Ohio Women’s Alliance

Background

Ohio Women’s Alliance (OWA) is a Black-women-led group founded in 2019 to provide financial support and services to Ohio residents seeking abortion. ²

In 2020, the nonprofit established the Ohio Women’s Alliance Action Fund to politically advocate for pro-abortion policies. ³

The Ohio Women’s Alliance and the Abortion Fund of Ohio provide support to women seeking abortions through their Membership Assistance Program (MAP), offering services like transportation to appointments, financial aid, and accommodation. ⁴

Staff

Rhiannon Carnes is the founder and executive director of Ohio Women’s Alliance. ⁵ Carnes previously worked for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and, in 2024, she was named a Woman of Vision by the Ms. Foundation for Women. ²

Jordyn Close became the deputy director of Ohio Women’s Alliance in March 2022. ⁶ Close is also board president at the Abortion Fund Of Ohio. ⁷

Anastasia Martinez is the director of campaigns and policy at Ohio Women’s Alliance. Previously, Anastasia worked in the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center as an education policy analyst for two years. ⁸

Myia Rucker is the director of membership at Ohio Women’s Alliance. Myia is also an AmeriCorps member. ⁹

Sarah Inskeep is the senior director of Finance and Operations at Ohio Women’s Alliance. Sarah previously worked as a communications and digital manager at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. ¹⁰

Mary Ellen Madden is the senior director of communications at Ohio Women’s Alliance. ¹¹

Advocacy Efforts

In February 2023, Ohio Women’s Alliance submitted a constitutional amendment to restore abortion access to the November 2023 statewide general election ballot. ¹² In November, abortion access was placed on the ballot, and Ohio residents voted in favor of the amendment. ¹³

In December 2023, Ohio Women’s Alliance, the Abortion Fund of Ohio and Restoring Our Own Through Transformation (ROOTT), launched a petition for Brittany Watts, ¹⁴ a 34-year-old Ohio woman charged with abuse of a corpse for flushing her miscarried baby. The case was dropped in January 2024 after a grand jury dismissed the charges against her. ¹⁵

Ohio Women’s Alliance established the Reproductive Justice Table Fellowship to train its fellows on ways to generate, analyze, and launch abortion campaigns. The nonprofit also supports the Black Lives Matter movement. ¹⁶

Grantmaking

In 2022, Ohio Women’s Alliance and OWA Action Fund received more than $1,900,000 grant awards from its supporters and foundations. ¹⁷

The nonprofit also received a $250,000 general support grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in 2022. ¹⁸

In November 2023, Ohio Women’s Alliance was one of nine recipients of a $2.5 million award from the George Gund Foundation. ¹⁹ The nonprofit also received $500,000 from The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, ²⁰ an Ohio based health foundation committed to improving the “health and well-being of the Jewish and general communities.” ²¹

OWA and the Abortion Fund of Ohio were awarded a $500,000 grant from the Columbus City Council to support the Member Assistance Program (MAP). ¹⁷

From 2021 to 2023, Ohio Women’s Alliance received more than $1,600,000 in program support from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, a pro-abortion grantmaker that is primarily funded by Warren Buffett. ^{22 23 24}

Partners

Ohio Women’s Alliance is a member of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of left-leaning abortion organizations. ²⁵ Other members include Abortion Fund of Ohio, URGE, ACLU of Ohio, and New Voices for Reproductive Justice. ²⁶

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2022 the Ohio Women’s Alliance reported revenue of $1,905,213 and expenses totaling $1,656,630. ²⁷