The Groundswell Fund, largest funder of the reproductive justice movement in the United States and the nation’s primary movement engaging women of color, low-income women, and LGBT people as grassroots activists, won the first-ever “Smashing Silos Award” from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) 2017 IMPACT Awards.

The public foundation was specifically honored for its intersectional approach to supporting the reproductive justice movement. It was also recognized for its Liberation Fund, which expands support women of color- and transgender people of color-led work in other social justice sectors and elevates the organizing power of those groups to advance policy change.

The first round of Liberation Fund grantees will be announced in the coming months. Since its launch in May, that fund has:

• Secured $500K for its first set of grants

• Recruited 15 prominent advisors from across environmental, racial and economic justice, to immigrant, Native and transgender rights.

• Plans to announce its first set of grantees this Fall 2017

“We dedicate this award to our grantees who transgress issue silos every day, the radical queers in Arizona working for health care and immigrant rights, the Black women in Pittsburgh fighting for environmental justice and abortion care, the Native women on the reservation demanding contraception access and birthing justice,” said Groundswell Fund’s executive director, Vanessa Daniel.

Groundswell was one of four recipients, including Foundation for Louisiana, Groundswell Fund, Meyer Memorial Trust and Solutions Project. Awardees were recognized in New Orleans during the CHANGE Unity Summit.

“Receiving the Smashing Silos award means the tides are turning and we couldn’t be prouder to stand with our grantees at the forefront of that groundswell,” said Daniel.  “The leaders and organizations we support are organizing on the front lines of every major issue we face right now. They bring the lived experience, the knowledge, the strategy and the vision our movements need to transform the systems and policies we need to change.”