2023 in Review (12/20/23)

Here we are—December 20th, standing on the edge of the winter solstice and brimming with hope against all odds.

We have had a great and terrible and wonderful and challenging year, but one thing has remained constant: our community has held us, and held us up. We say this a lot, but we mean it: we couldn’t do this without you.

What’s this, you ask? We’ll let the numbers* speak for themselves:

  • Total Callers: 4,182

  • Total Calls to Our Warmline: 17,694

  • Total voicemails left on warmline: 7,943

  • Total $$ Pledged: $670,000

  • Total Callers Pledges: 2,062

  • Average Pledge: $325

  • Practical support distributed: $90,060

*as of December 20th; these remain preliminary estimates.

From Our Client Services Director:

  • In 2023, CAF disbursed more funding for abortion and practical support than we ever have before! Our services are more and more in demand as state abortion bans make accessing abortion care more and more difficult in North and South Carolina and across the Southeast.

  • We pledged $670,000 to patients to help pay for their abortion care in the Carolinas and for North and South Carolina patients forced to travel out-of-state for abortion care unavailable (because of abortion bans!) in North or South Carolina. 

  • We disbursed approximately $90,000 to patients for travel costs, including gas, rental cars, lodging, food, and incidentals. 

  • Our staff trained over 30 volunteers to provide trauma-informed support to callers as helpline case managers, doulas, and volunteer drivers. 

  • We partnered with clinics to adapt our services after the implementation of SB 20 in North Carolina. Despite the additional hurdles SB 20 imposed on patients, we continued to support abortion seekers in the Carolinas so they could obtain the care they need.

From Our Operations Manager:

  • Got the new merch site running with new merch options and designs.

  • Helped behind the scenes with our first annual gala!

  • Attended 6 in-person CAF events, including a Barbie Party, the gala, and our (first in a long while) event in Charleston, SC.

From Our Policy and Movement Building Manager:

  • We honored the anniversary of rights we were born with, which are now gone, or rights I can remember achieving in high school, taken in just a summer. The chanting and defiant marches out of the statehouses and the silent, crying, walking out of the statehouse were only bearable with and in the community.

This is to say, there were undeniable wins worth sharing:

  • In Greenville, charges against the woman accused of allegedly self-administering abortion pills in 2021 were dropped!

  • We celebrated one year with our Salem CAF Chapter!

  • We organized in ways that connected reproductive justice across borders, races, religions, genders.

  • Debuted Joy is Justice.

  • Opill has been approved as the first-ever over-the-counter (OTC) birth control pill in the US and will be available on shelves in 2024!

  • Our policy and movement volunteers both endured and laughed, cried and giggled, fought and smiled.


From Our Engagement Director:

  • Planned and hosted our first-ever gala: LIVE THROUGH THIS, a Prom for Abortion Access. We hosted 200 friends of CAF at the Fruit in Durham, and raised a lot of money for abortion seekers across the Carolinas. 

  • Greensboro and Wilmington screenings of THE JANES, featuring a panel with former "Jane" Diane Stevens

  • Rallied our people and readied our infrastructure to rise and meet increased demand for our help following the passage of both the 12 week NC ban and 6-week SC ban. We were able to re-open training slots for helpline volunteers + doulas

  • Our feature in the Cut went live. 

  • Ran a pretty groovy Barbie campaign and raised close to 5k! 

  • Hosted our annual Taco or Beverage campaign and collaborated with Purr Cup Cafe + Steel String Brewery

  • Got to hand out Plan B/table for BOYGENIUS in Wilmington

  • Have planned our second gala, AGE OF AQUARIUS—twice as much fun expected.

From Our Director of Development:

  • One Time Donations*

    • 1656 for 2023

    • Average donation amount $156.39

  • Sustainership*

    • 2768 total sustainers for 2023

    • 228 new sustainers

    • Average donation amount $22.33

  • 40 Days for CAF

    • Collaborated with Virginia funds - BRAF, HRRJL, New River, RRFP

    • Counted 1120 antis at clinics across three states

    • $16,273 pledged

  • Fund-A-Thon

    • Surpassed $50k goal, raising $176,000

    • Events: Steel String, Janes Screening, South Carolina Trivia

  • Grants and support from three new organizations

  • Raised monthly abortion pledge budget from $37,000 per month to $55,000 per month

We at CAF wish you a warm and wonderful end to this year. See you in 2024.

CAF Admin