The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, also known as the National Council, is a left-of-center organization that advocates the abolition of incarcerating women. ¹ The group was founded in 2017 and advocates for reducing the female incarceration rate through policies such as clemency for certain groups of women and decriminalization of sex work and drugs, and through working with law firms, training activists, and holding the FreeHer Conference. ²

Positions

The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls website calls for “ending incarceration of women and girls” without qualification, which the group calls the “the FreeHer theory of change.” ^{1 2} The organization’s website states its position clearly: “We are abolitionists. Prison reform isn’t our thing. We’re ending the incarceration of women and girls.” ³

In 1999, according to the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, females accounted for 2.1 million violent offenders. ⁴ In 2023, there were almost 2,000 female murder offenders in the U.S., about 10 percent of all murder offenders but 17 percent of all serial murderers. ^{5 6}

Financials

In 2023, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls reported $6,431,862 in revenues and $5,029,553 in expenses, with $10,174,242 in assets and 36 employees. ⁷

The National Council accepts donations through ActBlue Charities, a pass-through organization created to facilitate donations to left-of-center nonprofits which is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the 501(c)(4) nonprofit ActBlue Civics and 527 political action committee ActBlue. ⁸

In 2022, the National Council reported a $1 million donation from the New Venture Fund, for “civil rights, social action, [and] advocacy.” ⁷ The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) funding nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center advocacy projects and serves as a fiscal sponsorship organization, providing support for other left-of-center organizations during their initial incubation period. ⁹ The New Venture Fund is the largest nonprofit of five created and managed by Arabella Advisors. ¹⁰

In 2023, the National Council reported receiving $4,027,950 from Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund (Fidelity Charitable), the largest public charity and the first commercial provider of donor-advised fund (DAFs) in the United States, holding over $56 billion in assets under management as of 2023. ^{11 12 13}

In 2022, the National Council reported receiving $1,065,000 for “public safety” from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), a left-of-center grantmaking organization with almost $11 billion in assets. ^{7 14}

People

Andrea James is the executive director for the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. ⁷ James claim to have “dedicated her life’s work to ending incarceration of women and girls.” ¹⁵ James previously founded Families for Justice as Healing, a group connected with its sister organization Sisters Unchained, part of the National Participatory Defense Network. ¹⁵

1. The National Council. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.nationalcouncil.us/.
2. “Our Work.” The National Council. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.nationalcouncil.us/the-national-council-formerly-incarcerated-women-programs.
3. “Clemency.” The National Council. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.nationalcouncil.us/clemency.
4. “Women Offenders – Bureau of Justice Statistics.” Bureau of Justice Statistics. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/wo.pdf.
5. Korhonen, Veera. “Murder in the U.S.: Number of Offenders by Gender 2023.” Statista, November 7, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/251886/murder-offenders-in-the-us-by-gender/#:~:text=Published%20by%20Statista%20Research%20Department,where%20their%20gender%20was%20unknown.
6. “Female Murderers in History: Serial Killers & Criminality.” Gale. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/womens-studies/collections/murderers-in-history.
7. “The National Council for Incarcerated an D.” Cause IQ. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/the-national-council-for-incarcerated-an-d-formerl,813980673/.
8. Willis, Derek. “How ActBlue Became a Powerful Force in Fund-Raising.” The New York Times, October 9, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/upshot/how-actblue-became-a-powerful-force-in-fund-raising.html.
9. “New Venture Fund.” Cause IQ. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/new-venture-fund,205806345/.
10. Rojc, Philip. “Big Builds: A Look inside Arabella Advisors.” Inside Philanthropy, January 14, 2020. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/1/14/big-builds-a-look-inside-arabella-advisors.
11. “Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.” Cause IQ. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/fidelity-investments-charitable-gift-fund,110303001/.
12. Lange, Evan. “The History of Donor Advised Funds.” The Signatry – Biblical Generosity through Donor Advised Funds, October 24, 2023. https://thesignatry.com/blog/daf-history/.
13. “Giving Report.” Fidelity Charitable. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/content/dam/fc-public/docs/insights/2024-giving-report.pdf.
14. “Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).” Cause IQ. Accessed December 15, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/silicon-valley-community-foundation,205205488/.
15. “End Incarceration of Women and Girls.” Andrea James. Accessed December 16, 2024. https://www.andrea-james.com/projects.