The Reproductive Justice Movement emerged to tackle the systemic inequalities in healthcare access during the 1990s. It acknowledges that access to reproductive healthcare is not enough for individuals who also face barriers like poverty, discrimination, healthcare access, and even violence. It centers the experiences of those who are marginalized, providing a way for individuals to take control of their bodies, futures, and voices.
As challenges to the Repro Movement continue to rise, Independent Revenue Generation (IRG) offers a promising alternative for organizations seeking to bolster their resilience and impact. IRG focuses on bringing in more money and giving organizations more control over their growth and sustainability, which is what they need to continue their important work on the frontlines of the movement.
Independent Revenue Generation (IRG)—our fancy term for raising money—refers to fundraising efforts other than traditional grants and donations.
Groups need organized money and organized people. Last year, we launched our inaugural Reproductive Justice cohort to support organizations interested in exploring innovative approaches to organized money.
Through this cohort, grantee partners receive strategic assistance and tools to help them achieve the flexibility, readiness, agility, sustainability, and accountability needed to build power.
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda delivers proactive advocacy and policy solutions to address issues at the intersections of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity within the situational impacts of economics, politics, and culture that make up the lived experience of Black women in the United States.
With a grant and strategic assistance from Progressive Multiplier, they launched a digital fundraising campaign to convert one-time donors into recurring ones, leveraging email campaigns, social media ads, and targeted communications.
They've successfully implemented email campaigns and applied for Google ad grants, generating significant revenue and building a sustainable donor base. This initiative has generated $55.7k in revenue from 233 donors -- 87 of whom are already recurring donors.
By leveraging our strategic assistance, they secured critical funds for their mission and scaled their organizational capacity to multiply money and amplify its impact.
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ) cultivates leadership through community education, policy advocacy, and community-informed research to achieve reproductive justice. To invest in IRG, they are pioneering a fee-for-service training program emphasizing the intersectionality of reproductive health with broader social issues.
Embracing a diversified funding approach helps groups enhance their financial resilience and autonomy beyond traditional grants. Efforts towards independent revenue generation must remain rooted in the voices and needs of the communities most affected by the movement's rising challenges.
Physicians for Reproductive Health, a group that organizes, mobilizes, and amplifies the voices of medical providers to advance sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice, is investing in a coordinated social media conversion campaign to turn digital followers into donors.
Through this initiative, they are experimenting with developing strategies to effectively convert people they reach through digital spaces into financial supporters.
“Independent revenue empowers us to innovate and adapt while ensuring our organization’s stability and growth” Jasmine thomas, development coordinator.
Bold Futures New Mexico is developing donor stewardship programs to engage donors.
“Independent revenue generation helps us move our work freely and without the constraints that restricted revenue comes with. Unrestricted money allows us to engage on our own time in powerful community-driven work without needing to appeal to decision-makers who may not be representative of our state, our people, or our movement” said Executive Director, Charlene Bencomo.
For Nyomi Guzman, Medical Students For Choices’ Associate Director of Development, independent revenue means “making important decisions about supporting our medical student community and providing support based on need. Restricted revenue often puts our organization in the position to balance program grant deliverables with the needs identified by our medical students. When we generate independent revenue, we are able to support the organic growth of our chapters and be intentional about making decisions about our programs.”
Rewire News Group is focusing its grant on building a sustainable revenue stream through membership programs. As a reproductive health media organization that doesn't have ads or receive government grants,“Independent Revenue Generation allows us to plan for the long term and allows our team to react immediately when breaking news happens in ways that restricted revenue does not,” said Jazmine Rodriguez, Rewire’s VP of Finance and Operations.
The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (NLIRJ)’s initiative includes optimizing digital fundraising programs to engage donors effectively, reflecting their commitment to building community power and expanding their reach nationally.
“Restricted revenue comes with specific conditions and is tied to a particular project/purpose. Independent revenue is able to provide more freedom and flexibility on how to utilize the funds. The funds can be used in a variety of ways for operational and programmatic expenses. It provides flexibility with unforeseen circumstances and changing needs.” shared Edith Enriquez, Major Gifts Manager.
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum strategically engages major donors and its Founding Sisters through personalized outreach and direct mail. It is also establishing a Giving Circle and promoting planned giving to diversify its revenue sources. These efforts foster a deeply engaged community committed to advancing the organization’s mission.
"Our theory of change is based on our members - the most impacted - driving change from the ground up. Independent revenue allows us to exercise NAPAWF's theory of change fully, bring the right issues to the national stage, and provide us with the flexibility to pivot with the unpredictable world we are living in. It allows us to focus on the most important work." - Isra Pananon Weeks, Interim Executive Director, NAPAWF
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