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August 10, 2020

Ms. Foundation Receives $3 Million Grant From #StartSmall

MS. FOUNDATION RECEIVES $3 MILLION GRANT FROM #STARTSMALL

This funding will further support women and girls of color-led organizations, particularly in the U.S. South

NEW YORK (August 10, 2020) — This week, the Ms. Foundation for Women received a generous $3 million grant from #StartSmall led by Twitter and Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey to support women and girls of color-led organizations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am deeply gratified by this generous demonstration of trust-based support from Jack Dorsey and #StartSmall. This is what transformational funding to women and girls of color looks like,” said Teresa C. Younger, CEO & President of the Ms. Foundation. “We are thrilled to be able to move resources even more quickly to a field of leaders and community members who need the help right now.”

Since March, COVID-19 has spread across the globe, upending social and economic systems. It is no surprise that communities of color, particularly African Americans, are infected and dying at far higher rates than white communities. The deep fissures and inequities of U.S. systems could not be more exposed in the mirror of this devastating disease.

The Ms. Foundation has identified strategies that will rapidly increase funding and capacity building for individual women of color leaders and their organizations. We aim to serve as a bulwark against the extenuating safety, health, and economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic in the most under-resourced regions of the country by safeguarding the survival of organizations that build the power of women and girls.

Since 1973, the Ms. Foundation has invested over $65 million to build grassroots movements fighting for gender equity, particularly women of color around the country. The Ms. Foundation is determined to center the voices of women of color on the frontlines and bolster them through grantmaking, capacity building, policy and advocacy, leadership development, strategic communications, and political organizing.

To learn more about the Ms. Foundation for Women, visit here.

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The Ms. Foundation for Women transforms our democracy by building women’s collective power. Guided by a gender and racial justice lens, we resource grassroots movements that center women and girls of color, advance feminism in philanthropy, and advocate for policies that improve women’s lives across the country. Since 1973, we’ve opened up worlds of possibility for women and girls. But to finally achieve justice for all, we need you in our fight. ​Learn more and get involved at ForWomen.org.

#startsmall is Jack Dorsey’s philanthropic initiative to fund global COVID-19 relief, girls health and education, and efforts towards Universal Basic Income. Dorsey transferred $1 billion (28% of his wealth) to #startsmall in 2020.