About the Program

At Grantmakers for Southern Progress, we know that the South incubates ideas and actions the rest of the nation follows. At its worst, the South has laid the blueprint for dehumanization and harm. At its best, the South has created the conditions for real transformation by practicing community care for the most vulnerable among us, and envisioning liberation for us all.

Fellows for Southern Progress (FSP) is an innovative leadership development program that helps participants develop the knowledge and skills necessary to support grassroots movements and structural change in the South. Together, we are reckoning with philanthropy’s complicated history and building a future where our communities can thrive.  

We know a more just and equitable South is possible. We believe philanthropy will help get us there.

We are building a community of changemakers in the South who are accountable to the region, the philanthropic sector, and each other in the service of justice. Are you in?  

Who We're Looking For

This may be the space for you if: 

  • You believe the South can and has changed for the better; 
  • You believe philanthropy has been shaped by white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism, and other unjust systems;  
  • You believe funders are responsible for returning stolen resources to marginalized communities;  
  • You are a member of a philanthropic institution who can guide how monetary resources move through your organization, and;  
  • You are committed to funding Southern movement work.  


As a Fellow, you will learn how to:  

  • Cultivate a justice-focused, people-centered approach to philanthropy; 
  • Align your grantmaking with structural and cultural change work in the South; 
  • Center race and gender equity in your funding practices;  
  • Strengthen your sense of change agency and your ability to create change;  
  • Explore authentic healing practices, honor your full self, and find joy in the work;  
  • Practice interdependence and care for people, and;  
  • Share what you’ve learned with your institution with the intention of making aligned commitments to the South.

Program Overview

Meet the 2026-27 FSP Faculty

Click on the faculty member photos to learn more!

Brenda Hyde
Emmanuel Brown
Nana Fofie Amina Bashir

nana fofie amina bashir is a child of migrants from the south & nomads from the east, of the okomfo panyin & sufi sheik, the grand-daughter of gwendolyn & maryan. she is a facilitator, coach/guide/co-consipirator, & expressive arts therapy practitioner. nana fofie connects embodied & ancestral practices, story & strategy in community and movement spaces in the gulf south & across the u.s. an okomfo (spiritual & medicine healer practitioner), water & culture bearer & multimodal artist, nana fofie is firmly rooted in new orleans. in addition to her work through wisdom’s ladder, nana fofie serves as a director of the institute for ashé movement, is a founding partner of the wind & the warrior, a black and queer feminist indigenous healing arts collective, and is the creator of the altar project.

Karimah Nonyameko

Karimah Nonyameko is a program officer with the Human Rights program at the Heising-Simons Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Karimah worked for the National Alliance on Mental Illness South Carolina (NAMISC) as the Ending the Silence Lowcountry Regional Program Manager. Before joining NAMISC, Karimah worked with Encore.org’s Generation-to-Generation Program designing an online learning community for youth-serving practitioners and supporting a diverse network of communities and organizations experimenting with innovative models for engaging older adults to help children thrive. Prior to Encore.org, Karimah was the Subject Matter Expert in Community Development for Habitat for Humanity International.

Earlier in her career, Karimah lived in every region of the US, working as a community organizer with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations and networks supporting social change issues and building relationships across differences. Karimah has over two decades of experience supporting nonprofit organizations and movement building work as a community organizer, non-profit senior staff, an organizational development consultant, grantmaking foundation board member, award-winning trainer/facilitator, and skill-building curriculum designer.

Lavastian Glenn
Senior Philanthropic Advisor at GSP

Program Eligibility

Curriculum + Time Commitment

Participants attend four 3-day convenings, monthly virtual gatherings, individual virtual coaching sessions with a professional coach, and complete applied practice work between convenings.

Convening Schedule

  • March 2026 – St. Helena Island, SC
  • July 2026 – Berea, KY
  • October 2026 – Virtual Convening
  • January 2027 – Montgomery, AL

Cost

  • Tuition is $3,500 for GSP Members; and
  • $4,500 for Non-Members*.

Participants are responsible for their own travel costs. A limited number of partial scholarships are available. *The Non-Member tuition fee includes a 1-year, individual level membership to GSP.

To learn more about organization-wide membership, visit our Membership page.

Questions? Email our Membership team at membership@g4sp.org

Frequently Asked Questions

View the Fellows for Southern Progress FAQ  in a PDF format here. 

Is this program for newcomers to philanthropy or is this a space for veterans to attend?  

Having experience is never a bad thing and will only help strengthen the cohort’s learning environment. The Fellows for Southern Progress (FSP) Cohort is a space designed for mixed level “philanthrofolk” who manage, or will manage, grantmaking assets for the South, and who agree to our communities’ assertions about philanthropy, the South, and Southern movement work. 

Will the convenings be in-person, virtual, or hybrid?  

Fellows who are selected for the program commit to attending all three in-person convenings, monthly virtual meetings, and virtual coaching sessions. In addition, Fellows’ organizations must commit to supporting participants with ample time and financial resources to fully participate in the program, including the in-person and virtual convenings and monthly coaching. 

Along with your program acceptance information, we will require a signed agreement by both you and your organization to signify this commitment and set clear expectations. 

Where will in-person convenings be held? What should I expect from a typical convening week? 

Convening locations are intentionally selected throughout the South, to lift the varied experiences, stories, and communities of our region. There are three in-person convenings, consisting of three full days of programming.  Currently, the planned locations are: 

  • March 2026 – St. Helena Island, SC 
  • July 2026 – Berea, KY
  • October 2026 – Virtual Convening 
  • January 2027 – Montgomery, AL 

Fellows should plan to arrive Monday afternoon in time for a welcome and orientation event, participate in three full days of programming on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and depart on Friday morning. Participants are responsible for their own travel costs for each convening (hotel, airfare, ground transportation, etc.). 

Will this be the only opportunity to join FSP?  

No. GSP plans to launch a new cohort every other year.  

What makes Fellows for Southern Progress unique from other cohorts geared toward philanthropy professionals?  

The FSP Cohort is unique in many ways:
 

  • FSP is for the South and from the South: GSP is all about resourcing and supporting Southern movements and communities. The South is the epicenter of progressive change in our country. Strategic investments and commitments in the South puts philanthropy at a distinct advantage to shape the national landscape and center the most directly impacted people in the country. No one knows how to make these investments better than the Southerners who have been doing this work generation after generation.
     
  • FSP is led by movement leaders and philanthropic veterans: Our faculty is comprised of current and past movement leaders who understand the critical skills of movement organizing in the South. We also work with philanthropic organizers who have done the work we’re asking the field of philanthropy to do — move money to our most marginalized communities.
     
  • FSP is people-centered: We are invested and responsive to the people who create this cohort. This isn’t just a leadership development program.  It is a space for personal development and support as well. Participants help lead their learning so that it is responsive to their needs throughout our time together.
     
  • We’re aiming toward long-term, sector-level transformation: This work requires our cohort to work from a space of love and rigor. We are holding each other in the hard work of making short-term changes that shape long-term transformation. FSP isn’t just an investment into “philanthrofolk” of today, but an investment into philanthropy’s future.

My organization is not a Member of Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP). Can I still participate in the cohort?  

Yes! We would love for you to become a GSP Member, but being a member is not required for you to apply to join FSP. Regardless of membership status, it is important that your individual and your organization’s values align with GSP’s Values: 

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.

 

If your organization is not currently a Member of GSP, the Non-Member program fee includes a 1-year, individual level membership. We will explore prospective organizational GSP membership with you as well. More information about GSP Membership can be found here.

Sponsorships

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View our Sponsorship Packet here.