We thank MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett for their very generous grant to the Freedom Fund. Their generosity will be transformative for some of the most vulnerable communities and individuals in the world.
Modern slavery cripples the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide. At its heart, it is about power: those with disproportionate power being able to use it to illegally force and coerce those who don’t have it.
The solution lies in redressing these power imbalances. To achieve this, we believe and invest in the effectiveness of local grassroots organisations – which are trusted by vulnerable communities, understand the issues they face, and can, therefore, work alongside these communities to empower them. These frontline organisations are best placed to challenge power imbalances, and build equity and hope for survivors and communities who have faced oppression.
However, while partnering with grassroots organisations is one of the most effective ways to achieve large-scale and sustainable change, to many donors they are a challenge, demanding time-intensive input, capacity building, and a high degree of risk. This is one reason why community organisations have been denied all but a small fraction of philanthropic investment. This generous gift will help address that.
Specifically, it will enable us to deepen our investment in some 100 frontline partners; better understand and build sustained liberation into our work; develop and support women and survivor leadership and movements at the grassroots level; and tackle the systems of slavery by supporting people to take remedy through the legal system, when possible.
We thank MacKenzie and Dan for their trust in our vision, our work and our frontline partners.
About:
The Freedom Fund is a leader in the global movement to end modern slavery. We identify and invest in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent. Partnering with visionary investors, governments, anti-slavery organizations and those at risk of exploitation, we tackle the systems that allow slavery to persist and thrive.