01 · Who We Are
WFS is the only regional foundation dedicated to women, girls, and gender-expansive people across the U.S. South. We invest in the leaders, organizations, and policy work already shifting conditions on the ground.
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02 · Health
We fund the organizations expanding comprehensive healthcare access and improving maternal outcomes — closing the gaps that put Southern women and families at risk.
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03 · Wealth
We seed women-led small businesses, cooperatives, and pathways to economic security so wealth builds where it's earned.
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04 · Power
We back the movement infrastructure, leadership pipelines, and policy advocacy that change what's possible across the 13 Southern states.
Learn moreOur Mission
We invest in the health, wealth, and power of women, girls, and gender-expansive people in the South — centering the lives of those most impacted by injustice. WFS is the only regional foundation built for the U.S. South, moving trust-based capital to the organizations and policy work already shifting conditions on the ground.
How we fund
By the numbers
of philanthropic dollars reach Southern women-led orgs
Southern women face economic insecurity
Southern states · our 2031 region
lives we aim to reach by 2031
Illustrative figures · Sources: Candid, U.S. Census, internal estimates
"We don't just fund. We trust, we listen, we follow."
The gap we're closing
Illustrative figures · for demo purposes
Our Region · Southern States
We started in Louisiana. Today we partner with leaders across Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas. By 2031: every Southern state.
Snapshot
45+ grantee partners
Across 4 active states · scaling to 13 by 2031
Where WFS started in 2021. Deepest grantee network and longest movement relationships.
All 13 Southern states
Illustrative grantee counts · final data coming with the Amandla Fund launch
News & Insights
A look back at the leaders, communities and capital that made five years possible — and where we go next.
Our Approach · The HEAL Framework
HEAL is the framework guiding every grant, partnership, and convening at WFS — anchored in three pillars and four ways of working that radiate out from our mission.
We move resources quickly to the leaders and organizations already shifting conditions across the South — and tell the story of why this work can't wait.
We invest in the organizations, networks, and leadership pipelines that sustain long-term change on the ground.
Through Shift the South and partner-led research, we lift up the lived experience and policy realities shaping Southern women's lives.
We move trust-based, multi-year capital alongside aligned funders and public investment to make every dollar go further.
Our Work
Programs
Place-based investment in grassroots leaders across the South. The Amandla Fund launches fall 2026.
See programsGrantmaking
Unrestricted capital to the women-led organizations already doing the work — no jargon, no hoops.
How we fundPublications
Reports and an annual legislative recap tracking what's changing for women and girls across the region.
Read the workEvents
Brunches, briefings, and the Five Years Forward 5th anniversary celebration.
See what's comingFive Years · A Movement
Founding moments, signature initiatives, Shift the South research, CRESCENDEAUX and Honor Her, regional expansion, and the milestones still ahead.
Founded by Carmen James Randolph as the only regional foundation dedicated to women, girls, and gender-expansive people across the U.S. South.
A signature initiative funding rest, healing, and sabbatical for movement leaders across the region.
Trust-based capital begins moving to Southern women-led organizations — long-horizon funding, no hoops.
Grantmaking grows beyond Louisiana into Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas, deepening place-based partnerships.
WFS publishes the inaugural research brief documenting conditions for women and girls across the South.
A signature WFS production celebrating Southern women artists, leaders, and culture-makers.
WFS and Carmen James Randolph honored for leadership in regional philanthropy. [Awards & honors — placeholder copy.]
Short documentary portraits of grantee partners across the four-state cohort.
Annual gathering honoring the Southern women whose work makes the movement possible.
Year-in-review tracking the policies and bills shaping women's lives across the Southern states.
5th anniversary brunch and the public launch of Seed the South — the campaign building WFS's long-horizon endowment.
Five years in, just beginning. The next chapter: every Southern state, 2.5 million women and girls in reach.
Signature Initiative · WŌC @ Rest
WŌC @ Rest funds sabbatical, healing, and restoration for the leaders carrying the weight of the South's movements. Because sustainable change demands sustained leaders.
Seed the South · 5th Anniversary Campaign
Seed the South is our anniversary campaign — investing in the long horizon of women, girls, and gender-expansive people across the region. Every gift moves directly to Southern leaders.
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