The Season of Growth

Human trafficking – the buying and selling of people – is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world [1]. It is surpassing the drug and gun trade for three simple reasons: a reusable product, little risk of a lengthy jail sentence, and there is a lot of money to be made.

Every day in America there are 150,000 new advertisements selling people for sex online [2]. Our law enforcement agencies do not have the resources to adequately sort through each of these ads, determine if the person in the ad is potentially being exploited, figure out their identity and conduct an operation to provide recovery.

The barriers that exist to combating this crime here in the US are insufficient officer time, a lack of resources at law enforcement's disposal and the rapid growth rate of this particular crime. These barriers can lead to an increased number of victims, longer victimization periods and escalated trauma experienced by victims of sex trafficking.

Project 1591® Breaks Down These Barriers

Project 1591 is the first-ever 24/7 crowdsourcing process and platform focused on utilizing skilled volunteers to identify child sex trafficking victims for law enforcement at scale. Rather than only working to grow Guardian Group's internal capacity, we're using our expertise to leverage the power of many to find the vulnerable.

Project 1591 uses the power of skilled volunteers to take on the burden of sorting through ads for those being potentially exploited and determining the identity of the person in the advertisement. This information is then passed to law enforcement to act upon. The volunteer force donates their time and open-source intelligence skills to fill the gap in officer time and resources across the nation.

In 2022 alone, we've identified over 90 victims and processed over 100 cases. With your support, a fully- equipped Project 1591 can help us identify up to 10% of child online trafficking victims by 2027. In partnership with law enforcement action, we believe this level of market disruption will begin to deter predators.

How You Can Help Stop Sex Trafficking

Here at Guardian Group, our vision that every child in the US can live free from sex trafficking and the threat of it can only be achieved with your support.

There are multiple ways to have an impact this giving season:

Make a One-Time Donation – When you give a one-time gift to Guardian Group you help provide victim identification to law enforcement across the country. A one-time gift can have a lifesaving impact.

Become a Guardian – The Guardians are a team of people committed to generating monthly sustainable funding to disrupt sex trafficking networks and protect America's children together.

Donate Crypto – We believe that cryptocurrency can be a force for good. By donating cryptocurrency, you are immediately making an impact in stopping child sex trafficking. Join us November 29 for #CryptoGivingTuesday.

Gifts of Stock – Giving stock directly to Guardian Group this year can make a meaningful difference on next year's tax return – and support us in the fight against sex trafficking. We recommend you initiate transfers by November 28.

Legacy Giving – Legacy giving lets you support Guardian Group beyond your lifetime. Adding a charitable component in your estate plans, you are ensuring there will be people fighting sex trafficking until it no longer exists.

Check out these other ways to give.

Help us identify these victims by supporting the growth of Project 1591 this giving season.

References

[1] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Human Trafficking Fact Sheet [PDF].

[2] Thorn (2018, January). Survivor Insights: The Role of Technology in Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking [PDF].