Envisioning
an Abundant Movement
Tools, data, and vision to boldly build a future free from gender-based violence
Please be advised that these resources contain mentions of gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, economic abuse, trauma, workplace discrimination, job loss, and harm. As you engage with these resources, we encourage you to take care of yourself in whatever way that is comfortable to you and to seek support as you see fit.
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Survivors have always been visionaries. We’ve built safety where none existed, turned isolation into community, and transformed systems with our courage, creativity, and care.
We know what it takes to end gender-based violence because we’ve lived through it, healed through it, and led through it. We envision a future where the movement honors survivors, resources survivor leadership, and trusts survivors. A future where survivors are thriving abundantly and are shaping policy, designing solutions, leading organizations, and are supported beyond crisis.
In 2022, 1,115 survivors across the country working in the movement to end GBV shared with FreeFrom what is possible for the future of this movement and what it will take to create a movement where we all flourish.
What you’ll read below is a culmination of data, experiences, and vision shaped by what participants shared with FreeFrom through this project. This vision will require everyone in our society to play a role in ending GBV, including funders, who have a unique opportunity to invest in bold, survivor-led solutions. When funding aligns with our vision—flexible, long-term, and rooted in trust—it unlocks transformation. Investing in a survivor-led movement is the path forward.
When survivors are centered, not just as participants, but as the heart of this work, we build a movement that is sustainable, powerful, and unstoppable.
We invite you to explore the reports and guides on this page to learn more, take action, and join us in building a future where all survivors thrive.
KEY INSIGHTS
In a previous study, FreeFrom found that 1 in 2 service providers reported being a survivor.*
This project builds on our prior findings to learn more about the valuable knowledge, experiences, and expertise of survivor service providers that we must include in the movement to end GBV.
Kirkley Doyle, Pamela Guerra, and Sonya Passi, Prioritizing Financial Security In The Movement To End IPV: A Roadmap, FreeFrom, July 13, 2021, https://bit.ly/PFS-report; Service providers working in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Dream Services and Programming for Survivors
Direct, unrestricted, cash grants
“We need to trust that survivors – like all people – are experts of their own situation and should be trusted to use emergency funds in the way that they or their family needs it most. And that means without having to disclose what that looks like, either before or after spending. Certainly not requiring them to ‘prove’ how they spent the money.”
— Survivor Service Provider
Safe, affordable, permanent housing
“Shelters/Transitional Housing that are designed like apartment buildings with no forced exit date, with safe, individual spaces that allow survivors to begin building back their life in their own way and on their own time line.”
— Survivor Service Provider
Holistic well-being support, such as free or affordable mental health services and alternative healing options
“I wish we could consistently provide access to therapy, even when survivors are no longer being served by their program. Survivors need consistent therapy with a therapist that they mesh with, and to have that relationship severed for external reasons or because a survivor can’t pay once they are not receiving services does not help long term recovery.”
— Survivor Service Provider
Financial Security for Service Providers
Top Challenges:
- Insufficient wages
- Vicarious trauma
- High turnover rates
82%
reported that greater financial security for staff would be very impactful for their organization’s ability to effectively support survivors’ financial security
48%
reported that their salary impacts their desire or ability to continue working at their agency
Higher pay, shorter work weeks, and benefits that include comprehensive health care would be huge. We’ve all gone through so much and it’s so unsustainable to expect 40-50 hour work weeks with pay that isn’t enough to pay the bills, let alone have leisure and healing which we deserve too.
— Survivor Service Provider
Meaningful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies and Practices
The implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and practices strongly influenced survivors’ desire to remain with their organizations.
Survivors observed that organizations that prioritize diverse staffing had higher levels of client trust and engagement.
Our agency is dedicated to furthering the dismantling of white feminism at the core of the anti DV movement, and has engaged in intentional anti-racism work over the past few years to better serve clients and our community, and this is something that aligns with my own personal values and has high importance in my life and adds job satisfaction for me.
— Survivor Service Provider
Trust-based Funding
~60%
On average, survivor service providers report that almost 60% of their agency’s funding comes from the government
47.4%
of survivor service providers said that they could think of a time when funding restrictions or requirements got in the way of getting a survivor something that they needed
Top changes to funding:
- Provide more flexible, unrestricted funding to meet survivors’ needs
- Support living wages for staff
- Offer long-term grants
Flexibility is so important. Trust programs to know what the agency and survivors need and to be good stewards of the funds to best meet those needs.
— Survivor Service Provider
The time to act is now. Survivors are leading the way. Let’s follow their vision—and fund it fully.
VIDEO
VIDEO
INSIGHTS AND RESOURCES
Key Insights
Review key findings about the experiences of survivors working in the movement to end GBV and their vision for the future.
Experiences and Recommendations from Survivors Working in the Movement
Dive into the data behind our research into survivor service providers and their vision for the future of the movement.
Funding with Trust: A Data-Driven Approach to Supporting a Survivor-led Movement
We invite funders to imagine—and invest in—a gender-based violence (GBV) movement that is survivor-led, sustainable, and thriving.
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EVENTS
JUL
15
Centering Survivor Wisdom: Building the Movement We Deserve
5-6:30pm PST
A space for decision makers and movement leaders to reflect on survivor-informed recommendations and explore ways to transform workplace practices, culture, and accountability.
JUL
23
Holding the Vision: A Space for Those Shaping the Movement
1-2:30pm PST
A community space for anyone working in the movement to end gender-based violence to connect, reflect on what survivors are calling for, and explore how we can build a more abundant and survivor-informed movement.
Thank you to every survivor who participated.
We are immensely grateful to the survivor service providers whose valuable expertise and insights guided our work and shaped the development of these resources.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Prioritizing Financial Safety
Trust Survivors
Ending GBV
Survivors Know Best
Survivors at Work
Contact Us
CONTENT WARNING
Please be advised that these resources contain mentions of gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, economic abuse, trauma, court appearances, police, workplace discrimination, job loss, and physical harm. As you engage with these resources, we encourage you to take care of yourself in whatever way that is comfortable to you and to seek support as you see fit