IP Briefing: What's Going on With Philanthropy for Violence Prevention?

In a sentence: Violence is a massive problem in the United States, and though philanthropy supporting efforts to prevent it has long been scant, funding in this area is growing and evolving.

What’s Going On

“Whether we’re talking about gender-based violence, sexual violence, child abuse or gun violence… the presence of violence is insidious, pervasive and imbedded” in the United States, wrote Katherine Don in IP last month. Yet Don reported in our State of American Philanthropy paper on the topic that violence prevention is perennially underfunded.

Still, this area of philanthropy is growing and evolving. Funders are increasingly combining support of longstanding approaches — like services and shelter for survivors of domestic violence — with newer methods to address the root causes and end cycles of violence via cultural change, healing and community engagement. Progressive funders especially are heeding the calls of grassroots movements to prioritize community-based solutions.

High-profile social movements to end gun violence, sexual violence (#MeToo), and police violence have drawn more attention to these issues, and funding for violence prevention has increased slowly but steadily in recent years.

Violence prevention philanthropy intersects with giving for criminal justice reform, gender equality, safety, and community development.

Thanks to the powerful analysis put forth by grassroots movements, some funders are increasingly supporting intersectional, holistic approaches to violence prevention, focusing not on punishment but on what actually creates safe communities.

By the numbers

Funding for crime and violence prevention accounts for about 1% of institutional grantmaking in the United States, we found in our paper for the State of American Philanthropy.

Key funders

Community foundations have historically provided the lion’s share of private funding for violence prevention, with locally focused programs supplementing government efforts. Prominent examples include the Chicago Community Trust and the New York Women’s Foundation.

Other private funders are increasingly getting involved, especially through programs related to criminal justice reform and ending police violence.

Notable private funders of violence prevention efforts include the Joyce and MacArthur foundations, as well as the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the California Endowment, and the Blue Shield of California Foundation.

There are several collaborative funds in this space. Working on gun violence prevention are the California-focused Hope and Heal Fund, with donor partners including the Akonadi, Heising-Simons, and Horizons foundations, and the national Fund for a Safer Future. The Collective Future Fund supports organizations working to end gender-based violence, with donor partners including Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Open Society Foundations, and the Hilton and Nathan Cummings foundations.

Among major donors, Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, is a leading funder in the gun violence prevention space. David Bohnett, better known for giving for LGBTQ issues, also gives significantly for gun violence prevention. MacKenzie Scott has made large gifts to groups working to end violence, including the Collective Future Fund and Futures without Violence. Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz have both given in this area through independent philanthropic organizations focused on justice reform.

Corporate funders have tended to stay away from the politicized area of gun violence prevention, but some have given significantly toward efforts to end domestic and interpersonal violence, including the Allstate, Mary Kay Ash and Avon foundations.

New and Notable

Mike Scutari recently interviewed Ellen Alberding of the Joyce Foundation, one of the founders of Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, a funder collaborative focused on community-based strategies to reduce gun violence in Chicago.
Philanthropies including the Ford and MacArthur foundations, Emerson Collective and Arnold Ventures are participating in the Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, a public-private initiative announced by the Biden administration last summer as part of a strategy to combat violence through community-based approaches.
Healing Together, a new program funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation, is working to end domestic violence by engaging men and focusing on healing, gender justice and racial equity.

Food for Thought

“We would love to see more attention and funding for rethinking the purpose of prisons. We believe that how a person is treated while incarcerated has a direct bearing on how that person will reenter his or her community. Too often foundations and other donors don’t consider the importance of prison reform.” — An anonymous fundraiser in response to a survey conducted by IP in 2020, here

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