State of the Network: In this post, you’ll find highlights from the results of the 2020 Membership Enrollment Survey—our largest survey yet! All the data included here is from July 2019 to June 2020.
What is the Membership Enrollment Survey?
Each year, the National Network of Abortion Funds’ Membership Team sends out a detailed survey to all abortion funds in our network. We ask them about requests received, callers supported, and dollars distributed. We collect data from across the country on out-of-state travel and increases in funding requests. We try our best to collect responses from every fund in our network. The data that we receive during this annual survey (we call it the Membership Enrollment Survey) is critical to our understanding of the health of the network overall. It guides our strategy for supporting funds and strengthening connections. An overview of NNAF’s member funds: Where they are located, how they operate, and how the network has grown over the last year.
You may see some terms in the charts below that aren’t familiar. Please refer to this mini glossary for more clarity.
- Callers: Anyone who reaches out to an abortion fund for assistance.
- Practical support: Rides, childcare, food, lodging—anything that would help someone obtain an abortion that isn’t direct financial assistance.
- Abortion funding budget: How much money an abortion fund has to directly pay for abortions and practical support.
Our Network At-A-Glance
- Eleven new funds joined NNAF in 2020.
- As of October 2021, there are 92 member funds in the network.
- Membership enrollment survey participation year-over-year:
- 2018: 53
- 2019: 79
- 2020: 87
- Member Funds by Region:
- Midwest: 20
- Northeast: 16
- South: 31
- West: 17
- National: 4
- International: 3
Our international fund members are Fondo MARIA (Mexico), Abortion Support Network (United Kingdom), and Women Help Women (online, international).
Abortion Fund Operations
A snapshot of abortion funds’ budgets, staffing, and volunteer networks.
- Median abortion funding budget: $52,585
- 41 funds were volunteer-led (no staff), 47% of funds.
- 46 funds had at least one part-time staff member, 53% of funds.
- 35 funds had full-time staff, 40% of funds.
- 43 member funds provided practical support (in some form), 49% of funds.
- Total Volunteers: 2,275
Service Delivery
An overview of how many people reached out for assistance across the network and what level of support abortion funds were able to provide.
- Requests received by member funds: 229,510. Women Help Women: 140,000*
- Callers supported: 192,627. Women Help Women: 140,000*
- Callers supported with practical support: 7,376
- Total $ disbursed by abortion funds: $9,437,004
- Total $ disbursed for practical support: $1,353,804
- Average pledge: $215
- Median number of caller requests: 567
- Median number of callers supported: 325
Women Help Women (WHW ) is in its own category when it comes to receiving and supporting caller requests. WHW gets requests for support from all over the world. A big part of how they provide assistance is by sharing information, as opposed to financial or practical support. We’ve pulled out the Women Help Women numbers so that you can see their impact, as well as a more accurate picture of our other member funds.
Year-Over-Year Abortion Funding
These charts show trends within our network over four years of Membership Enrollment surveys. As you can see, caller requests and dollars disbursed have steadily increased.
Learn More About NNAF
Read our 2019 – 2020 Annual Report and the 2021 Fall Newsletter for more about the dynamic abortion funds in our network.