We made it to a new year.
Out with the old and in with the new, as the saying goes.
But in our case? Out with old fascism and in with the new feminism.
Every January, like so many of my fellow feminists, I crack open a brand new notebook and whisper a little prayer that this will be the year I finally get my life together. That I’ll finish The Artist’s Way, and do my morning minutes. That I’ll sign up for that pottery class. That I’ll complete the sweater I started… two years ago.
But if there is one thing that stayed with me, it’s that individual willpower is a fragile myth. And that when things get hard (which they did and inevitably will), the only real answer comes from us choosing one another.
You and communities across California showed us last year exactly what that looks like. People gathered in the streets with a righteous anger and subversive hope that made me believe in democracy again. Seven hundred people in LA trained with La Defensa to Court watch, transforming courtroom after courtroom. Parents and neighbors walked kids to school to shield them from ICE, turning simple morning commutes into acts of collective protection.
This is what it means to refuse fascism in real time: not just with slogans or headlines, but in the everyday acts of collective safety.
And this is the work we carry with us into 2026 at Women’s Foundation California. Not the fantasy of individual transformation or of a couple of brooding billionaires, but the transformation of shared power.
When we invest in intersectional feminist leadership, from survivor advocates to cultural strategists to youth visionaries, we’re doing something astonishingly necessary: we’re investing in hope, and building the future amidst crisis.
So if you want to begin the new year with a commitment that feels like both a spell and strategy, make a New Year’s gift to Women’s Foundation California or one of our incredible grant partners.
It’s one of the clearest, most beautiful ways to fight fascism and fund the feminist future that’s already taking shape around us. And you don’t even need to open that new notebook.
Here’s to a year of collective courage, half-finished sweaters, and the kind of hope that doesn’t ask permission.
We’re grateful for you. We’re building with you. And we’re not going anywhere.