Girls for Gender Equity

What Girls for Gender Equity does

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2000-2001 in Brooklyn, New York, by Joanne N. Smith. The organization operates through a Black feminist lens and uses an intergenerational "three-legged stool" model combining direct-service youth programs, policy advocacy, and narrative/culture change work to advance gender and racial justice for Black girls and gender-expansive youth of color. Its core service portfolio includes the Young Women's Advisory Council (YWAC) for ages 16-24, Sisters in Strength (SIS) for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, the Youth Speakers Bureau, and JustUs (a gender-responsive juvenile diversion program), alongside national advocacy vehicles such as the National Agenda for Black Girls, the Survivors' Agenda Initiative, and the 100 School Districts Project with the National Women's Law Center. GGE convenes the Youth Services Provider Network (100+ NYC youth organizations) and the Young Women's Initiative coalition (200+ service providers and youth).

Underlying technology is limited to standard nonprofit digital infrastructure: a WordPress-based website, email newsletter (5,000+ subscribers), organic social channels (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube), a Medium blog, and a podcast. The organization does not develop proprietary technology products; its core "products" are programs, advocacy campaigns, and published guides such as Hey Shorty! (2011).

Revenue is generated entirely through donations and grants, with documented streams including individual giving via website donate calls-to-action, government funding (e.g., five-year NY State funding for Urban Leaders Academy in 2006, NY State education grants in 2010), and foundation support (Open Society Fellowship, 2000). All youth-facing programs are free for participants; there is no commercial pricing model. Geographic reach is concentrated in New York City with state-level and federal advocacy extending the policy footprint nationally.

Name

Girls for Gender Equity

Legal name

Girls for Gender Equity

Website

https://ggenyc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Girls for Gender Equity is a Brooklyn-based 501c3 nonprofit that centers Black girls and gender-expansive youth of color through youth programs, policy advocacy, and culture-change work in NYC and nationally. It generates revenue via donations and grants, offering all programs free to participants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth advocacy and gender equity services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Social Assistance (624), Child and Youth Services (62411)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAD)

Keywords

• Gender equity advocacy
• Youth development programs
• Community organizing services
• Policy advocacy nonprofit
• Healing justice programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: GGE accepts individual donations through its website, with a prominent 'Donate' call-to-action throughout the site.
2. Government and Foundation Grants: GGE has received government funding including five-year state funding for Urban Leaders Academy (2006), NY State education grants to replicate programs in additional schools (2010), and was awarded the Open Society Fellowship in 2000.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) is a nonprofit organization that operates youth-centered direct service programs (Young Women's Advisory Council, Sisters in Strength, Urban Leaders Academy, JustUs), conducts policy advocacy at NYC, NY State, and federal levels, and runs national narrative/culture change initiatives such as the National Agenda for Black Girls and the Survivors' Agenda Initiative. All programs are provided free to youth participants and funded through donations and grants.

Product overview

Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) is a nonprofit organization that operates a portfolio of youth-centered programs and advocacy initiatives rather than a unified technology product. The organization offers two active core youth programs: Young Women's Advisory Council (YWAC) for ages 16-24 and Sisters In Strength (SIS) for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Additional programming includes The Unspoken Standard Podcast for media engagement and the Youth Speakers Bureau for alumni. GGE also runs national advocacy through A National Agenda for Black Girls (NABG) and the Survivor's Agenda Initiative, and convenes the Youth Services Provider Network for collective advocacy. The organization previously operated the Urban Leaders Academy after-school program and JustUs diversion program, and has published advocacy materials including the Hey Shorty! guide and the 100 School Districts Project with the National Women's Law Center.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Young Women's Advisory Council (YWAC): Launched in 2015, a program centering cisgender and transgender young women and gender-expansive youth of color ages 16-24 in New York City to inform institutional change.
• Sisters In Strength (SIS)
• National Agenda for Black Girls (NABG)
• The Unspoken Standard Podcast

Products and services

• Young Women's Advisory Council (YWAC) A youth council for NYC-based cisgender and transgender young women and gender-expansive young people of color ages 16-24. YWAC engages young people in informing institutional change through expert testimony, policy recommendation development, and organizing for transformative change.
• Sisters In Strength (SIS) A survivor circle for youth survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their allies. SIS introduces girls of color to community organizing and leads survivor-centered healing justice approaches in the movement to end gender-based violence, sexual violence, and child sexual assault.
• Youth Speakers Bureau A program engaging GGE Program Alumni to deepen critical analysis around social justice issues. Participants work in groups to study and address criminalization of Black youth, education justice, and healing and gender justice.
• Youth Services Provider Network (YSP) A convening network launched in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, holding monthly calls for over 100 youth service organizations throughout NYC as a forum for mutual support and collective advocacy.
• JustUs A gender-responsive diversion program for cisgender and transgender girls and gender nonconforming young people ages 15-20 with ties to Brooklyn who are involved or at high risk of involvement in the juvenile legal system, launched in collaboration with Rising Ground's STEPS to End Family Violence.
• A National Agenda for Black Girls (NABG) A national advocacy initiative launched in 2019 bringing the needs of Black girls to the national stage and amplifying their voices in the 2020 presidential election and beyond, focused on six key policy areas: immigration justice, education justice, reproductive justice, access to democracy, ending gender-based violence, and passing a Black Girl Bill of Rights.
• Survivor's Agenda Initiative A collective initiative developed in partnership with peer anti-violence organizations and the me too. Movement to ensure survivors shape the national conversation on sexual violence. Includes the Survivors' Agenda Youth Track that GGE developed and led at the 2019 Survivors' Summit.
• 100 School Districts Project A call to action launched with the National Women's Law Center for school districts across the country to address sexual harassment through inclusive policies and practices, including an accompanying student toolkit.
• The Unspoken Standard Podcast A podcast hosted by GGE's youth organizers that explores healthy relationships and the realities young people face, covering topics including consent, addressing gender-based violence, and resources for support.

Quantifiable outcome

• Won School Girls Deserve campaign with NYC Council committing to hire seven full-time Title IX Coordinators (2019)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Black Girl Freedom FundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Joanne N. Smith joined 7 Black feminist leaders as co-founders of the Black Girl Freedom Fund, a bold new philanthropic effort to invest $1 billion in Black girls over 10 years, housed at Grant Makers for Girls of Color.
• LifetimecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019GGE partnered with Lifetime on the 'Surviving R. Kelly' documentary series to help bring R. Kelly to justice, creating community spaces for healing work and sharing a viewer guide to support communities in navigating these complex conversations.
• me too. MovementcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019GGE formed the Survivors' Agenda Initiative in partnership with peer anti-violence organizations and the 'me too.' Movement. GGE was the fiscal sponsor of the 'me too.' movement and developed Sisters in Strength into a survivor-centered healing space.
• NYC Council / Young Women's InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015GGE partnered with NYC Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and NYC Council to launch the Young Women's Initiative (YWI), a multi-platform coalition including over 200 service providers and youth aimed at supporting young women in NYC combat chronic racial and gender inequality.
• Move to End ViolencecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011GGE was selected for the first Move to End Violence cohort, a 10-year initiative designed to strengthen collective capacity to end violence against girls and women in the US.
• National Women's Law CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGGE collaborated with the National Women's Law Center to launch the 100 School Districts Project, a call to action for school districts across the country to address sexual harassment through inclusive policies and practices. Together they created an accompanying student toolkit.
• Rising Ground's STEPS to End Family ViolenceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJustUs program was launched in collaboration with Rising Ground's STEPS to End Family Violence, a gender-responsive diversion program for youth involved or at risk of involvement in the juvenile legal system.
• Survivors' Agenda Initiative PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGGE formed a collective of organizations who believe survivors should be shaping the national conversation on sexual violence. Together they developed the Survivors' Agenda, which laid the foundation for future movement building, policy change, narrative shifts, and accountability efforts.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves18 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Move to End Violence: A program of the Ayaanle Ali Cultural Foundation; GGE was selected for its first cohort of Movement Makers. Directly comparable anti-violence advocacy and gender justice focus with formal cohort relationship.
• National Black Women's Justice Institute: National organization focused on criminalization of Black women and girls; closely aligned with GGE's pushout/criminalization advocacy. Comparable mission overlap on Black girls in school-to-prison pipeline.
• National Women's Law Center: Co-creator of the 100 School Districts Project with GGE; direct advocacy peer operating at federal level on Title IX, gender equity, and Black girls' rights. Comparable mission, federal advocacy model, and direct partnership history.
• Black Women's Blueprint: National organization centering Black women and girls; their work on sexual violence and Black women's rights is cited as a source in GGE's own materials. Closest direct peer by mission, demographic focus, and policy posture.
• Black Girl Freedom Fund / Grant Makers for Girls of Color: Philanthropic vehicle co-founded by GGE's leader Joanne N. Smith. Comparable focus on Black girls; operates as a funder but with overlapping ecosystem role in movement building.
• me too. Movement: Movement for which GGE served as fiscal sponsor; deep operational partnership through the Survivors' Agenda Initiative. Directly comparable survivor-centered advocacy, youth track involvement, and movement infrastructure overlap.

Broad incumbents

• Ms. Foundation for Women: Major national gender-equity foundation that awarded GGE its 2018 Gloria Award. Operates at much broader scale across gender equity but is a recognized funder and convener in the same movement space.

Regional players

• New York Women's Foundation: NYC-based funder that invests in organizations advancing gender, race, and economic justice; GGE operates in its grant geography and shares a NYC focus on women and girls of color.
• Center for Court Innovation: NYC-based organization working on justice system reform; GGE board member Afua Addo is affiliated. Closely aligned on juvenile justice / diversion work and overlapping NYC operating geography.

Others

• EMpower: Foundation supporting at-risk youth globally; board member Cynthia Steele's affiliation. Operates in adjacent youth-funder space with comparable grantee profile.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ggenyc
• Facebookfacebook.com/girlsforgenderequity
• Instagraminstagram.com/ggenyc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ggenyc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Girls for Gender Equity