Every Dollar Is an Action: Moving Money to Build Power

Fund abortion. Build power. 

When we think about our community of donors, these two phrases go hand-in-hand. There’s a long history in this country of framing charitable giving as something that wealthy people do to help those who are less fortunate. We could fill this newsletter with a breakdown of where that narrative comes from and who it benefits (spoiler alert: it’s rooted in white supremacy). We’d rather talk about what it looks like when you donate to support abortion funds. There is profound power in your collective commitment to fund abortion. Your contributions to NNAF and to abortion funds aren’t moving from the top down — they are flowing out and around, into your community. Every time you make a choice to fund abortion, you’re demonstrating what you value and investing in it. That’s our collective power. 

To celebrate our growing community, we asked a few NNAF donors to share their motivations for giving. We’d love to hear what resonates! What motivates you to give? How do you think about your own money-moving, power-building commitments? Email your answers to development@sandbox.abortionfunds.org. 

NNAF Donors on Why They Give 

Loren R., donor since 2020

“In the past, monthly donations seemed inaccessible to me for some reason, as though they were only for the very wealthy. Then I realized I was making more and more donations to various organizations on a near-monthly basis during the 45th president’s term, so I thought to myself: Why not make this official? Concretely speaking, I plan to increase the amount of my monthly donation every year. My NNAF monthly donations will be a constant in my life moving forward, as I grow old and gray!”

Eli P., donor since 2017

“As someone who has spent most of my career working to abolish prisons and carceral systems, I also see funding abortion as deeply connected to abolition.  Abolition means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but to me its core is bodily autonomy and a right to live free from fear of literal or structural violence.  I see in funding abortion the opportunity to push back against oppressive institutions which tell poor people, people of color, incarcerated people, and lots of other people that they do not have a right to decide what happens to their own bodies.”

Ariann W., donor since 2020

“When I think about donating money, I’m guided by two Jewish principles: tzedakah and hesed. Tzedakah means “giving toward justice,” which you could think of as giving toward causes that help move the world to a more just state, or giving in a way that immediately creates more justice. Hesed means “lovingkindness,” or a general attitude of openness toward meeting individuals’ immediate needs of food, shelter, housing, and healthcare. Funding abortion fulfills both goals. It allows me to redistribute what I have in order to meet an individual’s immediate basic needs, while also helping to move the world toward greater equality and justice.”

Read more from the 2021 Fall Newsletter here.