Our 2025 Convening theme, The Seeds of Sovereignty, honors the history of movement work coming from the rural South, acknowledges the growing phase we are in, and highlights rural Southern strategies that can lead the way for the structural change we want to see. It is time for philanthropy to partner with community to help shift the notion of rural scarcity into Southern prosperity.

About The Seeds of Sovereignty

We’re excited about Arkansas. Arkansas mirrors the South in many ways. According to U.S. Census Data, only 20% of people in the U.S. live in rural areas, compared to 44% of people in Arkansas, and 46% in the South overall. Rural areas often get written off as predominantly white and morally backward, which not only erases the communities of color who define and shape the South for the better, but also ignores the impact structural racism and extractive policies have on the region. Broad-brushing rural communities leads to a disproportionate lack of philanthropic investment and creates a stronghold for extremist politics and voter suppression.

Yet, rural communities often set the tone for the rest of the country on issues of justice and understanding relationships as a form of infrastructure. Rural movement organizers are working on a wide range of initiatives to meet the needs of their communities, including increased labor rights for immigrant workers, medicaid expansion and community healthcare access, and calling for environmental protections as various industries continue being linked to pollution and land theft. This is true in Arkansas and across many other rural communities we will highlight during the convening.

GSP’s Convening includes engaging sessions, local Learning Tours, cultural groundings, our annual Membership Meeting, and more. The Seeds of Sovereignty will focus on rural power building across key issues, including racial, economic, and climate justice, worker rights, infrastructure and access to resources, rural healthcare, and more. Our Convening will create a space where issues impacting folks in rural communities across the region will be taken seriously, and the voices of rural organizers and funders will be heard.

Early bird registration will open in April 2025. For the most up-to-date information, please sign up for our mailing list here.

Our 2025 Convening will be hosted in Little Rock, Arkansas from October 14-16. We hope to see you there!

Graphic recording: Opening Plenary

Graphic recording (sometimes called graphic facilitation or visual note-taking) is the live capture of essential content during any conversation using hand-drawn words and imagery. Artists listen deeply, synthesize meaning, and draw, which helps people and groups see patterns, hold their own wisdom in high regard, and move collectively with clarity and purpose. Please enjoy these graphic recordings that were produced by A Visual Approach during our 2025 Convening.

Day 1: Breakout Sessions

Dinner & Awards Ceremony

Fellows for Southern Progress Reception

Annual Membership Meeting

Closing Plenary

Call for Proposals

Our 2025 Convening call for proposals is open to movement organizers, social impact funders, and leaders whose work centers rural people and communities in the South. We are seeking engaging sessions that highlight rural power-building strategies across issue areas with a particular focus on racial, economic, and climate justice, worker rights, infrastructure and resource access, rural healthcare, and more. While we encourage submissions centered on Arkansas, successful proposals will include rural places spanning across the Southern United States.

Submissions are now closed.

Our full schedule will be updated in August. For travel planning, the Convening begins late morning Tuesday, October 14th and ends late afternoon on Thursday, October 16th.


October 14, 2025
8:00 am - 5:00 pm	Registration Opens
11:00 am - 1:30 pm	Opening Plenary & Lunch
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm	Freedom Fighters, First Responders, World Builders: Black Agrarians, Rural and Urban, Grow Community Self-Determination While dominant structures weaken from the absurdity of further concentration of wealth and power, and while truth-telling is censored, defunded, and even rendered illegal, the Southern Black Farmers Community-Led Fund is asserting a radically different way forward. For four years we’ve sown seeds of the world we want to leave for our children. Come learn about SBFCLF’s participatory grantmaking model that doubles as a dynamic and emergent movement building space. As practitioner-funders, we invite you to re-envision the way forward through a new liberatory form of philanthropy, grassroots collaboration and storytelling. Together, we’ll share our model and then practice reframing disempowering narratives of “rurality,” Blackness, and Southerness into inspiring and actionable pathways towards thriving communities.
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm	When Trans BIPOC are Safe, Everyone is Safe: Funding the Movement for Trans Resistance Across the Deep South The US South has the highest concentration of trans residents across the country and continues to be the testing ground for repressive policies. Yet trans organizations in the US South receive the lowest philanthropic support across regions, while continuing to show up for their communities in dynamic ways. This session will amplify the intersectional trans led organizing happening across the deep and rural South, and how funders can support trans communities in this moment. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the realities that trans folks on the margins are facing, along with resources for how to support them. Speakers include Imagine Water Works, a trans + Indigenous led organization focused on disaster, mutual aid, and climate justice across LA, Intransitive, a trans + immigrant led organization centering migrant justice/ immigrant rights, mutual aid, and trans justice across AK, Borealis Philanthropy which resources BIPOC, trans-led organizations, and more.
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm	Place Based Organizing In Rural, Black Communities In The South: Lessons from 25 Years at Arkansas Public Policy Panel Community organizing and advocacy are less prevalent in rural, Black communities and it is a major barrier to progress within the community and statewide. The Panel was founded in 1963 by a diverse group of mothers working to expand diversity, equity and inclusion and desegregate Arkansas (AR) schools. In 2000, The Panel began a strategy of organizing in rural, Black-majority communities across South and East AR. The Panel’s members have won major reforms including voting rights, better public schools, infrastructure like better water systems, and more -- increasing civic participation and elected dozens of members to public offices. The Panel has also faced surprising challenges, including violent pushback and a political system that still marginalizes rural, Black residents. In this session, we will share stories of success and challenges, key lessons learned, strategies and a roadmap for the future. Organizing in the rural, Black, Southern communities, is an essential part of building the power to win social justice reforms.
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm	Organizing to Combat Abusive State Preemption and Protect Local Democracy in the South In the U.S. South, state preemption, or the restriction of lower levels of government by higher levels of government, has long been used as an authoritarian tool by state legislators to suppress local democracy and maintain white supremacy. And as long as this has gone on, people have been organizing against it. This session will explore the impacts abusive state preemption has on climate justice, workers’ rights, rural healthcare, and more. We will discuss both defensive and offensive ways leaders, communities, and grassroots organizations can work together to fight back against it, particularly in the context of rapidly spreading authoritarianism in the country.
3:45 pm - 4:45 pm	State Based Strategy Sessions
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm	GSP Mixer: Building Connections in the South Join us for an evening of connection and celebration! This gathering provides an opportunity to meet fellow attendees, deepen existing relationships, and connect around the themes that shape our time together. Through conversation, music, and community, we’ll celebrate the power of philanthropy in the South and the collective commitment to building a just and equitable region.
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Fellows for Southern Progress Reception Gather with us to learn more about Fellows for Southern Progress! Our innovative leadership development program helps participants develop the knowledge and skills necessary to support grassroots movements and structural change in the South. Attendees will hear reflections from Fellows, celebrate their vision for the future, and connect over shared commitments to equity, justice, and structural transformation.

October 15, 2025
8:00 am - 5:00 pm	Registration Opens
8:00 am - 12:30 pm	Learning Tours Exploring Rural Healthcare: Funding precarity and divestment are directly tied to hospital closures, provider shortages, workforce gaps & inadequate infrastructure in rural areas. How do we build systems that truly serve rural communities? Join our learning tour spotlighting organizers expanding holistic healthcare access and fighting for resources in Arkansas to find out. Reclaiming the Rural South: The South has been and continues to be a testing ground for policies that are replicated across the nation. However, the rural South feels the impacts of those policies disproportionately and in very distinct ways. Explore how rural communities are working across the Southern political landscape to fight for the liberties that define our future. Virtual Learning Tours: Join us for screenings of our Texas, Mississippi, and Florida virtual Learning Tours.
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm	Lunch
2:30 pm - 5:00 pm	Mobilizing Everyday Givers and Grantmakers to Resource Racial Equity in the South Imagine a world where racial equity organizations are abundantly resourced with a robust network of supporters. Everyday givers are crucial to building a broader base of supporters for racial equity organizations because they provide flexible funding and build a stronger, more invested community around an organization’s mission. The Giving Infrastructure Fund is a new pooled fund at Moore Philanthropy that focuses on everyday givers as a lever to abundantly resource racial equity work. Join the Giving Infrastructure Fund, Women’s Foundation of the South, and Foundation for Louisiana for a conversation about building the everyday giving infrastructure needed to abundantly resource racial equity work for the long-term in the South and the roles that grantmakers can play.
2:30 pm - 5:00 pm	Moving Rapid Resources in a Time of Political Backlash - Tools for Urgent Grantmaking The Queer Mobilization Fund and Power Building Team at Southern Vision Alliance (SVA) will guide participants through the principles and practice of Rapid Response Funding—a critical mechanism for supporting frontline groups in crisis. Unlike traditional grantmaking, rapid response is time-sensitive, politically responsive, and community-informed. It addresses urgent needs when work is threatened or accelerated by shifting conditions. In a time of political instability, it offers an adaptive tool to protect, amplify, and sustain community infrastructure. Based in North Carolina, SVA is a grassroots intermediary in the U.S. South, supporting youth-led, BIPOC-led, LGBTQIA+, and movement-aligned organizations through flexible, values-driven grantmaking. This workshop will explore real-world examples, challenges of resourcing movements in hostile contexts, and strategies for funders to build stronger, more resilient ecosystems for economic, racial, environmental, and gender justice.
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm	Dinner & Awards: Honoring the Legacy and Seeding the Future
9:00 pm	After Party: GSP's Sweet 16 Join us for an evening of connection and celebration! This gathering is a chance to meet fellow attendees, deepen relationships, and connect around the themes shaping our time together. Through conversation, music, and community, we’ll celebrate the power of philanthropy in the South and the collective commitment to building a just and equitable region.

October 16, 2025
8:30 am - 10:00 am	Annual Membership Meeting
8:30 am - 10:30 am	Practitioner Mini Healing Retreat
10:30 am - 11:30 am	10 Principles for Rural Philanthropic Engagement Rural communities are rich in knowledge, resilience, and innovation, yet philanthropy has often struggled to engage them in ways that are equitable, trust-based, and impactful. The Ten Principles for Rural Philanthropic Engagement, developed through the United Philanthropy Forum’s Rural Equity Initiative, offer a powerful framework for shifting this dynamic. Grounded in the lived experiences of rural community-based leaders and funders, these principles emphasize action, accountability, and impact measurement as essential components for meaningful engagement. This session will explore the principles in depth, using real-world case studies to illustrate how they are being applied to drive community-led solutions, sustainable investments, and systems-level change. Participants will reflect on their own work and explore how these principles can enhance, align, and transform their philanthropic strategies in rural communities.
10:30 am - 11:30 am	Building Southern Solidarity Through Crisis and Beyond Through hurricanes, tornadoes, COVID, ICE raids, Muslim bans, and so much more, marginalized communities in the South rise to support one another in times of crisis. Solidarity is key to immigrant resilience, especially in times of crisis, but there are strong forces that make building deep and transformational solidarity difficult. Still, the immigrant Rights movement in the South is working at the intersections, building and strengthening solidarity across communities and growing (out of necessity) a people’s defense infrastructure to keep our folks safe and whole, as much as possible. In this session the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network, People’s Power Lab (NC), and Women Working Together USA (FL) will share about their work to weave solidarity and build resilience in crisis moments and beyond, including the challenges they’ve faced and the lessons they’ve learned. Funders will learn why and how best to support this work, and what systems-level change can be achieved if they do.
10:30 am - 11:30 am	Sustaining the Movement in Uncertain Times: Dynamic Funding and Outreach Strategies for Impact Grassroots organizing and civic engagement rely on sustained effort, yet funding often surges around general election cycles and dries up when it’s needed most. This boom-and-bust approach leaves organizers struggling to maintain momentum, build long-term power, and keep communities engaged between elections. How can funders shift their strategies to provide consistent, year-round support? This panel will explore the challenges grassroots movements face in securing steady resources and the critical role funders play in sustaining civic engagement beyond election seasons. Experts will discuss innovative funding models, the importance of long-term investment, and what grantmakers must understand to truly empower movements for lasting impact.
10:30 am - 11:30 am	Freedom Maps: Activating Legacies of Culture, Art, and Organizing in the U.S. South In 2020, Cherry Rangel and Ron Ragin completed Freedom Maps, a two-year body of research commissioned by a national funder – with support from Alternate ROOTS and Ignite Arts – to explore the intersections of arts, culture, and organizing in the U.S. South. More than a philanthropic report, Freedom Maps was for the people, serving as a testament to the power of Southern artistic practice and cultural organizing, and offering Southern artists and tradition bearers the opportunity to have their realities and truths reflected in national discourse. While its quantitative data may have aged, Freedom Maps’ findings remain salient. Its recommendations for funders have yet to be realized, and its areas for further inquiry have yet to be fully pursued. As we prepare to launch a new phase of research, please join us for a conversation on what has changed in the landscape of arts and cultural organizing in the South, what remains the same, and what cultural organizers need from philanthropy.
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm	Closing Plenary: Making Rural Connections, Collective Action for the Rural South

Our recommended safety guidance may change according to the prevalence of COVID, flu, and other contagious illnesses at the time of the Convening. GSP reserves the right to change these guidelines and will notify attendees in advance of the Convening. Detailed guidelines will be posted in May 2025. You can refer to our guidelines from 2023 here.

Explore Local Impact: 2025 GSP Convening Learning Tours

As part of the 2025 GSP Convening, we are excited to offer two off-site Learning Tours, providing a unique opportunity to engage with organizations making a difference in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the surrounding areas. These guided experiences will give participants an in-depth look at the impactful work happening in the community, fostering meaningful connections and insights. Read descriptions of each tour below.

Learning Tour: Exploring Rural Healthcare

Funding precarity and divestment are directly tied to hospital closures, provider shortages, workforce gaps & inadequate infrastructure in rural areas. How do we build systems that truly serve rural communities? Join our learning tour spotlighting organizers expanding holistic healthcare access and fighting for resources in Arkansas to find out.

Learning Tour: Reclaiming the Rural South

The South has been and continues to be a testing ground for policies that are replicated across the nation. However, the rural South feels the impacts of those policies disproportionately and in very distinct ways. Explore how rural communities are working across the Southern political landscape to fight for the liberties that define our future.

You will be able to select your Learning Tour experience during the registration process. Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. If spots are full at your time of registration and you would like to be placed on a waitlist, please indicate your interest and you will be notified via email when those options become available.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are grateful to our sponsors for supporting The Seeds of Sovereignty. Contributions help cover the cost of hosting a 3-day convening, including ensuring that vendors are equitably paid and sustaining GSP’s practice of gathering funders and practitioners in community in an effort to advance structural change in the South. You make our work possible. Thank you!

View our Sponsorship Packet here. If you are interested in sponsoring our Convening, please email events@g4sp.org.

COVID and Community Care

Our Convening health guidelines are as follows:

Personal Care: If attendees feel unwell or are unable to comply with our health and safety precautions, we ask that they please refrain from attending the Convening. This includes having symptoms related to COVID-19 or other communicable illnesses within 48 hours prior to attending. Please notify the GSP team at info@g4sp.org if you are feeling unwell before or during the Convening, or if you test positive for COVID-19 during the Convening or up to ten days after the Convening.
Pre-Event Screening: If you are feeling unwell 48 hours prior to the Convening, including having symptoms related to COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses, such as but not limited to coughing and fever, please do not travel or attend the Convening.
On-Site Testing: All participants will be required to have a negative COVID test in order to be admitted to the Convening. Daily testing is encouraged throughout the week.
Masking: While masking will not be required for Convening attendance, it is strongly encouraged, especially in crowded places. Please wear a N95, KN95, or KN94 mask covering your nose and mouth whenever indoors (including hotel common spaces like halls, elevators, and stairwells), unless actively eating or drinking. GSP will provide suitable masks on a first-come, first-served basis. We ask that attendees bring their own masks to ensure availability throughout the event. If someone asks you to wear a mask, please do so.
Social Distancing and Prevention: Refrain from physical contact without consent, including hugs and handshakes. Whenever the weather permits, we encourage attendees to spend time in well-ventilated, spacious areas or outdoors. We will provide ample breaks during our time indoors and have access to outdoor space for informal time together. Please wash your hands and use hand sanitizer frequently.

Questions?

If you have questions related to the convening or would like to become a sponsor, reach out to events@g4sp.org

About Grantmakers for Southern Progress

Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP) is a membership-based network of funders and practitioners advancing structural change in the Southern United States. We work to interrupt extractive philanthropic practices and move philanthropy to partner with and fund community-based movement organizations. We envision a region of just and thriving communities, where all people have the power and resources necessary to live whole and prosperous lives. We support efforts to build a vibrant ecosystem of organizations rooted in Black, Brown, Indigenous and directly impacted communities in the South.

2025 Convening