We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Not Going Anywhere

Third Wave Fund was built for moments like this. Our proud tradition of audacious grantmaking helps fortify us against fear and despair. We’re rooting into our legacy of bravery alongside our hundreds of monthly and annual donors. We’re here for our grantee partners, and we’re not going anywhere.

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Over 27 years ago, during a boiling point of racial and reproductive injustices, a group of young feminist activists, angry and energized, got together and said, “What can we do?” Together they mobilized over 20,000 young people through a cross-country voter registration drive, and through that saw the need for resources to reach young women and girls trying to effect change in their own communities. 

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Philanthropy was failing them, so they started their own foundation: Third Wave Fund.

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Third Wave’s first grantmaking docket in 1997 might seem small with just $12,050 redistributed to a dozen individuals and groups. But looking closer, the potency was clear: 

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• $300 to cover travel expenses for a young woman driving 300 miles for an abortion
• $1,000 to one of only two abortion funds then operating in the country
• $2,000 to a free mentoring program linking lesbian and bisexual youth with older lesbians building intergenerational alliances in Texas

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This is what we’ve always known—the resources that grassroots, gender justice movements receive don’t just appear. They exist because directly impacted people come together, demand that they exist, and make it happen. 

This year as we’re set to redistribute $3.5 million to over 100 groups and individuals, we’re moving in accordance with our radical traditions of nourishing time-sensitive needs, capacity building, and long-term sustainability:

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• $10,000 towards building repairs and security trainings after a trans youth-led organization’s physical space was vandalized in Arkansas
• $10,000 to Black trans people building an Emergency Response Fund for travel expenses to receive healthcare services outside of Idaho
• $25,000 to increase the capacity of a feminist youth of color-led organization’s nationwide efforts to build power for intersectional, feminist movement work

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These are tangible things we can do together to reduce the harm ahead, both in the immediate moment and in the long-term. The only way through this moment is to be in solidarity with those who have both the most to lose and the power to win. 

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Whether it’s hope, fear, or anger that has brought you to our work asking “What can we do?”—the task ahead is clear. We are in a battle for our future and we trust communities most impacted by oppression to lead the way. We must make good on our feelings and resource grassroots, gender justice movements like our liberation depends on it. Join us today.

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Towards tender audaciousness,

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MARS. Marshall, Co-Director 

Morgan Willis, Co-Director

Monica Trinidad, Director of Communications

Maryse Mitchell-Brody, Director of Development 

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We hope our latest art collab makes you feel as audacious and confident as we feel about our liberated futures ahead. Shoutout to queer, Black visual artist @CozCon for this incredible new illustration in support of our end-of-year fundraising efforts!

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Image Description: Pink and purple flowers and vines border the illustration, with black text at the top that continues to the bottom and says, "We Foresee Liberation." Three Black individuals with three eyes each wearing pink, green and adorned in gold, pearls, and flowers are in the center of the illustration holding masquerade eye masks that have three eye holes. At the bottom is the Third Wave Fund logo.