2024
Women’s Initiatives
In 2024, the SFIF board – which changes its area of focus every year to benefit a wider range of causes – decided to make women’s issues its category for the year. The 11 members of the board, all of whom are great-great-grandchildren of media pioneer E.W. Scripps, conducted preliminary research and quickly narrowed the focus to combatting the effects of domestic violence. The board then solicited grant applications from high-quality nonprofits throughout the country before selecting three finalists to showcase to the full Scripps family.
Committed to making a meaningful difference in vulnerable lives, the Scripps Family Impact Fund (SFIF) announced that it granted a total of more than $2 million to three organizations that provide safety and relief to women who are affected by the scourge of domestic violence.
“It’s been an honor to be associated with the Scripps Family Impact Fund through its first six giving cycles, but it was especially moving to be part of the effort this year.
It’s disheartening to know that there is so much need for such a preventable circumstance, but we were all inspired by the amazing work of the applicants who provide life-changing services for so many women.”
– Jonathan Scripps, board Co-Chair
The recipients of grants this summer include:
Women Helping Women, which provides evidence-based prevention and expert crisis intervention and support services for survivors of dating violence, sexual violence, domestic violence and stalking in Southwestern Ohio. The grant of $513,000 exceeded their funding request.
The Joyful Heart Foundation, started by Mariska Hargitay of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, paves the way for innovative approaches to treating trauma; igniting shifts in the way the public views and responds to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse; and reforming and advancing policies and legislation to ensure access to justice for survivors. SFIF fully funded their grant application with an award of $533,000.
The Sundari Foundation is the Miami-based umbrella organization associated with the National Women’s Shelter Network and Lotus House, the largest homeless women’s shelter in the nation. The National Women’s Shelter Network is a growing national network of women’s and family shelters and safe-haven programs dedicated to advancing the status of women experiencing homelessness, the majority of whom are victims/survivors of domestic violence, to end and prevent homelessness. The Scripps family fully funded their grant request with an award of $1,034,000.
$2,080,000
Total contribution this year
“The 10 family members of the SFIF board have developed a really nice rhythm in our first half decade of giving.
We make yearly tweaks and adjustments to our process, and each time it seems the improvements are evident in the quality of the applicants and the support of the family. That will be especially important in 2024 as we turn our attention to supporting women’s issues, especially the victims of domestic violence. We expect this focus area to generate a great deal of interest from family members.”
– Jaime Scripps, board Co-Chair