Women’s Foundation of the South

The Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS) is a visionary, healing-centered public foundation, led by and working for womxn and girls of color in the Southern United States. (*Note the use of “womxn” to include trans womxn and gender non-conforming people.) WFS is the only permanent philanthropic institution dedicated to centering and investing in the collective health, wealth, and power of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian womxn and girls across the entire American South. It is also singular in its leadership on both the board and staff levels, of which the majority are womxn of color who have a collective 100+ years of professional grantmaking experience.

WFS addresses racial and gender equity at its root by shifting philanthropic resources to the womxn and girls of color who daily prove themselves as leaders and problem solvers despite centuries of abuse, injustice, and exploitation. By intentionally shifting the focus in philanthropy to support womxn and girls of color, WFS is building a South in which families experience optimal health outcomes, accumulate wealth, and set the conditions for their success across three generations.

The Women's Foundation of the South serves the thirteen states of the American South: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Guided by the values of equity, justice, sisterhood, power-sharing, ingenuity, self-determination, community wisdom, and the brilliance of mother wit, WFS launched in 2021.