Groundswell Fund Announces Yamani Yansá Hernandez as Its Next CEO

Seasoned Organization Development Leader Takes Helm as Groundswell Enters Its 20th Year

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Groundswell Fund announced that Yamani Yansá Hernandez, who brings over 25 years of experience in organization development, executive leadership, and reproductive and healing justice, will be its next CEO.

"As the new CEO of Groundswell Fund, I am excited to harness the power of my lived experience and identities to create a world where a multi-racial feminist democracy becomes a reality," said Hernandez. "This work is sacred and has lineage - Groundswell started as an intervention to interrupt the status quo in philanthropy. I am ready to ask funders and thought leaders in the philanthropic sector to give more than they think they can do."

Hernandez comes to Groundswell Fund having served as its interim CEO for the past year. Under her leadership, Groundswell Fund distributed $15 million in funding to 252 organizations representing 49 states. She brings experience cultivating a values-aligned and embodied community rooted in racial, economic, gender, reproductive justice, and the politics of care to the organization during this transition.

As a former partner at the Management Center, Hernandez coached some of the country's most respected social justice leaders. In 2015, she became the National Network of Abortion Funds' first Black executive director. She led the organization through one of the worst anti-abortion presidencies, a global pandemic, and racial justice uprisings. She grew the member technical assistance and advocacy organization for 100 grassroots organizations from a team of 12 to 60 staff and a budget from $2M to $20M. 

"Yamani comes to Groundswell Fund at a critical time in our twenty-year history," said Kimberly Inez McGuire, Chair of Groundswell Fund's Board of Directors. "Yamani's experience as a former Groundswell grantee to now heading one of the largest funders of reproductive justice affirms our commitment to cultivating leadership from the movement, for the movement. We look forward to Yamani's fresh perspective on philanthropy and building on the legacy of Groundswell's work to resourcing grassroots organizing and centering women of color."

Hernandez takes the helm as CEO at a time when Groundswell Fund is expected to exceed its Blueprint goal of moving $100 million to grassroots organizations by 2025.  As 2024 promises to be a critical year in the fight for reproductive justice and a multiracial democracy, Hernandez intends to build on the work of the reproductive justice movement and notes in a video,"It's not just about abortion. We are focused on making sure that people who give birth can do so and stay alive, funding places like the South and the Midwest, areas that are the most impacted by the attacks on trans youth, reproductive oppression, and gender-based violence, and honoring these communities as the experts on creative radical interventions for liberation."

Hernandez uses she/they pronouns, is a Black, Queer, intersex, child sexual assault survivor from the Midwest. She has had an abortion, a miscarriage, and has two children. Hear directly from Yamani in a newly released video here.

About Groundswell Fund
Groundswell Fund strengthens U.S. movements for reproductive and social justice by resourcing intersectional grassroots organizing and centering the leadership of women of color – particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, and transgender.

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SOURCE Groundswell Fund