'Rage giving' prompted by the end of Roe has dropped off, abortion access groups say

After the Dobbs decision, some major funders of abortion access also ended or shifted funding from organizations working in states where abortion is now banned, said Naa Amissah-Hammond, senior director of grantmaking with Groundswell Fund, which funds grassroots groups organizing for reproductive justice.

Women's health and foster care nonprofits, who expected increased demand in areas where access to abortion was eliminated or restricted, say they also haven't seen increased support.

Holly Calvasina said her experience as director of development at the reproductive health clinic CHOICES in Memphis, Tennessee, might provide an explanation. Like many working in the reproductive rights sector, Calvasina said she tried to prepare for the increase in need, even before a draft of the Supreme Court decision was leaked in May last year. While some funders saw the writing on the wall and stepped up support, others wanted to wait and see.

"Philanthropy moves really slowly and human rights crises unfold quickly," Calvasina said.

CHOICES received $150,000 in donations to its annual spring appeal last year, up from $2,000 in 2021. This year, it raised $40,000.

Organizations in states where abortion is banned or limited needed to pivot, said Marsha Jones, executive director of The Afiya Center based in Dallas. Her organization used donations received after the Dobbs decision to expand its birthing center, but she said funders are less interested in supporting maternal health than they were in supporting advocacy and practical support for abortions. She argues, as she has for years, that supporting reproductive justice is more than supporting abortion access.

"It is literally people wanting to choose full bodily autonomy," she said of those choosing to carry a pregnancy to term and others who do not.

Data on last year's charitable giving to any sector is hard to come by. COVID-19 slowed the public release of donor reports to the IRS, though a delay of up to two years was typical even before the pandemic.

Donations to human services and public society benefit organizations, sectors that could include abortion access nonprofits, both declined in 2022, while donations to health organizations increased 5%, a decline when adjusted for inflation, according to a recent Giving USA report.

Many donors fund abortion access anonymously, sometimes requiring grantees not to publicly disclose the source. Some in the sector said donors have many reasons for wanting to be anonymous, including to avoid being targeted by groups opposing abortion.

The largest historic funder, The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, eventually makes gifts public through tax filings but does not comment on support for abortion access and did not respond to questions about whether or how its funding strategy changed in response to the Dobbs decision.

Another large funder, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, said it is shifting or ending grants to organizations in most states where abortion is illegal or significantly restricted. It allocated an additional $14.1 million in funding last year in part to "shore up providers in safe haven states," and said it is considering funding maternal health, among other areas, in these states instead.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation said it provides steady support to grantees in all states to fund abortion care where it remains legal or advocacy against bans.

In general, giving to organizations specifically serving women and girls represents less than 2% of all donations, according to a research project of the Women's Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

One measure of the potential amount of funding available to reproductive health organizations is the extent of gifts from donor-advised funds hosted by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country. Those donations exceeded $98 million in 2022, according to data from Candid, a nonprofit that compiles information about charitable giving.

Seeing a drop in giving after a major event is not that unusual, said Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School. "If you think about the decision to give, whether it's to a natural disaster or crisis, people hear about it and they want to participate to make a difference," Osili said.

Philanthropic support surged to states such as New Mexico, which passed laws to protect access to abortion and shield abortion providers while bordering Texas and Oklahoma banned abortion.

In Texas, where the state's child welfare program is so overwhelmed that children sometimes sleep in office buildings, foster care workers fear the state's strict laws on abortion may force women to have children for whom they cannot care, adding to the foster children population.

Amissah-Hammond, of the Groundswell Fund, said she's waiting to see if funders will continue to support abortion access over the long term. For those concerned about legal liabilities, she suggested they offer general operating support, rather than project-based grants, and accept updates over the phone.