How Abortion Funds Are Coping With Their Election-Year Money Crunch

Macy Haverda, executive director of the Wild West Access Fund of Nevada, said WWAF was assisting 75 to 85 people a month before the July funding cuts disrupted the already precarious ecosystem. Now they’re funding at least 150 abortion seekers every month. Karen Musick, acting director of the Arkansas Abortion Support Network, said that as of early September, the fund had already spent more on patient assistance than it did in all of 2023.

The paid staff and volunteers for AASN are extremely passionate about their work, which includes procedure and travel funding and running a pregnancy resource center that counsels people on all their options and provides free emergency contraception, condoms, and pregnancy tests. But Musick said, “We’re not natural fundraisers.” So when the lab reached out, she was interested immediately. “It filled a gap that we didn’t have, which is trying to be more effective at raising money,” she said. Musick said NNAF has been “hugely supportive” from a legal standpoint, “but the money is pretty much our responsibility.”

Haverda said she has worked for nonprofits before, but “this is the first thing I’ve ever done in my life where, when we get money, we just give it right back out.” Low overhead isn’t itself a bad thing, but Haverda said funds don’t have the resources to “really prioritize building out comms structures and building out media campaigns.” (Alternatively, when people donate to local funds, they know exactly where their money is going; the same can’t be said for national organizations.) Haverda hopes the lab will help shine a light on individual funds and help them build a broader base of support.