Before the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion leak hit the headlines — and the avalanche of legislation criminalizing safe abortion access arrived in states across the country — grassroots organizers were bracing for and fighting against the fall of Roe v. Wade.

The lesson here is clear: Local and state community organizing is happening, whether we fund it or not. But when we do provide necessary capital, in ways and at levels that are meaningful, we can all win.

The extreme right knows this well. The efforts we’re seeing to control bodies and communities are intentional and connected. This includes not only the gutting and now likely overturning of Roe, but legislation targeting transgender kids and teens, attacks on voting rights, and, possibly up next, the erosion of marriage equality.

These are all the result of decades of careful coordination, organizing, and fundraising to support local and state strategies, including a recent influx of money to conservative groups. This powerfully interconnected strategy has unquestionably paid off for those pushing extreme, unpopular, and harmful positions on abortion and other issues.

This moment demands that donors who care about equity, safety, and reproductive justice act quickly and decisively and that they embrace an intersectional approach to giving. That means stepping up funding for groups led by LGBTQ+ people and leaders of color who have worked for years with minimal support to lessen reproductive care gaps for all Americans.

Grantmakers cannot afford to continue funding in the same ways and hoping for different outcomes. If we want communities to build and not just defend, to dream and not just respond, to create powerful strategies for change and not merely pivot to or from the latest attack, foundations must invest abundantly in long-term grassroots organizing. Such work has always been and will always be the path to lasting change.

Read the full article about funding grassroots organizing by  Amoretta Morris and Dani Martinez at The Chronicle of Philanthropy.