The nation’s current climate can make it feel like each day brings more bad news – dangerous new ecological warning signs, acts from Washington that threaten communities of color, and continued erosion of our democratic processes and institutions.

The West Coast has shown leadership – philanthropic, moral, and political – in stepping up to fight back against these troubling trends. It’s time to amplify this work by thinking bigger and moving upstream. Yet one of the most effective opportunities to do so is the last place many think to partner: the American South.

Many of the most regressive policies now taking shape on the national stage began in the American South. Yet the South is also the cradle of American culture and the birthplace of resistance, from movements to expand the franchise and end segregation to the modern environmental justice movement. Southerners – Southern women of color in particular – have spearheaded the creation of a vast network of change agents who, after decades of radical, under-the-radar work in oppressive, under-invested conditions, know exactly how to resist creatively and build power in today’s national context. They also know how to organize around our changing climate, because the impacts of climate change have hit there first.

Partnering with the American South is a slam dunk for the West Coast. Yet philanthropy only invests 53 cents per capita in the South for every dollar invested in California. As a country, this can and must change.

Together, we can build relationships of solidarity whose impact will ripple across the country – and the globe. Join The Solutions Project, Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP), the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), and Northern California Grantmakers to gain powerful insights and practical tools from As the South Grows, an initiative derived from over 100 interviews and focus groups with community leaders and funders working across the region. It’s an event you don’t want to miss.

This funder briefing will take place from 3pm - 5pm at the James Irvine Foundation's San Francisco office followed by a nearby informal happy hour at Rickhouse until 6:30pm. In addition to staff from The Solutions Project, GSP, and NCRP, you’ll meet Southern organizers on the ground and Southern funders savvy about opportunities for leverage.

Join us!

Happy hour location: Rickhouse - 246 Kearny St, San Francisco, CA 94108

South Meets West: Philanthropy and the Heart of the Resistance