The Fund for the Me Too Movement and Allies
The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts (WFWM) has announced a spring grant cycle to fund organizations that are working to fight sexual violence in Western MA. Funding for this grant cycle is made possible by a grant that the WFWM received from The Fund for the Me Too Movement and Allies (the Me Too Fund), housed at the New York Women’s Foundation.
Joining the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, The Women’s Foundation of California, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota in this work, WFWM will carry out the Me Too Fund’s goal of ensuring ongoing philanthropic investments toward transforming the oppressive systems that produce structural inequalities of power that result in harassment and violence by making grants from this fund in and for our local community.
“The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts is proud to have been selected to partner with The Fund for the Me Too Movement and Allies to support organizations devoted to preventing, and interrupting sexual violence in Western Massachusetts as our recent research report has shown, over 82% of the perpetrators of sexual assault were known by their victims/survivors. This funding will allow us to focus on preventing such assaults and reducing this staggering statistic,” declared Donna Haghighat, WFWM CEO.
Applications will be accepted from women-and girl-serving organizations in all four counties of Western MA starting on March 1, 2020 and the deadline to submit applications is 5 P.M. on April 30, 2020. Projects funded by this grant from WFWM must focus on prevention and/or intervention of sexual violence and harassment.
The Me Too Fund prioritizes the needs of under-invested communities of women, girls, and gender non-binary populations of all ages. Examples include, but are not limited to survivors of sexual violence, women and girls of color, Native/Indigenous individuals, older adult women, women and girls involved or formerly involved in the criminal/juvenile justice systems, individuals with disabilities, immigrant and refugee women and girls, and homeless or transient women. WFWM values the Me Too Fund’s prioritization of these communities and mirrors these priorities by seeking to empower people of all marginalized identities, especially women and girls.
Because WFWM also values participatory grantmaking, an approach to funding that cedes decision-making power about grants to the community members impacted by the funding decisions, a committee of sexual violence survivors, advocates, and allies from across Western MA has been selected to review and recommend grant awards. Applications will be reviewed in April and decisions announced in late May for June funding. WFWM expects to fund at least one program in each of the four counties of Western MA and awards will be in the $5,000 to $10,000 range.
Read more. Apply now.
For questions about this grant opportunity,
please contact Monica Borgatti at (413) 529-0087 x114.
About The Fund for the Me Too Movement and Allies
In 2018, The New York Women’s Foundation, in partnership with Tarana Burke, launched The Fund for the Me Too Movement and Allies (the “Me Too Fund”) with a specific focus on supporting the activists, leaders, and advocates in the ‘me too’ movement and allies. The Fund has a community-centered approach and supports programs and initiatives that are working on the prevention and elimination of sexual violence and harassment and the healing of survivors and victims.
