Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE) is one of the organizations nominated for the 2026 AMCF Women’s Giving Circle cycle. A member of the Circle put their name forward, and the organization went on to successfully complete the application. We publish a feature on each nominee so that voting members know who they are choosing between, and so the wider community can see the range of Muslim-led work our members put forward.
RISE amplifies the voice and power of Muslim women through leadership development, civic engagement, and storytelling. Founded by Muslim women in the Twin Cities, RISE began its work in 2015 and became a registered 501(c)(3) in 2016. It exists so that women in its community, particularly Black, brown, immigrant, and refugee women, are seen and recognized for the work they are already doing, and so their stories are told by them, not about them. Its vision is a future where Muslim women are connected to one another, reflected in the stories told about their communities, celebrated for their contributions, and emboldened to lead.
Storytelling at the Core
Storytelling has always been at the heart of RISE. Through Muslim Sheroes of Minnesota, a community-nominated series honoring women who are creating change, taking risks, and addressing injustice, RISE has featured 37 women. Through its Expressions Narrative Project, it has published 64 personal narratives from Muslim women, from activists and artists to professors and elected officials, each rooted in their own experiences, ideas, and voices.
Together, this work has reached more than 2.5 million people, with more than 19,000 subscribers across RISE’s platforms.
For RISE, storytelling is about more than visibility. It is about documenting history and making sure the experiences of Muslim communities are not erased or told only through someone else’s lens. Its storytelling responds to what the community is living through: the Black Herstory series lifts the voices and experiences of Black Muslim women, RISE has made space for Palestinian women to speak for themselves in a time of profound loss, and it has documented the experiences of Somali community members in Minnesota facing heightened immigration enforcement.
These stories now reach well beyond RISE’s own platforms. Muslim Sheroes of Minnesota is part of the Minnesota Historical Society’s permanent collection and has become a PBS LearningMedia educator guide. Next, RISE is bringing these stories to print, with its first Muslim Sheroes book set to launch in early 2027 at its annual Muslim Women’s Leadership Conference.
Building Economic Power and Whole-Person Leadership
RISE’s work does not stop at telling women’s stories. It wants Muslim women to have the resources, relationships, and opportunities to build power in their own lives and communities.
Its Small Business Incubator and Accelerator helps women take an idea from possibility to launch while supporting established entrepreneurs as they grow. Its broader Economic Empowerment Series offers workshops on investing, homeownership, and other needs identified directly by the community.
For RISE, leadership development also means caring for the whole person. It hosts an annual wellness retreat, and when a tragedy, a policy change, or a moment of collective fear shakes the community, RISE creates space for people to come together, heal, and process what they have been through.
Showing Up When It Mattered Most
This year showed why that foundation matters. When heightened immigration enforcement came to the Twin Cities and Muslim families faced fear and disruption in their daily lives, RISE responded with what it does best. It organized know-your-rights trainings, hosted in-person and virtual spaces for the community to connect and process together, and provided rapid-response support for basic needs, including rent and utility assistance, so families who were afraid to leave home would not also lose everything while they waited it out.
That response was possible because of years of trust and relationships, including through RISE’s civic engagement program, which has trained more than 25,000 women, reached more than 215,000 people with candidate voting guides, and helped pass nine RISE-backed bills into Minnesota law.
Since then, RISE has been strengthening its infrastructure, expanding its civic engagement work, and building deeper mutual aid networks so it can meet whatever moment comes next. In its own words: “This is who we are: Muslim women in Minnesota building leadership, voice, and economic power, together.”
Why We Are Featuring RISE
RISE is on this list because a Women’s Giving Circle member nominated them and they completed the application. That is the whole reason, and it is the point of the Circle: the organizations we fund are chosen by our members, not selected for us.
What RISE has built is a decade of trust: storytelling that preserves community history, programs that build economic power, and relationships deep enough to mobilize when families need help most. That kind of work depends on patient, sustained funding rather than one-time gifts. Whether it receives this cycle’s funding is now a decision for the Circle’s voting members.
How the Women’s Giving Circle Decides
The AMCF Women’s Giving Circle pools the giving of Muslim women and decides together where it goes.
Members who give $5 or more during a cycle can nominate one organization. Voting members, who give $420 or more per cycle or $35 monthly, vote in two rounds: the first narrows the nominees to five finalists, and the second selects three grantees. This cycle’s grantees will be announced on December 5.
Meet all of the 2026 nominees and see the full range of work our members put forward this cycle.
Join the Women’s Giving Circle, or upgrade to voting membership, so the choice between these nominees is partly yours.
You can also learn more about RISE at revivingsisterhood.org, follow them on Instagram, or give to them directly at revivingsisterhood.org/donate.