Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed some special moments with your loved ones this holiday season. I was thrilled to have my nine-month old grandson visiting for the holidays, along with my three daughters and their partners!

As we kick off 2026, I am filled with deep gratitude for the commitment and generosity of everyone in our Together Women Rise community. 2025 was a difficult year … in fact, in 23 years of Rise, we have never faced a more critical moment of need. Yet, even in the face of this crisis, our community stepped up! Many grantees found ways to adapt, streamline, and continue their essential work with remarkable creativity and courage. Our members rose to meet the moment with generous year-end gifts to support our ambitious annual appeal goal. While we are still tallying all the year-end donations, I can already report that our 2025 fundraising results are historic – we raised more funds than ever before with our Annual Appeal! I look forward to sharing our final results with you soon.   Details

In our last issue, I shared with you the overwhelming response we received for our 2026 Featured Grants – over 600 applications from across the Global South. This response highlights the extraordinary passion, innovation, and determination of women-led organizations working to create a better future for women and girls in their communities.  

Yet, we are also seeing the severe challenges these organizations are facing. Around the world, 90% of women-led organizations are experiencing financial stain. Some of our own grantees have been directly impacted, including No Means No South Africa, our November 2024 Featured Grantee, which had to close its operations due to major disruptions in global funding.   Details

June 6 marked the application deadline for Together Women Rise’s 2026 Featured Grants — and the response was truly historic. We received more than 600 applications, a dramatic increase from our typical 100 to 200 applications per grant cycle. These featured grants provide critical funding to organizations that empower and support women and girls in low-income communities across the Global South. 

This surge in applications, while record-breaking, was not entirely unexpected. Even before the grant cycle opened, one organization told me they had to lay off half their staff and overhaul their programs just to stay afloat. They remain deeply committed to their mission, but without new funding sources, their ability to continue is at risk. We saw the urgency reflected in the growing number of inquiries and the strong attendance at our information sessions for prospective grantees. In response, we intentionally broadened our outreach to ensure that organizations working with women and girls throughout the Global South were aware of our funding opportunities. 

Clearly, we are living through an extraordinary moment of global need for women and girls. 

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