Sarah Haacke Byrd
Credit - Aurora Rose—While billions of dollars are donated to charitable causes every year, less than 2% are dedicated to organizations that focus on women and girls. Women Moving Millions aims to change that dynamic. Since its founding in 2007, the organization's members have donated more than $1 billion to nonprofits that support women and has set a new goal of donating an additional $1 billion over the next five years, says CEO Sarah Haacke Byrd.
Byrd joined WMM in 2018 after serving as managing director of the Joyful Heart Foundation, where she led a campaign to end a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits in police storage across the U.S. Under her leadership, WMM has supported initiatives ranging from health care equity to climate change, focusing on how these issues affect women and girls. Members have also helped fund films that promote women's rights, including the 2024 Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill A Tiger, which told the story of a father's fight to prosecute the men who sexually assaulted his 13-year-old daughter in rural India.
In 2023, WMM members donated $157 million, with 85% of members donating more than their initial pledge of $1 million, with a median increase of $3 million. 'My passion is building a really strong, connected funding system for the movement for women's rights,' Byrd says. 'Our role is to ensure that their voices and perspectives and needs are heard.'
Contact us at letters@time.com.
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