Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Human trafficking is a $150 billion criminal enterprise that robs 25 million people around the world of their freedom. Due to the clandestine nature of human trafficking, there exists a scarcity of real-time, actionable information on the operations of trafficking networks. As a result, the anti-trafficking ecosystem, including nonprofits, government and law enforcement partners, is ill-equipped to fight trafficking at scale because it lacks the necessary tools, data, and insights to drive large-scale systemic and social change. Polaris fills this information gap by serving as the data-backbone of the anti-trafficking field, providing essential data and analysis that equips, informs, and enables a collective impact model that will effectively deter and disrupt the crime.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline
The Polaris-operated U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline provides survivors of human trafficking with vital support and options to get help and stay safe. These options could include connecting callers with emergency shelter, transportation, trauma counselors, local law enforcement, or a range of other services and support. The National Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Survivor Empowerment
Polaris believes that survivors of human trafficking should be the key strategists and leaders of the anti-trafficking movement. To turn that commitment into action, we seek out opportunities to work with survivors in all our programming, leveraging their insights to offer guidance to the anti-trafficking field and empower service providers, policymakers, business leaders and law enforcement with crucial insights.
Sex Trafficking
Between 2007 and 2017, the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline received reports of 34,700 situations of sex trafficking in the United States. Internationally, 4.8 million people are trapped in forced sexual exploitation. Polaris works to eradicate sex trafficking by illuminating the hidden trends, risk factors, methods of control, and other variables that make this crime both possible and profitable.
Labor Trafficking
More than 20 million people around the world are trapped in forced labor in industries like agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing. Polaris works to understand the systems that allow labor trafficking to flourish, develop and strengthen counter-measures, and connect victims and survivors to services in order to get help and stay safe.
Policy Advocacy
Polaris provides credible, nonpartisan expertise to help policy makers identify and enact legislation that reduces human trafficking, holds traffickers and those who profit from their deeds accountable, builds and sustains the anti-trafficking field, and provides relief and support to survivors.
Financial Institutions
Human trafficking is a $150 billion global industry that operates within and around legitimate businesses and systems. Polaris partners with financial institutions to create robust systems to help detect suspicious activities associated with human trafficking, money laundering, and other financial crimes.
Where we work
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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of Cases Reported per Year
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Since 2007, The National Hotline has handled 51,919 cases, comprising one of the largest publicly available data sets on human trafficking in the United States.
Number of Contacts per Year
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric includes data that is generated from information communicated to the National Human Trafficking Hotline via calls, texts, online chats, emails, or webforms.
Number of Survivors Identified per Year
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric measures the number of individual survivors who have contacted the NHTH. Since 2007, the Hotline has connected more than 12,000 survivors to support and services
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Polaris’ mission is to combat human trafficking and restore freedom to survivors.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The way we think about our mission and the impact we make is framed by two overarching concepts: [1.] working upstream to transform systems that allow trafficking to flourish in order to prevent future victimization, and [2.] working towards downstream responses that disrupt and deter the crime while supporting those who have already been victimized or who remain vulnerable to a cycle of re-victimization.
Through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, a 24/7 helpline that connects victims and survivors to readily accessible resources and support systems, Polaris continues to help those impacted by human trafficking rebuild their lives. Additionally, Polaris analyses data and intelligence systems, financial systems, and models of sex and labor trafficking in order to maximize social and systemic change to determine and pilot possible responses.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
As the operator of the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline for over 11 years, Polaris has built partnerships with thousands of service providers and law enforcement entities across the country. Today, the Polaris brand is well known and trusted by communities, municipal and state leaders, corporations, and across Capitol Hill. As the nerve center for the anti-trafficking movement, Polaris has generated one of the largest data sets on human trafficking in the country, derived in part from our work on over 50,000 cases of human trafficking through the hotline. Plus, in a field divided by those that work on either sex trafficking or labor trafficking, Polaris focuses on all forms and types of victims and defines its mission broadly and inclusively, enabling a bridging an unifying role that few others play.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has learned of and responded to 50,000 instances of human trafficking across the United States. As a leader in the global fight to eradicate slavery, Polaris works to equip other actors across the anti-trafficking field, including service providers, law enforcement, and corporate leaders on how to identify and stop trafficking.
While reaching victims and survivors of human trafficking with critical help and resources is a major focus of the hotline, Polaris also works to understand and eliminate the root causes of trafficking at scale. In 2017 Polaris released the ground-breaking report, “The Typology of Modern Slavery: Defining Sex and Labor Trafficking in the United States,” becoming the first organization to identify the 25 major types of trafficking present in the U.S. In the following year, we released our “On-Ramps, Intersections, and Exit Routes: A Roadmap for Systems and Industries to Prevent and Disrupt Human Trafficking” report, which details how legitimate industries and businesses contribute to human-trafficking and what these entities can do to better combat trafficking at scale.
Our expertise has enabled us to play a framework-shaping role for hundreds of communities and stakeholders in the field. Moving forward, we are building programs focused on data and intelligence systems, financial systems, and deep dives on different models of sex and labor trafficking in order to maximize social and systemic change.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Polaris Project
Board of directorsas of 9/24/2020
Mr. Gregory Moore
Roy Austin, Jr.
Lisa Benenson
Boris Gartner
Gail MacKinnon
Frederick Reynolds
Angel Swift
Jean Gilbert
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Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
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