Planning with Purpose: Beneficiary Designations

Sanctuary for Families

By naming Sanctuary for Families as a beneficiary, you ensure your legacy continues to support survivors of gender-based violence. You may choose to designate a specific amount, percentage, or the remainder of an account such as an IRA—helping sustain Sanctuary’s mission for generations.

Estate planning is more than a legal process — it’s a way to protect your loved ones while also championing the causes closest to your heart. As part of our planned giving series, we’re exploring one of the simplest, most flexible options available: beneficiary designations.

What Are Beneficiary Designations?

Instead of including a gift in your will, you can directly name Sanctuary for Families as a beneficiary of certain accounts or policies. This option often requires only a simple form and allows you to make a meaningful impact with little effort. Examples include:

  • IRAs and retirement plans
  • Life insurance policies
  • Donor Advised Funds (DAFs)
  • Commercial annuities

Why Choose Sanctuary?

By naming Sanctuary for Families as a beneficiary, you ensure your legacy continues to support survivors of gender-based violence. You may choose to designate a specific amount, percentage, or the remainder of an account such as an IRA—helping sustain Sanctuary’s mission for generations.

In addition to possible tax advantages, this type of planned gift allows you to create lasting change without affecting your current financial security. However you choose to give, your legacy will reflect a commitment to safety, justice, and healing.

How to Get Started

Designating Sanctuary as a beneficiary is straightforward. Simply request a form from your retirement fund, insurance provider, or bank, or contact your account administrator.

To learn more about how your legacy can support survivors, visit our planned giving website.

This article is part of our ongoing series on planned giving options. Stay tuned for future installments exploring beneficiary designations, charitable trusts, and more.

When Abuse Causes Brain Injury: Why Intro 29 Matters for Survivors

Sanctuary for Families

When people think of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), their first thought might be football collisions or car crashes. But TBIs are also prevalent among survivors of domestic abuse or intimate partner violence, although most never receive a proper diagnosis or treatment.

TW: This article contains descriptive information about physical violence. Please engage in self-care as you read this article.

When people think of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), their first thought might be football collisions or car crashes. But TBIs are also prevalent among survivors of domestic abuse or intimate partner violence, although most never receive a proper diagnosis or treatment.

In abusive relationships, TBIs can result from blows or jolts to the head or from strangulation that cuts off oxygen to the brain. These forms of violence are alarmingly common — research shows that up to 94% of injuries women sustain from intimate partner violence (IPV) involve the neck or head. Studies also estimate that 60% to 92% of women subjected to intimate partner violence have experienced at least one TBI caused directly by abuse.

A Hidden Epidemic

TBIs resulting from intimate partner violence can be difficult to recognize, as symptoms can have a delayed onset. Many survivors also avoid seeking emergency medical care due to stigma or out of fear of their abuser, and even when they do, they may not disclose head trauma for the same reasons.

At the same time, many healthcare providers are not aware of how common IPV-related TBIs are. Survivors are rarely screened for head injuries in emergency settings, which means providers must piece together what happened without clear information. The result is a dangerous gap in care.

The repercussions are serious. Because TBI symptoms overlap with PTSD and other conditions, IPV-related brain injuries are often misdiagnosed, leaving survivors without the support they need to recover.

Common symptoms of TBI include headaches, dizziness, confusion, memory problems, mood changes, and sensitivity to light or sound. These effects can last for months or even years, profoundly shaping every aspect of a survivor’s daily life. And without intervention, these symptoms can escalate.

The long-term consequences are also significant. TBIs can contribute to mood disorders, chronic pain, and sensory, motor, and cognitive impairments, which in turn make it harder to sustain employment or maintain healthy relationships. When these challenges go unaddressed, the risk of substance use can increase.

Without a proper diagnosis for TBI, survivors may lose access to the medical care, accommodations, and legal protections that could support their recovery. Their symptoms can also be misunderstood as noncompliance or unreliability rather than recognized as the result of a serious injury.

This is where policy change becomes essential.

What Intro 29 Does — and Why It Matters

Just a few weeks ago, New York City moved to confront the hidden crisis of domestic and intimate violence-related TBI with the passage of Intro 29 – legislation that requires all NYPD and FDNY first responders to receive training to identify and respond appropriately to TBI symptoms during domestic violence calls. This will help ensure that head trauma is not misinterpreted as resistance and that survivors are met with safety, understanding, and care.

Intro 29 also directs the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence to lead a citywide awareness campaign so that survivors, families, and communities recognize that IPV can cause brain injury and know where to get help. This marks real progress toward closing the gap between what survivors endure and what systems are prepared to address.

“Survivors of gender violence suffer so many harms that are not readily visible … We must bring TBI out of the shadows and into the light.”
— Sanctuary CEO Judy Kluger

Sanctuary’s Commitment

Sanctuary for Families strongly advocated for the passage of Intro 29 and believes in the promise it holds for survivors across New York City. As this new legislation rolls out, we stand firm in our commitment to:

  • Provide training and technical assistance to partners on practical TBI screening and referrals;
  • Offer trauma-informed counseling, legal advocacy, and connections to medical care;
  • Elevate survivor-centered practices so recognition leads to real, sustained support.

This work requires partnership from across our city.

We will keep pushing for strong implementation and a citywide response that truly centers survivor safety. Join us in raising awareness about IPV-related traumatic brain injury and consider making a gift to support our work with survivors.

GET HELP  DONATE

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, know that there are resources available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides confidential support and information 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

If you live in New York City, please get in touch with Sanctuary for Families to get help.

No Survivor Should Have to Choose Between Food and Safety

Sanctuary for Families

The fear of not being able to provide for themselves or their children can trap survivors in abusive relationships or increase their likelihood of returning to their abusers. Today, the extreme unpredictability of government assistance leaves many survivors in dire need of emergency food assistance.

GET HELP   DONATE

The very real fear of not being able to provide for themselves or their children can trap survivors in abusive relationships or increase their likelihood of returning to their abusers.

For survivors, the journey to build safe, independent lives can be arduous. Poverty exacerbates these challenges, forcing survivors to choose between basic necessities like food, healthcare, and housing.

Food insecurity — defined as a lack of consistent access to enough nutritious food — is a major challenge for many of Sanctuary’s clients. Since the pandemic, demand for our services has risen while funding for emergency food assistance has sharply declined, creating a critical gap in support.

Today, the extreme unpredictability of government assistance, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), leaves many survivors in dire need of emergency food assistance. While the latest government shutdown has come to an end, there will be critical delays in accessing benefits.

How Food Insecurity Impacts Survivors

Food insecurity can reinforce a cycle of vulnerability and dependence.

At Sanctuary, we know that economic dependence is a powerful barrier to safety for survivors. Alongside physical, emotional, or sexual violence, many survivors are also subjected to financial abuse, with studies finding that the latter occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases. Less commonly understood, financial abuse is a pattern of behavior where the abuser controls their victim’s finances or their ability to provide for themselves. Survivors may be prevented from working or have their income and benefits taken away by their abuser.

When survivors take the incredibly brave step of escaping abuse, they often leave everything behind.

The majority of Sanctuary’s clients live well below the poverty line, with most reporting an annual income of $30,000 or less.

Last year, emergency food requests made up 69% of all emergency assistance requests Sanctuary received.

Relieving survivors of the fundamental stress of not knowing how they will afford their next meal allows them to focus on their journey towards long-term safety, stability, and healing. When our clients aren’t facing food insecurity, they are better able to take advantage of Sanctuary’s wrap-around services, including counseling sessions, career training workshops, and legal protections.

Addressing Food Insecurity

Sanctuary for Families provides direct financial and material assistance to low-income domestic violence survivors to support them amidst crises through the George Lazarus Fund for Vulnerable Families (FVF).

FVF powers our Emergency Food Program, providing immediate hunger relief through grocery cards and food pantry access to hundreds of clients each year.

Last year, Sanctuary spent over $175,000 on emergency food, with 249 families visiting our food pantries and 228 families receiving grocery cards.

Grocery cards allow families to purchase foods that may not be available in pantries that better fit their dietary requirements. This kind of self-determination has an outsized impact in maintaining the dignity, health, and well-being of the families we serve.

How You Can Help

FVF anticipates serving 650 families in the current fiscal year to address needs such as urgent medical, clothing, and transportation expenses, food and grocery cards, and educational and vocational training expenses to support survivors as they rebuild their lives after violence.

In this current moment of acute food insecurity, your support will help ensure survivors of domestic violence and their families don’t go hungry this winter.

Alongside monetary gifts, Sanctuary accepts shelf-stable, non-perishable food donations that help stock our food pantries for survivors. If you would like to make an in-kind food donation, please get in touch with inkind@sffny.org.

SUPPORT SURVIVORS

Summer Heat Relief: IGVSI Takes Action for Survivors Behind Bars

Sanctuary for Families

At Taconic Correctional Facility, incarcerated survivors have long raised alarms about unbearable and hazardous conditions due to summer heat. This year, Sanctuary’s IGVSI responded.

In New York’s women’s prisons, summer brings oppressive heat. Incarcerated women — the majority of whom are survivors of domestic abuse or other gender-based violence — live in concrete cells with little air flow, creating unbearable and hazardous conditions. There is no air conditioning, and ice distribution has been inconsistent in the worst of the heat. At Taconic Correctional Facility, located in Westchester, New York, incarcerated women have long raised alarms about this health crisis.

This summer, Sanctuary’s Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivors Initiative (IGVSI) responded.

Working with the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), IGVSI arranged for a direct donation to the incarcerated women at Taconic of:

  • 200 high-quality fans, ensuring every incarcerated woman at Taconic has access to essential heat relief in their cell; and
  • 36 insulated coolers to support consistent and equitable ice distribution throughout the facility.

This donation was made possible by contributions from two of IGVSI’s long-time supporters: IGVSI co-founder Richard Rothman and former Sanctuary Board President Denis McInerney.

The fans and coolers were delivered on August 15, 2025, and were quickly distributed throughout the facility. The impact was immediate.

One IGVSI client shared this note of thanks:

“PLEASE let everyone know… [the donation] was a true miracle… We had just read an article on our Newsstand that explained that ‘In the U.S., heat kills more people than all other weather events combined’… and that ‘it is easy to underestimate how dangerous prolonged exposure to heat can be.’ Literally, people were starting to freak out by the heat, and then from heaven came these fans — AWESOME!!! And they are gorgeous. They really, really cool our cells.”

This response reaffirms a core belief at IGVSI: immediate relief transforms lives. Thoughtful, tangible actions not only improve daily conditions but also show survivors they are valued and supported.

At IGVSI, we will continue advocating for structural changes at New York’s women’s prisons: better climate control, legal reforms, and more humane and safe conditions.

How IGVSI Fights for Freedom

Emergency relief like this summer’s fan donation is just one piece of IGVSI‘s comprehensive approach. Our primary focus remains securing the release of criminalized survivors.

We help survivors tell their stories, document the impacts of trauma, and develop comprehensive reentry plans that set them up for success.

We also advocate for laws and policies that recognize the realities of domestic violence within the criminal legal system.

Our commitment doesn’t end at the prison gates. Whether it’s preparing a parole packet, filing a DVSJA motion, or delivering a fan in the middle of a heatwave, our work is grounded in one principle: every survivor deserves a chance to heal and rebuild.

What You Can Do

Share this post to spread the word: more people knowing means more potential support.

  • Consider donating so we can continue both responsive actions, like the fan donation and systemic legal work. Make a gift here.
  • Follow us, stay updated, and stay in community with survivors.

Every act of support — big or small — matters.

IGVSI is a project of Sanctuary for Families.

Learn more or get involved at sanctuaryforfamilies.org and www.igvsi.org