Nonprofit received $2 million from Olivia Rodrigo and Melinda French Gates—it wants to give cash to abuse survivors

At 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 29, leaders from the 10 nonprofits involved in Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields music festival stood, arms linked, huddled in the corner of a hangar. The group, who spent the day running booths inside the facility to introduce festival goers to their work, was told meet for an announcement, but given no other context, says FreeFrom founder and CEO Sonya Passi.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, they leaned in so they could hear the news above the noise of the fans inside the hangar. Melinda French Gates was matching the $10 million proceeds raised by the event, a member of Rodrigo's team told them. That meant that FreeFrom and the other nonprofits — which included Planned Parenthood, Baby2Baby and Black Mamas Matter Alliance — would each take home $2 million, twice the amount previously announced at a press conference the day before the festival.

"We were all crying," Passi, 38, says, adding: "As a founder and CEO, you're always balancing your time between raising money to do the work and doing the work. Getting that $2 million allows me to put more of my attention right now into doing the work ... and to think further ahead about building strategies that are more long-term and ultimately more effective. "

Passi at FreeFrom's booth at the festival.

Courtesy of FreeFrom

Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields Music Festival — which donated all its proceeds to nonprofits and included performances from musicians like Chappell Roan and Doechii — was modeled after Lilith Fair, a traveling music festival co-founded by singer Sarah McLachlan in 1997 that featured only female artists. Rodrigo was inspired to launch her own festival after watching girls and women connect in the crowd at her concerts, she told

Some data shows Gen Z — Rodrigo is 23 — are likelier to participate in philanthropic causes than older generations. Over 70% of Gen Z Americans reported they "gave in some form," because they were concerned about supporting themselves or children, according to survey data from over 1,800 women analyzed by Michigan State University researchers. Survivors need an average of $1,567"to make ends meet and stay safe," but only have an average of $10 in savings and less than $300 that they can access alone, according to FreeFrom research.

Passi says she was in complete shock when she heard from Rodrigo's team, who reached out to FreeFrom in June and asked if Passi would be willing to hop on a Zoom call with Rodrigo herself.

"We're so lucky … I don't know how they found us, but I'm grateful they did," Passi says.

At the festival, FreeFrom's booth was located in the northeast corner of the event's grounds, past a Yoko Ono-inspired wish tree and Etsy-sponsored fountain of jewelry beads. Passi and the other nonprofit representatives walked over to one of the stages at 8 p.m. to hear Rodrigo and French Gates announce the updated $20 million donation to the crowd, then spent the evening listening to music, she says. Rodrigo performed with guests like McLachlan, Alanis Morissette and Stevie Nicks. Ten giant, vintage-looking buttons, each representing a nonprofit in attendance, were seemingly fastened to the top of the stage.

"What I heard from Olivia and her team over again was they wanted people to feel joy, and that's so in line with what FreeFrom aims to do," Passi says. "We want to change the conversation around gender-based violence to focus on ... possibility and survivors' joy, because I know that is how you build a movement. "