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All women should live with safety and security, economic independence, and control over their own bodies.
No person should ever be subject to gender-based violence or harassment at home, in the workplace or their communities. Yet, these patterns of harm are common-place for women* in the United States today—particularly Black, Indigenous and other women of color, gender-nonconforming people, transgender women, people with disabilities, and women struggling to make ends meet.
Eliminating these threats to women’s safety requires shifting cultural beliefs and systems that normalize acts of violence and harassment. Greater safety for women also comes with shifting systems of power, providing early education about violence prevention, and building a strong social safety net so that women and children experiencing violence can find safety.
Through our work with our partners, we center these strategies as we seek to prevent and push back against a culture that enables violence and the systems that reinforce or uphold it across a range of institutions.
96%
Of survivors of violence believe that they should be the ones to decide whether and to whom they report violence and harassment. This includes the choice to not rely on law enforcement. (Source)
257
Incidents of fatal violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people over the last eight years. Sixty-six percent of victims were Black trans women. (Source)
73%
Of survivors of violence report financial insecurity as the reason for staying with their abuser. (Source)
6 in 10
Americans who know of Title IX, a law prohibiting high schools and colleges from discriminating based on sex, believe that the policy has had a positive impact on gender equality in the U.S. (Source)
What We Do
Prevention is at the core of eliminating violence and harassment for good. By challenging the enduring cultural norms through which violence and harassment are deemed acceptable, we can begin to break and ultimately prevent cycles of abuse. That is why we aim to use a systems-change approach that supports shifting narratives around violence and abuse in schools, in the media and through policymaking.
We are also working to ensure that no woman needs to compromise her physical or emotional safety for the sake of survival. As part of this work, we support structural changes to how violence is prevented, knowing that women of color and transgender people in particular are often harmed when they access systems such as law enforcement, which can trigger unjust arrest and incarceration, immigration detention, or child protective services.
Our Approach
We are working to advance greater safety for women and communities through violence prevention, public discourse, culture change and policymaking that support structural changes to how violence is addressed and prevented.
Engaging youth
We invest in opportunities for the prevention of all forms of violence by engaging youth with the tools and information they need to foster healthy interpersonal and community relationships.
Supporting survivor-led narrative and culture change
We assist narrative and culture change efforts led by those affected by violence to shift understandings of violence from a private and interpersonal issue to a public health issue that can be solved.
Advancing advocacy and systems change
We partner with organizations interrupting cultural norms and systems of power that perpetuate violence against women and create alternative systems of safety and security.
Our Grantees
Our partners lead programs and initiatives that work to ensure women can live safely, independently and without fear. Learn more about their strategies to advance safety and security.
View more grantees in our Gender and Reproductive Equity Grantmaking portfolio
Ending Violence Against Women and Children
Futures Without Violence (FUTURES) provides groundbreaking programs, policies and campaigns that empower individuals and organizations working to end violence against women and children around the world.
Supporting Survivors
By approaching intimate partner violence as an economic issue connected to other forms of oppression, FreeFrom is building an ecosystem of support to ensure that survivors have the resources to get safe, heal and prevent future harm.
Creating a Future Free From Violence
'me too.’ centers individual and community healing and transformation, empowerment through empathy, shifting cultural narratives and practices and advancing a global survivor-led movement to end sexual violence.
GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT
Collective Future Fund: Supporting Survivor-Led Movements
The Collective Future Fund (CFF) is a donor collaborative that makes grants to transformational movements led by survivors, BIPOC women, girls, trans and non-binary people of color, that address the root causes of violence, push for structural change, and bring about collective healing. We interviewed CFF to learn more about their approach to anti-violence work and what they are learning from the field.
*Our Terminology
We support every person's right to define their gender identity. For the purposes of our grantmaking and shaped by Schusterman's commitment to equity, our definition of “women” includes cisgender women, transgender women, femme-identified people, and gender-nonconforming people.