Our research shows the current 3% investment from the philanthropic sector is not enough to build, strengthen, and sustain a robust ecosystem for change. We seek to not only share the knowledge and resources offered to the South, but also enhance the impact of organizations on the frontlines and create meaningful access to practitioners who can help fund their work.

Our Approach

To carry out GSP’s Vision, we have prioritized the following goals:

  • Increase participation in GSP network by 20%, with special focus on foundations and donors-based organizations in the South.
  • Increase visibility, awareness, and connection to organizations leading change work in the region through strategic communications and convening.
  • Transform and increase philanthropic giving and practices to power building black-led, women-led, queer and trans work.
  • Strengthen and increase critical infrastructure in the South by increasing the amount of funds dedicated to movement infrastructure.
  • Increase intentional collaboration, alignment, and coordination of investments between Southern and National funders to accelerate equity.
  • Increase capacity building opportunities within the sector to advance intersectional grantmaking and grantmaking with a racial equity lens to support the transformation of Southern communities by addressing racial, gender, and economic equity.

COVID-19 is not the equalizer, but rather amplifies inequities that disproportionately affect the same marginalized populations.
– Tamieka Mosley and Nathaniel Smith, The South Has Something to Say: COVID-19 and Our Chance for Transformation

Our Values

We envision a region that is just and caring, where all people truly have the power to live healthy, prosperous and whole lives free of fear and marginalization. Our work is guided by our founding principles and vision of Southern progress:

Centering Community

  • We value the wisdom of Southern communities. We respect the people who are most affected by the decisions we make, and their voices and expertise guide our work.

Structural Change

  • We engage grassroots movement leaders and social justice funders to help achieve significant and sustained progress in the economic, social, and political outcomes of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and directly impacted communities in the South.

Education & Data

  • We share knowledge that builds community within GSP’s network, sharpens funders’ understanding of the Southern context and political landscape, and makes the case for investing deeply in the South. 

Centering the South

  • We hold a deep conviction that “as goes the South, so goes the nation.” The South is used as a testing ground for regressive policies that harm all of us. We are the most diverse region in the country, but we are also the most underfunded. The wisdom, practice, innovation, and lived experience of marginalized Southerners has created the most brilliant solutions, under the harshest conditions, with the fewest resources. Investing in the South as the starting point, not as an afterthought, will achieve progressive change in the country.

Equity & Justice

  • We believe all people deserve dignity and access to the resources they need to thrive, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, immigration status, or national origin. We center race and gender equity, power building, diversity, and inclusion in our work to carve the pathway towards transformative change.

Relationships are Infrastructure

  • We believe sustained relationship-building is one of our most powerful tools for change. We are stronger when we work together and care for one another. We build trusting, reciprocal relationships that are not extractive, and we center people in all that we do. 

The South receives less than 3% of philanthropic dollars nation-wide.

We created GSP to stop the pattern of underinvestment in the South by organizing philanthropic entities and resources that are needed to build the capacity of community-based organizations and networks leading structural change work in the region. Over the last nine years, we have experienced growth in the number of regional and national foundations that are prioritizing investments in the South…

See Our Grantee Map

Join Us

Help us make change in the South. Our work ensures the best resources are offered to the most vulnerable and deserving communities.

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