The Freedom Fund is a grantmaking organization which works to combat modern slavery around the globe. 1 As of June 2026, the Freedom Fund was working in Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Uganda, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. 2
The Freedom Fund was founded in 2013 as a joint effort between Humanity United, Legatum, and Walk Free. In 2014, The Freedom Fund began its first two programs focused on ending forced labor in India and Nepal. In 2015, the group expanded its programs into Ethiopia, Thailand, Kathmandu, and Tamil Nadu, and started taking legal action against governments and businesses that contributed to forced labor. 5
In 2018, it started the Child Labor Free Jaipur Initiative in India. In 2020, Freedom Fund began operations in Brazil and launched the Freedom Rising leadership program. In 2021, it received an $11 million grant from the U.S. State Department’s Program to End Modern Slavery (PEMS) for efforts in Ethiopia. In that same year it received a $35 million grant from Mackenzie Scott and launched a program in Bangladesh, created the Survivor Leadership Fund, and launched the Tariff Act Legal Fund. 5
In 2022, Freedom Fund expanded efforts into Kenya and Indonesia and in 2023 expanded efforts into Liberia and Nigeria. By 2023, the program claimed to have reached “$200 million in funding commitments.” 5
Partners
MacKenzie Scott
In 2021, the Freedom Fund received a $35 million grant from Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. It used that money to expand its operations in Kenya, Bangladesh, and Brazil. In 2025, the Freedom Fund once again received an unrestricted grant from Scott, this time for $60 million. Freedom Fund CEO, Nick Grono, stated that the grant would be used to invest in “survivor-led anti-slavery organizations and movements … ultimately shifting more power and resources to frontline groups.” 4
Corporate Accountability Lab
The Freedom Fund lists the Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) as one of its global partners. 6 CAL is a left-of-center nonprofit which pursues legal action against corporations that do not align with left-of-center ideologies surrounding labor policy, environmental policy, and LGBT issues. 7 In 2024, the Freedom Fund granted CAL $120,00 for the purpose of ending modern slavery. 3
Programs
Child Labor Free Jaipur Initiative
The Child Labor Free Jaipur Initiative was an effort by Freedom Fund from 2018 to 2022. The program aimed to stop children from dropping out of school or being trafficked from other states in India to work forced labor jobs in the handicraft and apparel industry in the northwest Indian city of Jaipur. The program was a combined effort from the Rajasthan state government, the Jaipur local government, businesses, funding groups, and trade unions in the communities where the child labor was happening. 8
Freedom Fund claimed that its efforts enabled the program to help free 2,233 individuals and bring 275 legal cases against workshops using child labor. The Freedom Fund also worked with local governments with support efforts for trafficked children after they were freed from the workshops. 8
Freedom Rising
Freedom Rising is a leadership program put on by the Freedom Fund. The program brings 50 leaders together for a one-year training program teaching how to build effective anti-slavery programs and connect these leaders with alumni around the world after the program has finished. The program was originally created for use in India but has been expanded into Brazil and Nepal. The program is done “in local context and delivered in local language to ensure accessibility for traditionally excluded groups.” 9
Anti-Trafficking in Ethiopia
The Freedom Fund began anti-trafficking efforts for women and children in Ethiopia in 2015. 10 The program built enough influence that in 2019, the U.S. State Department granted Freedom Fund $11 million, which it would receive through the year 2025, to help expand the programs. The program aimed to “measurably reduce the prevalence of domestic servitude amongst women and girls in Ethiopia and in the migration corridor in the Middle East.” 11
The Freedom Fund stated that it planned to achieve this by paying subgrantees living and working directly in those areas. The Freedom Fund argued this would best influence local governments to provide freed women and girls with support and reintegration services. 11
Elevate Grant
In 2022, the Freedom Fund launched the Elevate Grant, an unrestricted “one-time grant of $50,000 to partners that have demonstrated impact and integrity over multiple years in partnership with the Freedom Fund.” 12 The Freedom Fund argues this grant is important because it allows partner organizations to build their own financial stability and better support local operations. The grantees do this through updating employee systems, investing in income generating activities, increasing funding for grant proposals, and building legal aid and emergency relief funds for local communities. Since 2022, Freedom Fund has used this grant for 22 partners across Brazil, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. 12
Leadership
As of 2026, Nick Grono was the CEO of the Freedom Fund. Grono is an Australian activist and lawyer who served as Chief of Staff and national security advisor for then-Australian Attorney General Daryl Williams from 1999 through 2001. As of 2026, he worked an advisor for Global Witness and the McCain Institute. Before becoming CEO of the Freedom Fund, Grono was the CEO of the Walk Free Foundation, and COO of the International Crisis Group. He has also written a book titled How to Lead Nonprofits. 13
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$161,615,860
Number of Grants:102
Number of Funders:38
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$60,000,000
2025
MacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott made an unrestricted grant of $60 million to The Freedom Fund. We invest in frontline organisations and movements to drive a measurable reduction of modern slavery in high-prevalence countries and industries.
Mackenzie Scott and Dan Jewett made an unrestricted grant of $30 million to The Freedom Fund. This grant is part of the $2,739,000,000 in gifts to 286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked, and social sector infrastructure organizations that support them.
For developing a civil society-led coalition to advocate for market restrictions on forced labour-tainted products in major importing jurisdictions.
$1,205,255
2021
Oak Foundation
To protect and uphold the rights of children working in domestic servitude in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by challenging abuses against child domestic workers and creating ethical living and working conditions for them. This will be achieved by: positively influencing and reshaping the attitudes and behaviours of key stakeholders such as employers and employers' children; and strengthening community, government, and law enforcement bodies’ capacities and systems.
The grant aims catalyse greater enforcement of section 307 of the U.S. Tariff Act by supporting civil society organisations to carry out dedicated investigations to uncover evidence of goods produced with forced labour entering the U.S and provide this information as a petition to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). We believe that this trade mechanism holds significant potential in tackling forced labour in global supply chains. Specifically the grant will seek to expand the geographical scope of enforcement by funding investigations to collect evidence of forced labour goods being imported into the U.S. from around the world. By providing funding directly to local groups or via collaborative partnerships with Global North NGOs, the grants aims to support local stakeholders to be actively involved in submitting petitions to CBP, ensuring that the voice of those affected by forced labour are able to be heard and evidence collected is accurate and relevant to drive change and have a replication effect in other jurisdictions.
All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$76,118,092
Number of Grants:1,049
Number of Recipients:528
Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$1,938,394
2023
Justice & Care USA
The project aims ensure that Government, law enforcement, civil society and communities work collaboratively to act against internal child sex trafficking (CST). Justice and Care will work specifically with government officials, law enforcement agencies, Child Welfare Boards, Counter-Trafficking Committees, government shelter homes etc. to increase the identification of internal CST survivors and ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration. Justice and Care will conduct research to help inform government policies to counter internal trafficking. Justice and Care will also build the capacity of survivor leaders to shape program design, participate in advocacy and drive change from the community level.
$525,052
2024
Repórter Brasil Organização de Comunicação e Projetos Sociais
Repórter Brasil aims to combat slave labour in the states of Pará, Amazonas, Maranhão, and Bahia through integrated actions of education, research, and advocacy. The project includes the implementation of the "Slavery, No Way!" programme to educate and prevent the exploitation of slave labour, as well as conducting detailed research on the supply chains associated with slave labour in the Amazon. Strengthening laws, policies, and enforcement mechanisms is another objective, with the aim of increasing corporate responsibility in the timber and livestock supply chains in the region. Through these actions, the goal is to reduce the use of slave labour and empower vulnerable communities to protect themselves and advocate for their rights.
$499,898
2024
Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia
During this next phase of the project, DFW will continue working in Jakarta, North Sulawesi and Bali provi nces with the aim of improving labour protections for domestic fishery workers and seafood processing workers through: advocacy to national and provincial government for key regulations; supporting implementation of new regulations and processes to ensure workers’ rights are protected; engaging and educating fishery workers on the importance of organising; and increasing direct outreach to fishery workers to ensure that they are aware of their rights and can access information, case assistance and relevant government services; operating grievance mechanism called National Fisher Center (NFC) as hotline platform for workers in fishery an seafood processing workers.
$450,763
2021
Multiple EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC – AUSTRALIA, BRUNEI, BURMA, CAMBODIA, Recipients
DIRECT FUNDING OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI SLAVERY INTEVENTIONS
$399,939
2023
Labour Rights Foundation – Thailand
The project aims to build the capacity of Labour Rights Foundation’s (LRF) senior leadership and project management to increase its ability to address issues faced by migrant workers in the seafood industry in Thailand. The core component of this grant will be to support the salaries of new and existing LRF and Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) staff members to strengthen the organization’s capacity. LRF/MWRN currently has approximately two senior staff members and, during this grant period, the organization is seeking to hire a new director and support three management roles. From 2025 onwards, some of the junior officer positions will also be covered by this grant.
$391,280
2020
AGAR Ethiopia Charitable Society
The goal of this project is to reintegrate up to 350 women and children coming back from Lebanon. Depending on the vulnerability of the returnees , some will be in a position to be reintegrated with their families/communities, while others will need temporary shelter and residential care for mental and/or physical recovery and livelihood support. An agreed reintegration model with two main pathways – further detailed below – has been developed in partnership with AGAR. Both pathways will enable the provision of a range of services depending on the specific needs of women and children. AGAR will be responsible under this project to deliver on the reintegration pathways as per the agreed model.
$372,590
2020
Peace Trust
Peace Trust has been supporting 70 villages in three blocks in Dindigul District: Vedasandur, Dindigul and Nilakottai, to empower communities and prevent vulnerable adolescent girls from entering high risk work situations. In Dindigul District the textile industry is a vital source of income and employment, but some young workers face difficult situations. This new phase of work will build on the foundation Peace Trust has already established and will work to address risks of exploitative practices through: expanding work both at mill level and village level to support workers to form a dialogue with management to address their issues; outreach and support to migrant workers particularly in settlements; supporting action by local officials and district government departments; and tackling vulnerability within communities. Peace Trust will continue to work in 70 villages addressing the root causes of vulnerability and preventing adolescents from entering high risk employment. Peace Trust will enable community groups to federate to help make their work more sustainable. Grant ended and full amount not sent due to inability to send funds to India
$360,000
2024
Action Aid International Nepal
ActionAid Nepal will use this grant to: Unite representatives from agricultural bonded labor groups at local and national levels to demand an end to bonded labor in Nepal. Collaborate with the government to enhance systems and policies, ensuring access to justice, compensation, survivor support services, and resources. Mobilize and empower the Haliya and Freed Kamaiya communities, especially women and child laborers, to claim their rights and entitlements, thereby increasing their resilience against agricultural bonded labour.
$356,729
2023
AGAR Ethiopia Charitable Society
Agar Ethiopia has implemented various projects aimed at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable returnees and providing humanitarian support and reintegration. Following the learning from PEMS phase I and other projects, this initiative is designed to improve the life of returnees and survivors by providing comprehensive services to build their resilience and assist them with successfully navigating the labor market, and enhancing their self-employment capacity. This aims at allowing migrant to realize their full potential and improve their livelihoods in collaboration with stakeholders. Survivors will also be organized as survivor alliance to represent prospective migrants and trafficked survivors and contribute to amplify migrants’ voices, inform policy makers on the right of victims, survivors’ prevention, and response strategies.
$310,000
2023
Organization for Prevention, Rehabilitation and Integration of Female Street Children
The project will work to prevent and protect vulnerable girls from domestic servitude through influencing constructively the behavior of targeted key stakeholders including communities, recruiters and employers, and strengthen the enforcement action of government to reduce domestic servitude. Additionally, the project strives to liberate children trapped in abusive domestic household work and enable children to rehabilitate through shelter-based trauma-informed services and provision of basic education and life skill training. Finally, once the shelter-based rehabilitation process is successfully completed, target groups in the shelter will be sustainably reintegrated with their family and community.
$299,994
2024
Instituto Trabalho Decente
Through partnerships with government agencies and CSOs, ITD aims to create an integrated and coordinated space to address the conexion between environmental and labour issues. Its focus is on strengthening multi-sectoral public policies to combat modern slavery linked to illegal deforestation. To achieve this, the organisation will rely on interinstitutional collaborations and capacity-building initiatives for key actors in the field of environmental enforcement, providing them with knowledge to identify, prevent, and combat instances of slave labour.
$299,823
2024
Comissão Pastoral da Terra
The project by CPT Alto Xingu aims to combat slave labour in the Alto Xingu region, southern Pará. The main objectives are to raise awareness and train communities on the identification and reporting of slave labour, strengthen support networks between CSOs and public bodies, promote educational and preventive actions among workers, and expand activities to new vulnerable areas. The project seeks to reduce illegal exploitation and deforestation, promoting dignified livelihood alternatives and environmental protection in the Amazon.
$295,797
2023
Busara and Csi
This project, led by Busara in collaboration with Creatives for Social Impact(CSI) who are a collective of creatives, will address ingrained behavioral factors contributing to the social acceptability of child domestic work (CDW).Busara will conduct qualitative research activities inthe 4 NIA program Counties to identify specific behavioural barriers related to CDW. The findingswill then be used to design a communication strategy for the NIA program, aswell as multi-media campaign outputs. CSI will lead the co-design process and the development of the call-to-action campaign materials while Busara will lead the hypothesis development and measuring the effectiveness of the outputs. Successful strategies will be expanded to reach a larger audience, fostering a collective shift in perspective to reduce the social acceptability of exploitative child domestic work.
$276,991
2022
Instituto Alianca com o Adolescente
The project aims to provide the support girls at risk or victims/survivors of CSEC need to access services of the protection network and be included in the labour market, in a safe and sustainable way, overcoming their vulnerable situation. In addition, it seeks to build the capacity of frontline services to offer victims/survivors of CSEC comprehensive quality care methodologies.
$250,000
2024
Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative
In this program phase, IOJI will continue much of this important work. In particular IOJI will focus on: – Ensuring the regulations adopted under new law in Indonesia fully protections Indonesian migrant fishers, and is informed by workers themselves, unions and civil society at the national level – Advocate for informed regulations at the Central Java Provincial Government level, the province where most migrant workers depart from and most manning agencies operate from – Once regulations are adopted, provide guidance to the Labour Departmernt and inspectors on implementation of regulations both at the national level and Central Java provincial level – Coordinate a coalition of unions and NGOs to advocate to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant departments on strengthening the migration MoU with the Taiwanese government to improve migration experiences for Indonesian migrant fishers Internally, IOJI will strengthen their understanding of ensuring workers are at the centre of advocacy, as well as their own monitoring and program management systems.
$250,000
2021
Transparentem
GENERAL SUPPORT
$240,000
2023
Beza Posterity Development Organisation
This project will focus on providing shelter-based comprehensive service and sustainable reintegration services for Ethiopian female survivors of domestic servitude who have returned from the Middle East. It will pay high attention to the involvement of CSOs including survivor groups to ensure sustainable reintegration. The project will also emphasise supporting multi-sectoral responses to prevent unsafe migration by re-mapping the existing institutions, engaging concerned stakeholders, coordinating and strengthening the capacity of civil society actors to support the existing migration governance strategies and capabilities.
$234,300
2024
Inti Solidaritas Buruh
The aim of this project is the continued establishment of Kedungrejo as a ‘Friendly Village to Workers, Women and Children’ through close collaboration with local authorities and employers in the seafood procesing and fishing sectors. Specifically, this project aims to ensure workers in the seafood processing industry, fishers, and their families in Kedungrejo Muncar Village, Banyuwangi, have their basic rights fulfilled in order to create a decent life and working environment. ISB's interventions over the project period will strengthen the capacity of trade union organizations, education, and legal aid services, as well as through the mechanism of strategic litigation.
$231,972
2020
Women's Organisation in Rural Development
For the past five years WORD has been supporting 50 villages in Trichengoede and Komaraplayam Taluks of Namakkal District to | empower communities and prevent vulnerable adolescent girls from entering high risk work situations. This new phase of work will build on the foundation | WORD has already established and will work to address risks of | exploitative practices through: expanding work both at mill level and | village level to support workers to form a dialogue with management | to address their issues; outreach and support to migrant workers; | supporting action by local officials and district government | departments; and tackling vulnerability within communities. WORD | will continue to work in 50 villages addressing the root causes of | vulnerability and preventing adolescents from entering high risk | employment. WORD will enable community groups to federate to help | make their work more sustainable. Grant ended and full amount not sent due to inability to send funds to India
$230,000
2023
Investing in Children and Their Societies
The project will have complementary and mutually reinforcingactions that will be implemented at the child, household,community and policy levels to prevent children from getting intoCDW, and to increase protection and support for children indomestic work from abuse and exploitation. The project willmobilise children toformempowerment and change groups,support them to understand their rights and will equip them with lifeskills required for their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Theproject will provide positive parenting training to targeted families,connect them to economic support and social protectionprogrammes and support at risk children from these families toaccess educational and vocational training opportunities. Theproject will also work to equip government and community frontlineworkers with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to identifythose at risk and to provide required parenting trainings andservices for children in CDW and families.This project will beimplemented in Kisumu County, in two rural sub counties, Nyandoand Seme.
$225,796
2024
Serikat Buruh Migran Indonesia
The aim of the grant is to improve both the overall governance framework for migrant fishers at the Tegal and Pemalang district and village level whilst simultaneously strengthening the ability of migrant fishers and their families to both demand and claim their rights and better working conditions. Overall, SBMI aims to strengthen the ability for migrant fishers and their communities to access and claim their rights, particularly those mandated via national laws, that may not be implemented yet.
$225,000
2021
Polaris Project
GENERAL SUPPORT
$220,000
2021
THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGAL CENTER
GENERAL SUPPORT
$215,239
2020
Rights Education and Development Centre
For the past five years READ has been supporting 40 villages in Sathyamangalam, Gobichettipalayam, TN Palayam Block of Erode District to empower communities and prevent vulnerable adolescent girls from entering high risk work situations. This new phase of work will build on the foundation READ has already established and will work to address risks through: expanding work both at mill level and village level to support workers to form a dialogue with management to address their issues; outreach and support to migrant workers particularly four settlements in Perundurai Block; supporting action by local officials and district government departments; and tackling vulnerability within communities. READ will continue to work in 40 villages addressing the root causes of vulnerability and preventing adolescents from entering high risk employment. READ will enable community groups to federate to help make their work more sustainable. Grant ended and full amount not sent due to inability to send funds to India
$210,000
2023
Hope for Justice, Inc.
This project will focus on the rescue and restoration of 170 Child Domestic Workers (CDWs) aged between 7 and 17 in Addis Ababa. In partnership with the Addis Ababa Police, Burau of Women, Children and Social Affairs, and other CSOs with whom Hope for Justice (HfJ) has a MOU in place, HFJ will receive survivors of domestic servitude in its shelter. Children will be provided with holistic and psychosocial support and will ultimately be reintegrated with their families or linked with other alternative care options. CDWs will be phased out of HFJ programme after 2 years of sustained reintegration. HFJ will train 160 families with children at risk of human trafficking and modern slavery. HFJ will provide them with positive parenting skills and financial grants to economically most disadvantaged families so that they can support their children, enrol them to schools and meet their basic needs.
