User:Hope with Time's Up/TU History Draft

Origins and launch
The Time's Up movement began in October 2017, after women came forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein and others within the entertainment industry of sexual harassment and abuse, and in light of media coverage of Weinstein's legal settlements for sexual misconduct. The movement began with some female talent agents in Los Angeles forming a group to talk about the issues and potential solutions. It grew to 150 participants as the group expanded to include artists, executives, producers, and other entertainment industry leaders. Members held meetings and workshops, and formed working groups to address specific issues.

In November 2017, the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (National Women's Farmworkers Alliance), an organization representing women farmworkers in the United States, wrote a letter of solidarity with those involved in exposing the allegations against Weinstein. It stated that it was written on behalf of the approximately 700,000 female farmworkers in the United States. The letter was published in Time, and described experiences of assault and harassment among female farmworkers. Following this, the group decided to widen its focus to include all employed women who had experienced sexual assault and harassment.

Time's Up publicly launched in In January 2018. Citing the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas letter, Time's Up founding leaders published an open letter signed by over 300 women, primarily from the entertainment industry. It was published in The New York Times and in La Opinión. The signatories to the letter included Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Capshaw, Kate Capshaw, Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, and Natalie Portman among other high-profile women in entertainment. In the open letter Time's Up stated its primary aim to support women, men, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and other individuals who have less access to media platforms and funds to speak up about harassment.

The group announced that it would establish specific initiatives to tackle sexual assault and harassment. It created the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, administered by the National Women's Law Center, supporting individuals seeking justice for these cases. Time's Up's advocacy arm also stated it would push for state and federal legislation requiring companies to address persistent harassment.

The launch announcement called for women on the red carpet at the 75th Golden Globe Awards to wear black and speak out about sexual harassment and assault. At the event, Time's Up members and supporters wore black, some members brought activists to the awards ceremony and wore Time's Up pins, and attendees spoke out about issues of workplace discrimination, including sexual harassment and assault. During the eventOprah Winfrey referenced the movement in her speech. The launch campaign helped raise nearly $15 million dollars within a week for the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund.

Later in January, to express solidarity with the Time's Up movement, attendees at the 2018 Grammys, including Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, Kesha and Cyndi Lauper wore white roses or all-black outfits, and Lorde wore an excerpt from a work by Jenny Holzer printed on a card stitched onto the back of her dress. During the awards show Janelle Monáe made a speech referencing Time's Up and calling for equality in the music industry. At the 2018 BAFTA Film Awards in London in March that year, some attendees wore black and Time's Up pins.

Early growth and development
The Time's Up organization was initially funded by seed money provided by two founders, Shonda Rhimes and Katie McGrath, allowing it to hire a team of seven full time employees. At first, there was no principal leader and the organization ran as as a series of working groups and presented as a collective. As the organization grew, it established industry areas including Time's Up Tech and Time's Up Entertainment. In March 2018, the organization set up the non-profit to focus on its advocacy goals. In late 2018, Lisa Borders, former president of the WNBA and former Coca-Cola executive, was named the first president and chief executive officer. On February 18, 2019, she stepped down after her son was accused of sexual misconduct. Tina Tchen, formerly Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, was named as chief executive in October of 2019.

In its first year, Time's Up raised $22 million from donations for their Legal Defense Fund. Donors included signatories to the open letter, including: Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon, and Meryl Streep, who each contributed $500,000; Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, who donated $2 million via their foundation; and Katie McGrath and J.J. Abrams, who donated $1 million. Mark Wahlberg and William Morris Endeavor, his talent agency, donated more than $2 million to Time's Up in early January 2018 in the name of Wahlberg's co-star Michelle Williams from All the Money in the World. This occurred after it was revealed that Williams (who is represented by the same agency) received $800 for 10 days to redo certain scenes in the movie, while Wahlberg received $1.5 million for the same 10 days of work.

In January 2019, the organization launched its 4% challenge, asking production companies to show their commitment to working with a woman director on a feature production in the next 18 months. Universal Pictures, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures and Amazon Studios pledged their support for the challenge. Using funding from Melinda Gates, in 2020 the organization created the Time's Up Impact Lab, leading research on how to best prevent workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. In September 2020, Time's Up Foundation launched Time’s Up, Measure Up, a project of the Time's Up Impact Lab to study the impact of the pandemic and economic crisis on women.

That same year, Time's Up launched a nonpartisan campaign titled "We Have Her Back" to support women political candidates and counter sexist, racist and derogatory media coverage of such candidates, including starting a petition to prevent sexist commentary being included in election coverage.