FreeForm

Mission

Lever for Change Equality Can't Wait Awardee

In our society, we think of intimate partner violence (IPV) as being the result of bad choices, bad luck or both. In actual fact, the number one obstacle to survivors' safety is financial insecurity. Survivors are so financially devastated by the harm they experience that they are left out of the political arena, out of organizing spaces and out of our economy. Our failed approach to the problem perpetuates the shame and silence that prohibits survivors from building collective power and influence. In partnership with thousands of survivors across the country, sharing their stories and data, FreeFrom will build an ecosystem of long-term support for survivors that includes their banks, credit card companies, health providers, and employers. We will reframe our society's understanding of the problem as a structural economic issue through federal and state laws. And, we will create spaces in which survivors can grow collective economic power.

Launched in June 2020, Equality Can't Wait was a $40 million challenge to fund solutions to help expand women’s power and influence in the U.S. by 2030. The Challenge was hosted by Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’ investment and incubation company — with additional support from MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. Five-hundred-and-fifty (550) proposals were submitted to the competition and were evaluated using four criteria: Whether the proposals were transformative, innovative, equitable, and feasible. The Equality Can't Wait Idea Lab features top projects from all submissions, as selected by a panel of experts and peers. Five Awardees were announced in July 2021: Four received $10 million each (Ada Developers Academy; Girls Inc.; Native Women Lead; National Domestic Workers Alliance), and one received $4 million (FreeFrom).

Organization Information