Every August, for the past 13 years, the Ms. Foundation for Women has arrived on the Vineyard to build community alongside those committed to social change. This year, the event took place on Tuesday, August 18, at the Grange Hall.
“When our founding mothers — Gloria Steinem, Patricia Carbine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Marlo Thomas — established the Ms. Foundation in 1973, they introduced the then-revolutionary idea that women themselves could provide leadership, support, and solutions to the most pressing issues our country faced. Since then, we have evolved with the larger feminist movement and continue to move culture, policy, and society in new and positive directions,” says the foundation’s statement.
The Ms. Foundation strives to shift narratives and alter public conversation that includes gender and racial equity, and to amplify voices of people and communities often not heard. It achieves its mission and goals by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements.
Its work covers an array of grant-making initiatives, including but not limited to: Birth Justice; Building Connection; Girls of Color; Ms. Midwest; Ms. South; and more. The organization’s 2025 annual report states that the Ms. Foundation for Women distributed $7,608,500 in direct grant-making.
A diverse group of people from various industries, geographical locations, races, and ages were present at the event at the Grange this year. Outgoing President and CEO Teresa C. Younger and incoming President and CEO Tracy Sturdivant shared updates and insights about the Ms. Foundation’s work as it enters a period of transition.
Sturdivant joined pioneering legal scholar and advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the term “intersectionality” and has fundamentally changed how we think about race and gender. Sturdivant and Crenshaw sat down for a conversation about women’s philanthropy, building allyship and changing culture, and the power of intersectionality. The conversation also included a discussion about Crenshaw’s book “Backtalker.”
The event was well-attended, and the conversation included discussions around the gender justice movement; the slashed funding that many organizations are experiencing under the current administration; hits on our democracy; connecting the dots of history to current events; the importance of speaking up and refusing to shrink, accept, or hide; and much more.
The evening ended with a Q and A session. Several hands shot up. The questions ranged from what plans there might be for women across races to work on project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation; STEM programming for girls and the loss of millions of dollars in funding; re-skilling women who have been fired and displaced due to cuts; issues related to having to hide words like “women,” “girls,” “race,” and “gender” when applying for grants; and more.
Though these cuts and real-world struggles are the reality for many people and organizations working in the social justice arena, the message was clear: Building women’s collective power can change communities.
If you would like to learn more about the Ms. Foundation for Women and help support them, visit forwomen.org. Follow the foundation on social media: facebook.com/MsFoundationforWomen and instagram.com/msfoundation.
