Ten Years
of Impact
A World Free From Gender-Based Violence Is Possible
Explore FreeFrom’s 10 Year Impact Report Explore 10 Years of Impact
Gender-based violence — which includes physical, sexual, psychological and financial harm perpetrated against someone because of their gender — affects more than 1 in 3 U.S. women and 1 in 2 transgender adults.
FreeFrom is the largest provider of direct cash assistance to survivors of gender-based violence and a leading advocate for survivor economic security.
To mark ten years of work, FreeFrom set out to measure its impact, surveying hundreds of survivors and interviewing systems change and field influence partners.
The findings confirmed what FreeFrom has always believed:
the problem is complex, but the solution is simple, and it starts with economic security
freefrom’s IMPACT
AT-A-GLANCE
The solution starts here: direct, unrestricted cash grants and savings support for survivors — no proof required, no strings attached. Survivors decide what they need, and their voices and stories inform everything FreeFrom builds. This is ten years of that trust in action.
$10MM
disbursed to survivors in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico through direct cash assistance, savings support and FreeFrom’s social enterprise, GIFTED (through 2026).
disbursed to survivors in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
$26.7M
disbursed to survivors through local, state and federal cash assistance initiatives based on FreeFrom’s work.
1,247
bills have been introduced
across 49 states in support
of survivors’ financial
stability
221
bills have been passed
across 39 states to protect
economic security for
survivors
44.8MM
survivors are now living in states where FreeFrom has helped enact survivor-supportive legislationy
40K+
survivors, advocates and partners reached through FreeFrom’s
programs and resources.
550+
nonprofit, corporate,
government and philanthropic
partners in FreeFrom’s network.
9,600+
survivors surveyed across
multiple time points to
inform FreeFrom’s programs and research.
13
reports integrating both
quantitative and qualitative data
from survivor experiences.
“The fact that FreeFrom just believed me and offered financial support directly to me (not direct to my landlord or utilities) was wild to me! It felt like they didn’t just want me to survive — they wanted ME to THRIVE!”
— Survivor
Since engaging with FreeFrom…
93%
of survivors have
strengthened their
physical safety
93%
of survivors have
strengthened their
psychological safety
88%
of survivors have
strengthened their
financial safety
94%
of survivors have
strengthened their
social connections
93%
of survivors have
strengthened their
collective power
Financial support also opened doors in other areas of survivors’ lives.
Survivors credit FreeFrom’s programming for helping them:
Find stable
employment and
access healthcare
95%
Pursue education
93%
Access mental
health support
92%
Secure housing
91%
Cash gives survivors a foundation.
Lasting safety requires all of society to play a part.
FreeFrom’s Theory of Change makes the case for
how this work gets resourced and scaled.
theory of change
FreeFrom’s Theory of Change, shaped by ten years of work alongside survivors, rests on four pillars: investing directly in survivors’ financial well-being, activating everyone to play a part, building survivors’ collective power and changing the narrative and culture. Each pillar reinforces the others.
At the center is FreeFrom’s Crisis to Thriving Framework, which maps what survivors need across five domains of well-being, at every stage of the path from crisis to thriving. It’s how FreeFrom measures impact, designs programs and defines what success actually looks like.
The result: survivors thrive across generations, and systems uphold survivor safety by design.
Learn MoreThis is what ten years of trusting survivors has built.
Crisis to Thriving
Framework
For too long, “not being in active harm” was considered success.
FreeFrom works with survivors to boldly rewrite this definition of success. The Crisis to Thriving Framework maps five stages — from crisis, where immediate safety is at risk, through stabilizing, rebuilding and strengthening, all the way to thriving, where survivors have the safety, resources and power to flourish on their own terms. Progress isn’t linear, it looks different for each survivor and different kinds of support is needed at different moments across each stage.
Learn MoreThriving
The Five Domains
of Well-Being
Survivors gain the economic freedom and resilience to meet needs, make choices, and build a secure future through safe and stable access to income, credit, savings, and assets. This includes being able to build and pass on generational wealth, supporting long-term security and stability for themselves and future generations
Survivors are safe and live free from harm, with access to quality healthcare, housing and support systems to protect themselves and their children or dependents.
Survivors experience healing and emotional safety, and have the support to recover from harm and pursue growth and joy beyond healing. Survivors are resilient and have the coping skills to navigate setbacks, periods of crisis and changing circumstances.
Survivors form trusted relationships, build community and belonging and access support systems that reduce isolation and foster connection.
Survivors build power together, take on leadership roles in their communities and use their experiences and expertise to support others, shape systems and create lasting change for survivors and their communities.
“FreeFrom is the reason why I was able to secure safe housing and cover emergency medical procedures after fleeing an unsafe living situation recently. When almost everyone else ignored me, FreeFrom showed up.”
— Survivor
8 valued
ways of working
what survivors are saying
about how FreeFrom worked with them…
1.
Provided financial support with no
strings attached
2.
Trusted me without requiring me to justify or explain my situation
3.
Treated me with dignity and without judgment
4.
Helped me see my financial situation as a result of harm, not personal failure
5.
Helped me reduce my feelings of shame or guilt about my financial situation
6.
Support came from people who understood my experience firsthand
7.
Created spaces that centered care,
joy and belonging
8.
Connected me with other survivors who understood my experience
direct cash to survivors was once dismissed as impractical. FreeFrom built the evidence that changed federal and city policy.
Systems and Field Influence
FreeFrom’s work extends into banks, workplaces, statehouses and beyond — changing the systems survivors depend on every day.
this work builds the survivor-led movement needed to create a world free from
gender-based violence
In 2021, FreeFrom launched the National Survivor Financial Security Policy Map and Scorecard, a living resource that maps state laws
and gaps and gives advocates tools to act.
Since the launch of the Policy Map and Scorecard:
1,247
bills have been introduced across 49 states in support
of survivors’ financial
stability
221
bills have been passed
across 39 states to protect
economic security for
survivors
44.8MM+
survivors are now living in states where FreeFrom has helped enact survivor-supportive legislation
$26.7MM
has been given to survivors through local, state, and federal
cash assistance initiatives based on FreeFrom’s work.
315K+
employees in the U.S. now can get time off of work
to deal with the consequences of abuse.
235,000
credit union members have access to survivor-informed
banking services as a result of FreeFrom’s training on economic abuse.
49 of 50
states have introduced legislation to advance survivor financial security.
34
bills related to coerced debt protections has been introduced since 2021 across 17 states.
9
In 2021, coerced debt protections existed in just 1 state.
Today, 9 states have enacted them.
18
States improved accessibility to the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
by adding exemptions and removing administrative
barriers for survivors.
Number of bills passed by state since the launch
of FreeFrom’s Policy Map and Scorecard…
“Without FreeFrom, I don’t think we would’ve had the understanding of the impact of financial abuse. And I know we wouldn’t have had the language, the dream, the hope, the vision of what building wealth looks like for survivors. Hands down.”
— Nonprofit Leader, National Domestic Violence Services
The Next
Chapter
Ten years in, FreeFrom knows what works. The next chapter is about scale and the goal is simple: more survivors out of crisis and a world rebuilt around care.
1.
Normalize and mainstream cash as a population-level solution to ending GBV that has widespread philanthropic and local, state and federal government support.
2.
Grow the FreeFrom community to 1 million people and counting.
3.
Make survivor-centered policies a permanent fixture in political agendas.
4.
Build a robust mutual aid network of survivors supporting each other and building collective power.
5.
Use storytelling and narrative change to make living in a world without gender-based violence irresistible.
Thank you for believing that a world
without gender-based violence is possible
and worth building.
