Advancing Girls Fund

The Advancing Girls Fund is a Tides Foundation initiative that powers grantmaking for adolescent girls and young women of color and their allies, investing in spaces where they can learn, play, dream, and become powerful movement leaders.

A Black girl writing a note on a sticky note at a group retreat. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment A Black girl standing and smiling with her hands on her hips with greenery in the background. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment One Black and two Latine girls leaning on each others' shoulders.
A Black girl writing a note on a sticky note at a group retreat. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment A Black girl standing and smiling with her hands on her hips with greenery in the background. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment One Black and two Latine girls leaning on each others' shoulders.

Inspire Girls to Become Changemakers

In the gender justice movement, few philanthropic dollars center girls and young women of color and their allies. But at Tides, we know that these young leaders intimately understand what it will take to solve the challenges that stand between them, their families, and their communities in the fight for equity and justice.

Help Cultivate Girls’ Leadership
A Black girl sitting at a table at a conference. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment

Tides’ Advancing Girls Fund brings donors together to invest in the leadership, well-being, and advocacy of adolescent girls and young women of color and their allies, so they can create the world they want and know is possible.

In August 2020, the NoVo Foundation transitioned its Adolescent Girls Grantmaking Initiative to Tides Foundation. With input from our grantee partners, Tides’ Advancing Girls Fund launched a new intersectional grantmaking strategy in 2022 to support girl-led change in the US and the global south.

Read the Advancing Girls Landscape Analysis

Our Impact Since 2021

$61.9M In Grants
A Black and a Latine girl both wearing backpacks smiling together in front of a brick wall. Photo credit: Pexels
150+ Girl-Centered Grantee Organizations in 20 Countries
A smiling Black couple holding their small child's hands and swinging them off the ground. Photo credit: Pexels
90% BIPOC-Led Grantee Organizations
A Black mother and daughter embracing. Photo credit: Pexels

Funding Priorities

  • A Black girl smiling on a sports field. Photo credit: StockSnap

    Girl-Led

    We believe adolescent girls and young women of color possess the knowledge to advance social justice for themselves, their families, and their communities — despite the persistent inequities they face. Tides’ Advancing Girls Fund delivers equitable grantmaking for girls and young women of color and their allies by engaging their perspectives on resource distribution and programmatic investments.

  • A classroom of South Asian girls reading. Photo credit: Images of Empowerment

    Intersectional Grantmaking

    Adolescent girls and young women of color live at the intersection of multiple identities and social issues. Any solutions to support their health and well-being must also work at those intersections, which is why Tides reaches across geographies, environments, and cultures to build capacity and power.

  • A multi-racial lesbian couple and their daughter together on a fishing dock. Photo credit: Pexels

    Gender Inclusive

    We believe gender is self-determined and welcome cis-girls, gender-nonconforming youth, and transgender girls into our community. Tides’ Advancing Girls Fund defines girls as young people around the ages of 11–25 who identify as girls, as well as non-binary and gender-expansive youth.

  • A young Black girl painting. Photo credit: Pexels

    Systems and Services

    Tides invests in systems and services in parallel to support adolescent girls, young women of color, and their allies while they participate in long-term efforts to disrupt systems that create racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities.

  • Two young Latine sisters embracing.

    Multiyear Grantmaking

    Aligned donors pool their funds to power intentional grantmaking for girls of color and their allies, investing in their leadership, health, and well-being. While grants are currently annual, as the fund matures, our intent is to emphasize multiyear, general operating grants to organizations, programs, and strategies.

Grantee Stories

Three young girls wearing brown Radical Monarchs vests walking up the steps of City Hall which is decorated with rainbow Pride flags. Photo credit: Radical Monarchs, a Tides Advancing Girls Fund grantee Radical Monarchs logo
Three young girls wearing brown Radical Monarchs vests walking up the steps of City Hall which is decorated with rainbow Pride flags. Photo credit: Radical Monarchs, a Tides Advancing Girls Fund grantee Radical Monarchs logo

Headquartered in California with troops in Colorado, Minnesota, and New York, Advancing Girls Fund grantee Radical Monarchs creates opportunities for young girls and gender-expansive youth of color to form fierce friendships, celebrate their identities, and contribute radically to their communities. Monarchs earn badges by learning about social justice and self-empowerment through topics like Radical Pride, Radical Healing, and Radical Love.

Explore Radical Monarchs' Work

Help Tides Advance Girls of Color

For Funders

Support the Tides Foundation’s intersectional grantmaking efforts centering BIPOC girls and young women and their allies by donating below or contacting [email protected].

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