We’re grateful to be coming back to you all after a period of rest during our hotline closure, for the first two weeks of July! This is J, the Operations Manager at EMA, excited to share more in this newsletter about how some of our internal systems and processes work! Because we operate with a July 1 fiscal year start, the end of June is often the busiest season for us here. We’re really proud to be a staff and board that operates non-hierarchically, using a series of circles and working groups to make the best decisions for the organization. This means that at the end of each fiscal year (April through June for us!), we collectively set our workplans, annual goals, and budget together as a staff, taking into consideration what our callers, partners, clinics, staff, and board need and want. On top of that, we receive a number of grants that follow the July 1 fiscal year as well, so the end of June looks like rapid coordination with clinics to make sure invoices for procedures get paid on time, and the grant money we receive gets put to good use! 

All to say, I’m grateful to have some slow time in early June to recover from that, reset, and set my eyes towards the ambitious plans we’ve made as a staff for next year! Some previews include: developing a block grant program as a way to more efficiently fund abortions at high volume clinics; a new working group focused on developing strategy and philosophy around how we engage and work with volunteers; more political education opportunities, and more! If you are a clinic interested in pursuing block grants with us next year, or a fund that already does block granting in the ecosystem, please reach out! We’d love to chat and learn more from you!

With care and in solidarity, 

J