We’re excited to share the results of our latest community survey! Thanks to your thoughtful feedback, we have a clearer picture of how you want to see Freedom United grow and lead in 2026—and what matters most to you in the fight against modern slavery.
From campaign priorities to communications preferences and donations, your insights will directly shape our plans for the year ahead.
Let’s dive in.
Which parts of our work interest you most?
Your responses showed strong support across our core focus areas:
This reinforces what we’ve long believed: systemic change—through stronger laws, corporate accountability, and survivor-centered policy—is central to ending modern slavery. As we shape our 2026 strategy, we’ll continue pushing for legislative reform and meaningful enforcement while spotlighting abuses in supply chains, harmful policies, and gender-based exploitation.
What modern slavery issues should we cover this year?
Many of you reaffirmed the importance of issues we’re already campaigning on, particularly:
- Forced labor in supply chains
- Child exploitation
- Marriage-related exploitation
- Structural and economic drivers of vulnerability
Several supporters also highlighted the need to connect modern slavery more clearly to broader systems—economic inequality, migration policy, and corporate power.
Connecting these issues to peoples’ everyday lives and perceptions—showing how much of their ‘freedom’ depends on inhumane exploitation of others.
How ‘regular’ people may unknowingly be supporting modern slavery.
These insights highlight something important: exposing hidden systems of exploitation and helping more people understand how modern slavery shows up in everyday life is key to creating lasting change.
Your message was clear: keep going deeper, stay bold, and tackle root causes.
How would you like to hear from us?
The answer was overwhelming: email remains your top choice.
We hear you. Email will remain our primary channel for updates, actions, and campaign progress in 2026.
Do you use social media?
Your responses reflect an important reality: nearly half of you do not rely on social media at all.
So while we’ll continue strengthening our social platforms, we’ll make sure that everything you need—campaign updates, actions, impact stories—is always available via email and our website.
No scrolling required.
How likely are you to share our campaigns?
That means nearly two-thirds of respondents are open to sharing our campaigns—and that’s powerful.
For those who hesitate, some cited uncertainty about messaging, audience fit, or content clarity. In 2026, we’ll work on:
- Making share buttons more visible and easier to use
- Providing clearer summaries you can copy and paste
- Creating concise, accessible messaging designed for sharing
Because when you speak up, decision-makers listen.
You also shared many constructive ideas to help us improve, including insights into why you may feel hesitant to share news stories and campaign:
Can take too long to explain the details to them.
Not wanting to overload mailboxes.
I am not too sure whether my friends will be sufficiently receptive—they are well-meaning people, but their schedules tend to be quite busy.
There’s no picking and choosing which evil and what suffering is more important… but if you have to prioritize then choose the ones that will educate the most people about modern day slavery.
These responses are very relatable and they matter! They show us that when supporters hesitate to share, it’s not apathy—it’s thoughtfulness. It tells us we need to make sharing clearer, simpler, and more accessible.
Donations: Where we stand
And on donations—we understand that not everyone is in a position to give. Many of you asked for clearer reporting on impact and transparency around how funds are used. Freedom United is funded by supporters like you, and 97% of all donations are used directly for programming. That means maintaining our global advocacy platform where the Freedom United community comes together, and supporting the staff who leverage the community power to drive change through petitions, investigations, partnerships, and policy advocacy.
Stories and additional feedback
Beyond the multiple-choice responses, many of you took the time to share thoughtful reflections, encouragement, and personal stories. Reading your words reminded us that this movement is powered by people who care deeply—and critically—about how we fight modern slavery.
Many of your messages were truly uplifting, including many messages expressing gratitude. An overwhelming number of messages were along the lines of:
Thank you for all you do.
Freedom United is awesome!!
We really appreciate the love and support, it means more than you know.
Many of you also entrusted us with deeply personal stories of your own experiences of exploitation, or of loved ones who have been affected. We want to acknowledge how significant that is. Sharing those experiences takes courage, and we do not take that lightly.
We are committed to ensuring our work is survivor-centerd—not just in principle, but in practice. That means listening, learning, and making space for lived experience to shape how we campaign, communicate, and advocate for change.
If you would like to share your story with us, we welcome you to email us directly at [email protected].
What this means for 2026
Your responses point us in a clear direction:
- Focus on policy change and accountability
- Continue tackling supply chain forced labor and child exploitation
- Keep email as the primary communication channel
- Improve clarity, accessibility, and shareability
- Increase transparency around impact and funding
- Strengthen survivor-centered storytelling
Above all, you want bold, systemic action—not surface-level awareness.
And that’s exactly what we intend to deliver.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to complete this survey. Your insights will directly shape our 2026 priorities and help ensure that Freedom United remains a powerful, independent voice in the global movement to end modern slavery.
If you have further thoughts or questions, please email us at [email protected]—we’d love to hear from you.
Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.