As some of you may know, I am trying to launch a new organization - a sort of nonprofit/consultancy hybrid to help independent abortion clinics. In trying to get off the ground I keep on running into a common refrain from both funders and fiscal sponsors: “We’re in strategic planning right now so we are not taking any new applicants.”

I understand the impulse, truly I do. I love a vision & a plan. There are a lot of competing priorities right now and everyone wants to be stewarding funds and programs as best as they possibly can. We want alignment and maximization of impact and all of it. Funders want to know where their money is going and why.

But here’s the thing: there’s no time. What there is: money in reserve.

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