Watch our launch video to see, or read on...
This year, ASN turned five years old. In that time, we’ve helped over 1,600 women and families to get the information, practical advice, a place to stay, and most importantly the money they need to get safe and legal abortions in the UK.
In 2015, we estimate nearly 700 more women will contact us, and we want to be able to help them, and reach out to even more women who haven’t heard of us yet. We need to be here not only next year but for the next three, five, ten years and beyond. To do this, we need to move ASN to the next level – we need to raise enough money to pay at least one part-time staff member. We have already raised £10,800 from some generous (and anonymous) supporters - now we need your help to raise the rest.
ASN greeting cards - yours in time for Valentine's when you sponsor a day or more of our work.
Why do you need to pay anyone - isn’t ASN a volunteer charity?
Whenever we do anything at ASN Towers*, we ask one question: will this help more women?
And the answer is a big YES.
Moving from an all-volunteer charity to one which is almost-all-volunteer is not a step we have taken lightly, but it’s one that’s best for ASN and the women we help. This will allow ASN to think and work more strategically, and meet the growing demand for our services. With a Director paid more accurately for her time working for ASN, we could raise more money, reach out to more women who we know need us, contact more press: ultimately, help more people in Ireland and Northern Ireland access safe abortion.
And we want to do this while still having enough cash to meet client demand. We haven’t had to turn a woman away due to lack of funds in nearly two years – and we’re sure you’ll agree that’s something to be proud of, and not something we want to change.
Our volunteers are still absolutely essential to us and we couldn’t do anything without them. In future, we’d ideally like to expand the number of paid ASN roles, but as this is something new for us we want to start with one (part-time) role.
*We don’t actually have towers. In fact, we don’t have an office. Everything runs from our Director’s and volunteers’ homes.
Why now?
Put simply: it’s now or never.
For the past year our Director has gotten a small stipend from ASN’s funds plus a grant from the Feminist Review Trust. But this grant funding runs out in December 2014 - and this doesn’t reflect the amount of work our Director actually does for ASN.
It’s also not sustainable. The number of women contacting us keeps increasing, so we need to make sure ASN is able to keep helping them for the long haul: not only next year but for the next three, five, ten years and beyond. After all, we can’t bet on the Irish and Northern Irish governments letting us close down any time soon…!
Demand for our services has been growing since ASN was founded in 2009, and it’s time for us to go to the Next Level for women who need us. We need to ensure we’re here for the long haul for women in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Show off your pro-choice awesomeness with this tote bag when you sponsor two days or more!
What's the amount you need to raise, and why that much?
We have assessed the Director’s workload as approximately the equivalent of 3.5 days work per week, calculated as £27,400 for 12 months. We have based our target on a reasonable amount for the type and level of work our Director’s role entails. For comparison, the average full-time salary of a UK charity chief executive in 2013 was £60,000.
What happens if you don’t reach your target?
Of course, we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think we could reach at least our minimum target.
But if not, we have two options. The first would be to pay for staff costs from our existing income. However, the risk of this is that there would be less money available to fund women who need us. The other alternative would be to reduce the amount of work ASN’s Director does to reflect the amount we have managed to raise.
Both of these options might mean that next year we would have to turn women away, stop answering calls at times, or limit the amount of money we can give women (our average grant is £100-200, but we don’t currently cap grants).
This would mean helping fewer women, not more, at a time when more women are calling us than ever. With your help to reach this target, we can help more women.
Why are you offering rewards?
Rewards are a great way to show you how much we appreciate your support. We’ve tried to come up with rewards that money can’t buy: the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes insight into your support and show you exactly how you help.
Where the rewards include physical stuff, we have chosen cost-effective and fun things that will be both useful for you and help spread the word about ASN.
If you want to contribute but don’t want a reward, please just let us know – we won’t force you to accept our teatowels! And THANK YOU!
But they are pretty awesome, if we do say so ourselves
I want to sponsor - how do I pick my day(s)/week(s)/month(s)?
Thank you so much! We will contact you when the campaign finishes to ask for your preferred dates; or if you have a special one in mind, you can contact us at any time after you have pledged to let us know. Just email with the username and email you have used - and of course the date(s) you would like!
I want to sponsor, but anonymously. Can I?
Of course! You can select to give anonymously on Crowdfunder and your name will not be displayed publicly here or anywhere else: just choose the topmost 'Pledge' button on this screen under the total, and then choose the top left option on the next screen; the one that says "I would like to pledge anonymously and don't want a reward". The default amount for anonymous donation is £13 but you can top that up to whatever you'd like!
If you're happy for your name to be displayed here but don't want it on our Twitter, Facebook or Annual Report, please email us at the project owner to let us know.
I can’t afford to give, can I still contribute?
YES! Of course. You can help us spread the word about The Next Level: not only on social media, but in person, too. Word of mouth is so important, so you have our heartfelt encouragement to talk the ears off your pro-choice, pro-fairness, pro-women friends and family.
You can also hold an event and donate the proceeds to the Next Level campaign - something as simple and fun as a movie night in your home! We have dedicated volunteers ready to help you and a toolkit to get you started. As long as you can send us what you’ve raised before the deadline, you’ll still be eligible for all the rewards at that level! Just email us at the project owner
to tell us that you want the money you’ve raised to go towards this campaign.
Every little helps - even two hours of support gets you this Pro-Choice Superstar badge!
If you have any questions that aren't covered here, please email the project owner and we'll be happy to answer them!
