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March 27, 2026

Ms. Foundation For Women Announces 2026 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Community: Go. Be. Do.  

The nation’s oldest women’s foundation will recognize Tarana Burke, Pua Case, Girl Scouts of the USA, Fatima Goss Graves, Blair Imani, and Patricia Russo at the annual gala on April 28, 2026.

NEW YORK – Today, Ms. Foundation for Women announced the honorees for the 2026 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Community: Go. Be. Do. This year’s annual gala will take place at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York onApril 28, 2026 and will honor trailblazing grantee partners and inspiring feminist leaders who exemplify the core mission, vision, and values of Ms. Foundation, and are driving change across politics, media, and more to advance equity and justice for all. 

This year’s event marks the last Women of Vision Awards for President and CEO Teresa C. Younger, who announced she would be stepping down after 13 years of transformational leadership. The event will help raise funds for the organization, and this year’s theme, “Celebrating Community: Go. Be. Do.” is a powerful, parting call to action, an invitation to move with purpose, to embody our shared values, and to be encouraged and strengthened by community as we dream and march forward to realize our vision of a just and safe world in which the worth and dignity of every person are valued. 

This year’s Woman of Vision Award honorees include:

  • Activist, advocate, and author Tarana Burke, founder & chief vision officer of me too. International, for her 25 years of survivor-centered leadership in the movement to end sexual violence.
  • Grantee partner Pua Case, lead coordinator and project director of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness, a Native Hawaiian–led organization dedicated to protecting Mauna Kea and preserving Indigenous culture through education and advocacy.
  • Grantee partner Fatima Goss Graves, president & CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, a national advocacy organization advancing gender justice through litigation, policy, and cultural change.

This year’s Marie C. Wilson Award honoree is:

  • Author, historian, and creator of Smarter in Seconds, Blair Imani, whose work as a scholar and storyteller makes complex social justice conversations accessible to students, readers, and online audiences, and affirms the power of education as a tool for collective liberation. 

This year’s Free to Be You and Me Award honoree is:

  • Girl Scouts of the USA, for their work building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges

Patricia Russo, executive director of The Campaign School at Yale, will be the first recipient of the Teresa C. Younger Award, for her decades of work improving the quality of life for women in Connecticut, the United States, and the world, and driving women’s political equity. Given in honor of Younger’s strong legacy as the head of Ms. Foundation, this award institutionalizes the values that define Younger’s leadership: relational courage, intentional mentorship, institutional stewardship, and strategic transfer of power. It aims to lift up leaders whose work profoundly influences the movements that transform the lives of women and their communities. 

“This year, we are proud to honor a group of amazing women who exemplify what it means to harness our power and fight to protect our rights in the face of relentless opposition,” said Teresa C. Younger, president and CEO of Ms. Foundation. “Our honorees are extraordinary and I couldn’t imagine a better group to celebrate at my final Women of Vision Awards. Tarana Burke, Pua Case, Girl Scouts of the USA, Fatima Goss Graves, Blair Imani, and Patricia Russo are doing essential work to advance equity and justice for all. I am touched by the creation of the Teresa C. Younger Award, and could not be more thrilled to honor Patricia Russo with this distinction. It has been a true privilege to lead this esteemed organization and I look forward to supporting the vision of its next leader and following their continued incredible work in the fight for equity and inclusion.”

The evening will be hosted by Danielle Moodie, host of iHeart’s #WokeAF Daily, co-host of the Daily Beast’s The New Abnormal and #democracyish, and Ms. Foundation board member. Singer, songwriter, recording artist, and humanitarian MILCK will perform live during the ceremony, and DJ Mary Mac will deliver a special after party set following the awards. 

The Women of Vision Awards is Ms. Foundation for Women’s largest annual fundraising event, honoring feminist advocates, activists, and thought leaders who ignite policy and drive progress. Since its inception, Ms. Foundation has invested more than $100 million to support over 1,600 organizations across the country and strengthen the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural, and economic change for all.  

Previous Women of Vision honorees include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, Congresswoman and Ms. Foundation board member Lateefah Simon, Academy Award-nominated director Ava DuVernay, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, former Editor-In-Chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth, filmmaker and activist Lynda Carter, the co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington, marketing executive Bozoma Saint John, fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg, Sheila Nevins of HBO Documentary Films, Suzanne Lerner of Michael Stars, and Jennifer and Peter Buffett on behalf of the NoVo Foundation.

For more information about the event, please visit forwomen.org/gala.  

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For more than 50 years, 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 and campaigns, and making grants totaling over $100 million to more than 1,600 grassroots organizations across the country. Through research, advocacy, and grantmaking, Ms. Foundation is the national model for sustainable, trust-based philanthropic support of women and gender-expansive people of color-led movements. With equity and inclusion as the cornerstones of true democracy, 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.