Welcome to FreeFrom. We are a national survivor-led organization on a mission to build a world free from gender-based violence. A world where everyone is free to live to their full potential.
A WORLD FREE FROM VIOLENCE
Global strategies for building economic security for survivors
WHAT WE DO
SUPPORT SURVIVORS
We innovate with survivors to create tools, resources, and environments that offer support before, during, and beyond moments of crisis. Survivors can then build financial security to support their individual, intergenerational, and community healing.
Shift the narrative
We celebrate survivors’ stories of joy, resilience, and strength to open possibilities and counter the narrative that this is an unsolvable problem. Through our storytelling and research, we reframe gender-based violence and spur action toward solutions.
Drive systemic change
We mobilize powerful institutions—including banks, employers, and every level of government. We equip them with a roadmap for what they can do to support survivors and enact widespread change.
Resource and expand the Movement
We build survivors’ collective power, bringing more funding to the movement to end gender-based violence and creating sustainability for this work so that we can see through a 100-year strategy and create a world without gender-based violence (GBV).
SURVIVORS AT WORK
Data-backed insights and resources for survivor-supportive workplaces
WHO WE SUPPORT
Explore our programs and see how we can work together to drive change.
Gender-based violence is an economic problem. Together, we can end it.
It results from an imbalance of power—deeply rooted in society—and is a structural economic issue that intersects with and reinforces other systems of oppression.
$
104
K
Cost of GBV for a female survivor over her lifetime.
92
%
of survivors FreeFrom has reached have been subjected to economic abuse.
<
10
%
The financial well-being of survivors in our network ranks in the bottom 10th percentile when compared to that of adults in the U.S.
$
1,567
Survivors report needing an average of $1,567 to make ends meet and stay safe, but they report having only an average of $10 in savings and less than $300 that they alone can access.
Bottom line? Money is a tool of control. And the number one obstacle to safety for survivors is financial insecurity.
DEBUNKING SOME MYTHS…
MYTH
Gender-based violence is an extreme life-or-death moment of acute crisis that happens suddenly—and ends soon after.
FACT
There are millions of moments before and after a moment of acute crisis when gender-based violence occurs and survivors need support and resources. Gender-based violence doesn’t happen over days, weeks, or months. It happens over years, lifetimes, and generations.
MYTH
Gender-based violence is the result of bad luck, bad choices, or both, making survivors responsible for their own healing.
FACT
1 in 2 women and 1 in 2 transgender people experience gender-based violence in the U.S., This means that gender-based violence is a systemic issue, making all of us responsible to support survivors’ healing and safety.
MYTH
Gender-based violence is a private issue between two people. “It’s not my place to intervene.”
FACT
Gender-based violence is a societal problem that threatens all of our safety. A study of the role domestic violence plays in mass shootings found that in more than two-thirds of the cases, the perpetrator either killed a family member, killed an intimate partner, or had a history of domestic violence.
OUR IMPACT
$
5
MM+
disbursed to survivors in all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico through direct cash assistance, support building savings, and our social enterprise.
30
K+
people reached through our programs and resources.
500
+
nonprofit, corporate, government, and philanthropic partners in our network.
20
MM+
survivors living in states where we have helped to enact legislation that supports survivors’ financial security.
$
4
MM
FreeFrom’s reporting played a role in the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment of $4MM in new Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funding to direct cash assistance for survivors in FY23.
300
K
employees throughout the U.S. gained access to paid leave to deal with the consequences of abuse as a result of our advocacy for paid and protected safe leave.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
WATCH THE FILM
Watch TRAILER
SURVIVOR MADE
Boundless Possibilities Start with Survivor Healing: A Documentary about GIFTED and FreeFrom.
SURVIVOR MADE follows a group of survivors as they defy the odds – building their own thriving businesses in Los Angeles, lobbying for change in Washington D.C., and fighting to prove that investing in survivors saves lives.
Directed by Drew Denny and brought to you by executive producers Padma Lakshmi, Roxane Gay, Chase Joynt, Nava Mau, Debbie Millman, Alok Vaid-Menon, and Fawzia Mirza, SURVIVOR MADE is a call to action and the joyful film we all need to see. Witness how small acts of support can drive meaningful change, and discover your role in ending gender-based violence.
POLICY MAP AND SCORECARD
Learn more about how your state scores for survivor financial security with FreeFrom’s Map and Scorecard.
FROM OUR COMMUNITY