Ms. Foundation for Women

Background

Girls and Women of Color

Since the 1970s, the Ms. Foundation has specifically focused on issues associated with women’s safety, women’s health and abortion access, and economic issues for women. Since December 2019, the organization has shifted its in focus to promoting political leadership among women and girls of color. ⁴ In 2019, Ms. Foundation launched a five-year plan to invest in and expand the political power of women of color. ⁵

In 2020, Ms. Foundation created a report entitled “Pocket Change: How Women and Girls of Color Do More With Less,”⁶ which claimed that philanthropic organizations and donors often bypass women and girls of color. ⁷ The report is designed to be used as a baseline to guide donor activity and encourage donors to give more to organizations that focus on women and girls of color. ⁶

Activist Collective Fund

Ms. Foundation created the Activist Collective Fund in January 2020⁸  to unify advocacy organizations and increase investments in let-of-center social advocacy organizations that are led by and for women and girls of color, including indigenous and transgender women and girls. ⁴ In May of 2020, the Activist Collective Fund awarded grants totaling $275,000 to 15 organizations led by women and girls of color. ⁸

Ms. South

In December of 2020, Ms. Foundation created Ms. South, a multi-year grantmaking strategy that focuses on women and girls of color in the southern region of the United States. In conjunction with the Foundation’s “Pocket Change” report findings, the Foundation focuses its grantmaking efforts on organizations led by women and girls of color in the American South, citing a lack of existing support in the region. ⁹

Ms. Action Fund

Ms. Action Fund (MAF) is the 501(c)(4) lobbying and electoral arm of the Ms. Foundation formed in early 2020. MAF was created to further the work of the Ms. Foundation and its partners,¹⁰ to give the Ms. Foundation an ability to engage in left-of-center political organizing and lobbying efforts,⁵ and to focus on integrating political policy strategies with the Foundation’s advocacy work. ¹¹

Shift in Investing

When Younger joined Ms. Foundation in 2014, she did not believe that the Foundation’s assets in its endowment were in sync with its mission. Years later, she oversaw a strategic review, which decided that the Foundation would specifically focus on women and girls of color, rather than women and girls in general. ¹²

In 2020, the foundation made three private investments, one of which included a 10-year real estate fund that invests in affordable housing across the U.S. The second investment was a venture fund that is led by an African-American woman who invests in small- and medium-sized enterprises that are focused on African American and Latino populations. ¹²

Political Activities

Ms. Foundation released a statement on November 5, 2020, two days after the 2020 elections, congratulating then-President-elect Joe Biden and then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory. The foundation emphasized that Harris would be the first African American person, the first Asian person, and the first woman to ever serve as Vice President ¹³

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020, Younger expressed her disdain for the Republican Party in filling Justice Ginsburg’s seat with then-appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett, claiming that party was trying to erase Ginsburg’s liberal legacy. ¹⁰

Immediately after the 2024 presidential election, Ms. Foundation expressed its disappointment in the victory of Donald Trump. But it also expressed support for other results. The statement read in part:

“We share our profound appreciation and gratitude to every organizer, volunteer, and community leader who knocked on doors, got out the vote, and poured their energy into modeling what democracy looks like. Your efforts have not been in vain. Seven out of 10 ballot measures protecting abortion rights passed. For the first time, two Black women will serve simultaneously in the Senate. Delaware made history in electing the first openly transgender woman to the U.S. House of Representatives. We will take a moment to heal, rest, practice self-care, and then we’ll get back to work.” ¹⁴

In November 2024, after the election of President Donald Trump, the Ms. Foundation deliberated how it could take “an intersectional approach to the issues that women and other marginalized communities face if key parts of Project 2025 are implemented.” The group said it would “doubling down on our commitment to movement building and justice and equity.” An article speculated that the group would try to target white women in its messaging and encourage them to vote more to the left in future elections like nonwhite women had. ¹⁵

Leadership

Teresa Younger has acted as the president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation since 2014. She is a member of the Democracy Frontlines Fund’s Brain Trust. Younger was previously the executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and the executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut. In 2023, Younger received a total of $335,646 in compensation from the group. ^{16 17}

In October 2025, Younger made the decision to step down as president and CEO of the group. She announced that her transition would be called Project Stargazing, which she described as “a chance to pause, dream, and realign. To look up at the constellations and imagine new possibilities,” adding, “Too often, women—especially women of color—aren’t given space to dream. This moment is about reclaiming that space, for me personally and for the institution I’ve had the privilege to lead.” Younger also claimed, “we’re currently witnessing relentless rollbacks of human rights and mounting threats to democracy. The backlash is real. But as history shows, people push back hardest when progress is being made. That resistance is proof that our work matters. It means we’re shifting what’s possible.” Younger said she would step down in June 2026 after her replacement is appointed. ¹⁸

As of October 2025, Charlene Gipson was the board chair of the Ms. Foundation. She is a lawyer and an immigrant from Jamaica and Canada. She resides in New Orleans. ¹⁹

Financials

According to Ms. Foundation’s 2023 tax returns, the group had $12,224,028 in revenue, $15,205,918 in expenses, and $58,910,756 in net assets. ¹⁶

In August 2020, Ms. Foundation received a $3 million grant from #StartSmall LLC, ²⁰ created by Twitter and Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, in relation to his initiative to fund global COVID-19 relief. Dorsey’s grant was specifically meant to target organizations led by women of color. ²¹

Funding

Ms. Foundation has provided grants to over 100 organizations since its creation, totaling over $54 million,²² that are focused on granting access to abortions, providing affordable or free childcare, and creating childcare jobs. ²³ During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Foundation provided its grantees with emergency support, including funding for mental health support. ³

Ms. Foundation has provided grants to left-of-center organizations that support and provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood, the National Network of Abortion Funds, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, and Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health. ²⁴

The Foundation also utilizes donor-advised funding, which enables donors to use the Foundation’s expertise to recommend grants to charities that fit the donors’ interests. The Foundation currently provides at least two donor-advised funds, including the Oma Fund, which came from the Dickler Family Foundation and is focused on international abortion access,²⁵ and the Asian Women Giving Circle (AWGC). ²⁶

Notable grants in 2023 included $100,000 to Este Poder, $110,000 to the Freedom Center for Social Justice, $62,5000 to NEO Philanthropy, $100,000 to Period, Inc., $85,000 to Provide Inc. (formerly the Abortion Access Project), $100,000 to SisterLove Inc., $100,000 to the Southern Birth Justice Network, $100,000 to the Afiya Center, $100,000 to the Trans Latin Coalition, $100,000 to the Trans Women of Color Healing Project, $130,000 to Women With A Vision, and $120,000 to the Yellowhammer Fund. ¹⁶

Ms. Foundation donated $50,000 to the Arabella Advisors-managed group the New Venture Fund. ¹⁶ The Arabella network has been described as a “dark money” network where large left-of-center megadonors can discretely fund projects which have been described as little more than “pop up” groups and which can appear and disappear as needed. The donations are made through the managed groups and once the money is donated, it is difficult to track. ²⁷