1 PM EST / 12 noon CST
💻 Live on Zoom

Learn more and register at www.southernblackgirls.org/sageexchange

Staff wellbeing is not a bonus. It is foundational. This session moves past self-care talking points into the real work of translating wellness values into structures that protect your team and strengthen your mission for the long haul.
No jargon. No performance. Just grounded strategy from people who understand this work from the inside out. 🌸

#TheSageExchange #BlackGirlsSmile #SouthernBlackGirls #MentalHealthInPractice #NonprofitLeadership #BlackWomenInPhilanthropy
📣 Young leaders, this one’s for you.

The Tides Foundation Advancing Girls Fund is recruiting its second cohort of Youth Advisors, and we’re proud to share this opportunity with our community.
If you’re a girl or femme identifying youth of color, ages 18 to 24, with leadership in your bones and a vision for your community, this is your invitation.

As a Youth Advisor, you’ll:
✨ Help shape funding priorities and real grant decisions
✨ Build leadership, collaboration, and decision-making skills
✨ Learn participatory grantmaking from the inside
✨ Connect with peers across the country committed to social justice
✨ Get compensated for your time and contributions

The commitment: two fully funded in-person retreats (July 7 to 10, 2026 and July 2027), plus virtual sessions through December 2027.

⏰ Applications close Wednesday, May 13 at 6PM PDT. Link in bio to apply.

Tag a young leader who needs to see this. 💕

#YouthLeadership #ParticipatoryGrantmaking #BlackGirlMagic #SouthernBlackGirls
Today we celebrate every kind of mother.

The one who carried us. The auntie who raised us. Big Mama, Nana, Madea. The bonus mom who chose us. The mama in grief, holding what cannot be held. The mama still waiting, whose love is real before the world ever sees it. The church mothers and teachers who poured into us without ever being asked. And the mama mothering herself, healing what was handed down.

Mothers, in every form: We need you. We love you. We celebrate you.

Happy Mother's Day from Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium.

#HappyMothersDay #BlackMotherhood #SouthernBlackGirls #BlackGirlJoy
Some instructions for applying for the Black Girl Defense Fund Grant.

To Apply, Start by Creating Your JustFund Profile. Please note that you must complete and publish your organization's common application profile to apply to any grant cycle on the platform. 

Please sign in to your organization's account and visit the Funding Opportunities page to locate the grant card and review the RFP. Then, click the Apply button to submit your application to the funder. 

Learn more and apply www.southernblackgirls.org/bgdefensefund

Deadline - May 14th at 8pm EST
Join us TONIGHT for our Defense Fund Grant Workshop!

The Black Girls Defense Fund: Resistance and Resilience Grant returns with expanded support for organizations protecting Black girls, women, and femme identifying youth across the South. Last year, we launched our first Defense Fund cycle. This year, we're widening the table with grants of $5,000 to $20,000.

Learn more about the application process, eligibility, ask questions, and hear directly from our team this Thursday, May 7th at 7pm EST.

Learn more and register at www.southernblackgirls.org/bgdefensefund/

Deadline: May 14th, 8pm EST
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