Yes we can! These three words have become immortal. A young black man, against all odds, against all expectations, used these words to place himself into the most powerful position in the world. Yes we can. Barack Hussein Obama is now President of the United States and any child of the South, any person who grew up as I did, can only contemplate that fact with awe tinged with disbelief. Yes we can!

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when their backs are against the wall. Obama won the presidency but he did not win it alone. He won it because throughout this country people of goodwill, people of passionate belief, people who aimed for a brighter future, worked and organized and made an unlikely reach for power. Yes we can.

In 1998, when Southern Partners Fund was founded as a public foundation, the idea that a black man, a former community organizer no less, would one day be President was, literally, unthinkable. No one even imagined it. What we did think, and continue to think today, was that grassroots community organizers could create a foundation; could come together; could raise funds; and could, collectively, decide which indigenous endeavors deserved support. Community people could become the decision makers, community people, people who worked from the ground up, could decide who got help and who did not. Yes we can!

It has been more than ten years and SPF is still here, still growing strong and still planning, and strategizing and thinking and dreaming about where we go from here. Can we stay strong? Can we stay focused? Can we stay independent? Yes we can. Can we have an impact on justice and fairness in this society? Can we strengthen our communities? Can we help this President strengthen our country? Yes we can.

What does SPF need to do to reach these goals? What part does it need to play? I think the answer is simple. Not easy, but simple. We need to do three things. Increase our fundraising, increase our giving and increase our capacity building.

I believe a fundraising goal of half a million dollars is realistic and attainable. We do good work, we have a compelling story and we need to bend all our efforts towards getting that message out to increase the monies we raise. As we raise money we need to increase our giving. If we reach an annual fundraising goal of half a million dollars we could turn around and give away at least that. Giving money away is, after all, our purpose and every dollar we give away strengthens our communities and strengthens us. Finally, in addition to dollars, we need to give of ourselves—our expertise, our judgment, our contacts. We need to partner with every organization we fund to help them build their own capacity, their own structures, their own fundraising.

We welcome you to join us, in the ongoing fight for social change!