The Mankind Initiative is the principal, expert and specialist charity in the UK focusing on male victims of domestic abuse. The charity collaborates and works in close partnership with other organisations and practitioners to support these victims too.
We were the first in Great Britain to support male victims. Our expertise derives from directly supporting male victims since 2001, our qualified professionals who manage the charity and our board which also consists of the UK’s leading academics and survivors.
Our three main activities are based on:
Direct support to male victims through a national helpline funded by donations (over 2,000 calls per year)
Support for organisations and practitioners who want to better recognise, support and understand male victims. This is through our specialist training, consultancy and support service, MIDASS and the national community and information network for practitioners that we created, own and manage, MDAN
Giving male victims a voice by engaging with stakeholders such as the government, statutory agencies, politicians, academia and the media.
Our aim is to ensure all male victims of domestic abuse (and their children) are supported to enable them to escape from the situation they are in. We are gender inclusive in our view so we want all female victims (and their children) to escape too.
The charity’s principles are based on the Small Charities Governance Code and its values are Responsive, Inclusion, Integrity and Confidence.
We employ four members of part-time staff to operate the help-line and rely on a small team of volunteers to run the charity. Three of the team are qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVA) and two have Domestic Abuse Services Manager qualifications. We currently receive no funding for our helpline from government (or the “state”), trusts or grant-making bodies so we rely on the kind generosity of the public to provide this vital service.