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May 17, 2023

Ms. Foundation for Women Unveils Creating the Future We Deserve Campaign with $100M Fundraising Goal to Advance Gender and Racial Equity

Ruth McFarlane, Chief Advancement Officer, Alex Busansky, current Board member, and Suzanne Lerner, former Board member, announced the campaign and milestone goal on stage at the 2023 Women of Vision Awards in honor of the foundation’s 50th anniversary

NEW YORK, May 17, 2023 – Last night at the 2023 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power, the Ms. Foundation for Women marked the kick-off of their largest fundraising campaign, Creating the Future We Deserve, with a fundraising goal of $100 million over the next year. Ruth McFarlane, Chief Advancement Officer took to the stage to celebrate the foundation’s impact over the past 50 years and acknowledge the continued urgent need to provide for better safety, health, and economic opportunities for women and girls of color. 

Co-chaired by Alex Busansky, current Board member, and Suzanne Lerner, former Board member, Creating the Future We Deserve is the foundation’s boldest campaign to date that will accelerate the movements for gender and racial equity by providing support to grantee partners throughout the country to strengthen reproductive justice, improve economic security, and support equity and justice for all. McFarlane announced that the foundation was able to increase their fundraising goal from $50 million to $100 million thanks to Lucia Woods Lindley’s legacy gift of $50 million. Lucia was an early champion of the Ms. Foundation and chose the foundation as the sole beneficiary of her estate when she passed in 2020. She was a fervent philanthropist, photographer, and supporter of the Ms. Foundation. 

“We are honored to announce our groundbreaking campaign, Creating the Future We Deserve, which will empower grassroots organizations led by women and girls of color, expand the gender and racial equity movements, and scale effective, targeted philanthropy,” said Teresa Younger, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women. “We are so grateful for Lucia Woods Lindley’s generous leadership gift, which allows us to aim even higher with our fundraising goal, and for Sara Gould, who was a key partner in collaborating with Lucia. Our fundamental rights are increasingly under attack – but there is also a lot of meaningful work going on to combat these threats. Our trust-based funding model enables our organization to elevate the voices, power, and expertise of women who are on the frontlines of these fights and have the solutions their communities need. This campaign means we can support more grantee partners than ever before, building mutually accountable relationships and mobilizing the next generation of feminists.” 

The Women of Vision Awards is the Ms. Foundation for Women’s largest annual fundraising event, honoring feminist advocates, activists, and thought-leaders who ignite policy and cultural change. For the past fifty years, the Ms. Foundation has invested more than $90 million to build grassroots movements fighting for gender equity for women, particularly women of color around the country. Since its inception, the foundation has supported over 1,600 grassroots organizations throughout the country working for change on a grassroots level in order to build power and advance democracy. 

For more information about the campaign, please visit www.forwomen.org/future. 

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For 50 years, the Ms. Foundation for Women has shaped women’s philanthropy in the United States, providing a blueprint for the establishment of hundreds of local and regional women’s funds, influencing mainstream culture through nationwide projects such as Take Our Daughters to Work Day, and making grants totaling over $90 million to more than 1,600 grassroots organizations across the country. Through research, advocacy, and grantmaking, the Ms. Foundation is the national model for sustainable, trust-based philanthropic support of women’s movements. With equity and inclusion as the cornerstones of true democracy, the Ms. Foundation works to create a world in which the worth and dignity of every person are valued, and power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age. The Ms. Foundation will celebrate 50 years of progress and power at the Women of Vision Awards on May 16th, 2023 in New York City.