Annual Report 2015
Table of Contents Executive Director’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mission & Vision Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Review of Organization Activities Life Matters Journal, the magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Social Media Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Consistently Quirky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Fellowship of the Geeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Pro-Life Allies Coalition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Sidewalk Sidekicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Crisis Intervention Drop Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Campus & Community Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Protest & Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 This Is What a Pro-Life Feminist Looks Like . . . . . . 10 Conference Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Funding & Financial Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Board of Directors & Staff Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Acknowlegements & Endorsements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Notice: If you would like to request further information or have a more detailed question about our financial records, please send an email to Accounts@LifeMattersJournal.org with the subject “Annual Report.”
Vision To make aggressive violence a thing of the past -- to ensure that each and every human being’s life is respected, valued, and protected -- through education and discourse.
Executive Directors Message Throughout 2015, Life Matters Journal has grown by leaps and bounds to expand our efforts dedicated to human rights discourse and education. Our approach, as a non-sectarian and non-partisan organization with a Consistent Life Ethic foundation continues to prove a unique and holistic approach that is more attractive (especially to youth) than our increasingly divisive political landscape. As we have grown, we have been able to expand our activities and engage in a diverse amount of collaborative projects with partner organizations. Our biggest point of growth this year has been moving towards a long-term sustainable solution for our team members by offering them the opportunity to participate in support-raising to transition from an all-volunteer staff to a team that can devote all work hours and energies to LMJ alone. We now have a more engaged internship process, new YouTube video channels to discuss the CLE in light of popular culture and current events, the ProLife Allies Coalition, and a plethora of resources for activists and community leaders. Two projects I am so thrilled about are a sidewalk advocacy program built for non-sectarian audiences and tabling tools built from a common-ground approach and geared towards more liberal and secular audiences -- they’re resources I wish that I’d had access to in college while president of my
pro-life club. The importance of our presence in the movement cannot be understated: this year I had a dear friend of mine (who had been pro-choice) approach me and explain to me how he could no longer live with his cognitive dissonance in caring about some human rights, but disregarding the rights of the preborn. He now is pro-life because consistency matters. And this is just one example of many. Our accomplishments and growth have been so gratifying, but we still live in a nation that has legalized violence in so many cases and a culture that seems to promote violence as a solution more often than it promotes peace and nonviolence. But I have hope that our specific approach is the solution that our culture needs. We can kickstart the political action that will respect, value, and protect the lives of every single human being -- from conception to natural death. The steadfast support of our donors, partners, and contributors is what makes our work possible. We are so very privileged to be able to do this work -- to be your hands and feet on the ground. With a heart full of gratitude,
Aimee C. Murphy Aimee C. Murphy Executive Director
These life issues include, but are not limited to: - abortion - unjust war - euthansia - torture - embryonic stem-cell research - capital punishment - human trafficking - abuse - suicide
Mission To help promote education on life issues, through: - quarterly publication of an online free-to-access magazine, - distribution of literature, and - having a conference with educational speakers to empower our audience to engage in discourse. To help promote discourse on life issues, through: - being a non-partisan organization, - being a non-sectarian organization, - reaching out to a myriad of various organizations with missions different from ours in these areas, but promoting collaboration, and - having an accessible forum for discussion both online and at our conference.
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Volume 3, Issue 4 -- Winter 2015 Reads: 628 Impressions: 9,783 Conversion Rate: 6.4% 347 reads in the first month of publication It can be seen that an updated layout improved our readership over prior issues: our average readership (one year out from publication) of Volume 2-3’s issues was 485 reads, But our conversion was lacking. Volume 4, Issue 1 -- Spring/Summer 2015 Reads: 743 Impressions: 5,734 Conversion Rate: 12.9% 264 reads in the first month, 225 reads in second month A move towards a more integrated design that matched our aesthetic improved both our readership and our conversion rate. More people, upon seeing the magazine, were reading! Volume 4, Issue 2 -- Fall 2015 Reads: 447 Impressions: 3,355 Conversion Rate: 13.3% 295 reads in the first month, 133 reads in second month Continuing in the same style as 4.1, this issue has the best conversion rate of all, but is slow in accruing reads. We need to work on improving our read number in 2016. This will likely mean more advertisement and continued social media presence. Our mini-issues continue to be a hit at the March for Life and related events surround the memorial of Roe v. Wade. We handed out 180+ copies last year and we ran out before the end of events! Students really appreciate having something tangible to read and to share with their friends on many different issues. For 2016, we will be printing 300 copies!
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NB: Statistics from these documents were taken on 12/31/2015. The older the issue, the greater the amount of time to accrue reads.
The Magazine Smart, Sharp, and Engaging With a restructuring of our team’s responsibilities, 2015 brought us a new Executive Editor and Layout Editor. This has correlated to more reads over time for our most recent issues and a higher conversion rate (meaning, the number of people who see our magazine who go on to read the issue) than the historical average. This means that even though fewer people might be seeing the issue, a higher percentage of people are opening it’s pages. Perhaps it’s because we have better cover art, better layout, and overall higher quality material filling the pages. This brings our team much hope in knowing that your fundraising dollars can be wellspent with some additional advertising online because once people see the issues, they want to read what’s inside. A few positive changes that we hope to see in 2016 include expanding our readership through Facebook advertising, the potential of hard-copy issues for a membership program, and a paid author program to improve even further the quality of the content that is in our pages. If you are interested in contributing earmarked donations for any of these up-and-coming programs for the new year, please send an email to our Executive Director at Aimee@LifeMattersJournal.org!
All Issue Reads Throughout LMJ History 800 700 600 500 Reads
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V 1.1 V 1.2 V 1.3 V 1.4 V 2.1 V 2.2 V 2.3 V 2.4 V 3.1 V 3.2 V 3.3 V 3.4 V 4.1 V 4.2
All Issue Impressions Throughout LMJ History 12000 10000 8000 Impressions 6000 4000 2000 0
V 1.1 V 1.2 V 1.3 V 1.4 V 2.1 V 2.2 V 2.3 V 2.4 V 3.1 V 3.2 V 3.3 V 3.4 V 4.1 V 4.2
Issue Conversion Rate Throughout LMJ History 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% Conversion Rate
10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% V 1.1
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Work Smarter, and Harder
100% Increase in Followers! 25,700 post likes Per Post Avg: 2,448 Reach 110 Reaction
Having a dedicated social media coordinator and a corresponding graphic design intern has led to a much more streamlined and engaged base of followers.
103% Increase in Followers! 973 retweets 702 post Likes 137,151 Impressions Per Post Avg: 187 Impressions 300% Increase in Followers! 481 Followers ~10,000+ Notes (estimated based on December stats)
Other statistics unavailable Brand New for LMJ in 2015! 355 Followers 2,328 post Likes Per Post Avg: 15 Likes 33% comment rate Number of LMJ Social Media Acct Followers 2500 2000 Facebook Twitter Tumblr Instagram
1500 1000 500 0 December 2014
December 2015
With 87 graphic and photo posts in 2014 and 184 in 2015, we have had a 111% increase in the amount of visually engaging posts just for Facebook alone. And because we have a dedicated and highlyskilled graphic design intern, our graphics look polished and more professional than ever before. All of our social media platforms have had at least a 100% increase in the number of followers, indicating that our growth is steady. Tumblr had the highest increase in followers - curious, considering that the site is largely considered very liberal and proabortion, but we’re happy to be reaching a diverse audience! In 2015 we added an account on Instagram and have enjoyed interacting with our followers a bit more intimately as we show them the behind-the-scenes photos of work, activism, and even down time. In 2016, we intend to continue our growth by developing a more consistent posting schedule and by adding a fifth social media platform: Pinterest! We look forward to seeing you on the web, please follow, like & subscribe to our posts to stay abreast of what’s next for LMJ!
Social Media Presence 4
Consistently Quirky Knowing that video engagement was outpacing even photo engagement on social media, we have jumped into that fray as well with a YouTube channel dedicated to discussing daily life and life issues all while being quintessentially quirky. We’re working on new scripts and ways to engage other issues in 2016, and are looking forward to building this social media platform.
Brand New for LMJ in 2015! 144 Subscribers 13,110 Video views 1,638: average views per video
The Fellowship of the Geeks In addition to our current projects, many of our team members expressed an interest in using popular media to discuss the many aspects of the Consistent Life Ethic. Born from this seed of an idea was The Fellowship of the Geeks, which officially tied into LMJ in the Summer of 2015. We have a team of contributors who are building a system of reviews and interactive media that is intended to function somewhat like an online “book club”, but for all different sorts of media. Though we’ve gotten off to a somewhat rocky start attempting to align our many schedules for production, we are anticipated to begin in earnest very early in 2016. We hope you will join us to discuss a slough of movies, books, TV, and more!
thefellowshipofthegeeks.tumblr.com
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The Pro-Life Allies Coalition was launched January 2015 at the March for Life events in Washington, D.C. We had about 10 speakers give short remarks at a press conference about collaboration and coalition building with people of all different backgrounds and the value of diversity in the pro-life movement. It was covered by the Catholic News Service, TownHall.com, and others. We had over 300 people sign the #ProLifeAllies Pledge, which reads as follows: “I promise to work with you to end abortion and all other violence against humanity until we live in a culture of peace. I promise to work with you regardless of your skin color, religion, politics, sexuality, income, or background, as long as you stand with me against this injustice of aggressive violence.” In the Summer, as a follow-up, we asked pro-life leaders to give us their thoughts on unity amidst diversity in the pro-life movement. It was so wonderful to see their quotes and the ensuring support on social media.
The social media campaign that followed in the Summer was a success! More than 100 shares and hundreds of “likes” were tallied.
Pro Life Allies Coalition 6
Sidewalk Sidekicks Aimee, advocating for life on the sidewalk, Summer 2015.
All of the materials that come in a Sidewalk Sidekicks bag: some Sidewalk Advocates for Life-approved Training Primers, “Here for Healthcare” cards, and “Be A Hero” pregnancy help pamphlets.
Upon having our own experience in sidewalk advocacy, we found that there were secular and non-sectarian groups who wanted a resource to train their members. So we created a kit with factual information, presented in laymen’s terms to reach the biggest audience possible. We will have the bags available with all Sidewalk Sidekicks materials for the first time at our tabling events for the March for Life 2016!
Crisis Intervention Drop Cards
We sold and gave away thousands of these crisis intervention drop cards that are designed to divert people in crisis to helpful, nonviolent resources to aid in recovery, healing, and to give them hope for their future. The cards include pregnancy help (callers are directed to the pro-life OptionLine), suicide prevention, abuse intervention, homeless help, and info for Abby Johnson’s pro-life ministry for abortion clinic workers.
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Campus & Community Outreach
Drawing More People into Conversation and Genuine Dialogue
From the beginning of 2015, our team had high hopes for a year full of community outreach both in Pittsburgh and beyond. We handed out letters, gift cards, and lucky pennies on “Cheer the Lonely” Day
Our team members have visited 6 campuses this year, led 3 trainings for student and community organizations, given 21 presentations on the Consistent Life Ethic, and Aimee has been an invited guest on 3 radio shows, and a guest contributor on 1 TV show! In Pittsburgh, we helped reinvigorate the grassroots groups in protest and activism,. We gave back to the city we call home by running a canned food drive scavenger hunt and by facilitating “Cheer the Lonely” Day “Random Act of Kindness” events all over various neighborhoods around town. We developed two displays to bring with our speakers that facilitate better, more genuine dialogue that is aimed towards finding common ground and drawing out the truth of human rights. The first is the “Who Deserves Human Rights?” display, the second is “Can You Be Pro-Life and Feminist?: Student leaders who had invited us to their campuses told us that our display helped bring in more new club members than ever before -- one student said “it was the best (“Get On Board Day”) we’ve ever had.” 8
tabling on campus w/UGA SFL
after Aimee’s talk w/UGA SFL tabling on campus w/Bama SFL
w/a student from Mississippi State, at Bama tabling on campus at Pitt
on Pittsburgh’s local NightTalk show, discussing fetal tissue harvesting & abortion
#WomenBetrayed SpeakOut Day - Pittsburgh
Silent Pro-Life Protest of PP Rally @ University of Pittsburgh Protesting PP @ Cecile’s Hearing
(this shot made it to the Associated Press front page!)
Aimee being interviewed by NPR
Walk for Life - West Coast
#AbortionFreeDC Protest
Lisa being interviewed at DC #WomenBetrayed Rally
Engaging the Grassroots with a Consistently Pro-Life Message 2015 was full of so many opportunities for protest and activism, and we took the chance whenever we were able. Armed with literature and information on the Consistent Life Ethic, we rallied our grassroots neighbors to action. Aimee led the #WomenBetrayed events in Pittsburgh as Rally Captain, and helped coordinate the #ProtestPP events in Pittsburgh together with Jeannie French. Aimee even got on NPR, and Lisa was interviewed by a news channel in DC during these rallies. Additionally, our team helped lead a protest and civic action against the Pittsburgh City School Board (who had contracted with Planned Parenthood for student sex education - good news, the contract fell through!), and we silently protested a PP rally at University of Pittsburgh. The biggest rallies that our team took part in, though, were the March for LIfe in DC and the Walk for LIfe West Coast in San Francisco. At all of these protests, we speak a message of nonviolence and of human rights for all. As non-sectarian and non-partisan, we challenge the typical pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike by calling them to consistent protection of all human beings.
Protest & Activism 9
This is What a Pro Life Feminist Looks Like Teaming Up to Educate Our Culture on Feminism’s Pro-Life Roots! We have collaborated with New Wave Feminists, Feminists for Nonviolent Choices, The Guiding Star Project, Alice Paul Group, and FeministsAgainstViolence (tumblr user) to create this unique campaign. We are using this shirts to fundraise for future pro-life feminist education and outreach events, all the while, the shirts prove a useful discourse and education tool! Each shirt comes with its own educational material, with information about the core tenets of feminism: equality, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence. 43 of the first-run shirts (facilitated by Represent.com) were sold, and we then purchased our secondrun of shirts (with the design to the right) and the corresponding pro-life feminist drop cards. Considering how well our campus outreach has been with the “Can You Be Pro-Life & Feminist?” banner, we are truly optimistic that these shirts will be among the most useful and clever conversation starters we’ve produced yet!
These are some of our team members, friends, and fans sporting our first run of our new #ProLifeFeminist shirts.
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This is the shirt we will sell at March for Life events in 2016! Every shirt will come with a pack of 10 #ProLifeFeminist drop cards!
Our favorite self-published pamphlet, which explains the Consistent Life Ethic
(Above) Our team representing at the SFLA West Coast Nat’l Conference, January 2015. (Left) Other team members at the SFLA East Coast Nat’l Conference, also January 2015.
We went to two conferences this year in an effort to reach out to audiences who we anticipated would be open to our message. The SFLA National Conferences have been fruitful in years past, and this year was no different! We had the opportunity to speak with thousands of young people who are on fire to change the culture to one that embraces life. The response to our message was overwhelmingly positive from young people. We got many comments that our approach really “is the way of the future,” and that we represent a solid and holistic foundation for support of human rights and the right to life. It was so encouraging! We received over 100 new email contacts through these conference outreach events, some of whom have become interns, volunteers, and our most active social media engagement followers. Additionally, we handed out over 100 copies of our mini-issue, over 500 stickers, and a plethora of buttons and t-shirts were given for small donations. We gained many new supporters, many of whom are happy to be “walking billboards” for LMJ with their new gear. In 2016 we will be expanding our conference outreach to attend at least 2 more conference events -- and our own Life/Peace/Justice Conference! We are excited to share our message with the thousands who will attend the March for Life Expo, SFLA West Coast conference, and the Cardinal O’Connor Conference in January.
Conference Outreach 11
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Overview This year, the majority of our program expenses were spent on attending conferences and other events, participating in activism, and maintaining and growing our online presence. Next year, we hope to see the program expenses shift in their focus to further media production - including a more sustainable work and distribution system for the magazine, more comprehensive literature and educational material, and a more engaged outreach. This will be part and parcel of growing our staff and allowing them the freedom to participate in the support-raising model. Our programs truly thrive and are unquestionably more sustainable because we are offering our teammates this opportunity to grow with our non-profit. In many ways, what we are doing is offering the chance for our staff to put personalism into action by reaching out and developing lasting relationships with our donors and support team. You, as donors and friends, love our work and cherish what we do because often, you do not have the time to do everything that you want to do for the cause of human rights. Our consistently pro-life team members constantly take that conviction of respect, value, and protection for each and every human being to communities, campuses, conferences, and more. For our team, the world is our mission field and our message is equality, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence for every single human being -- from conception to natural death.
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Board & Staff Members President of the Board Managing Editor nick.neal@lifemattersjournal.org
Nicholas Neal
Nicholas is one of the founding members of LMJ, where he began as Managing Editor, bringing together authors and organizing topics for publication when he was still studying at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (class of 2013). He has since taken up a new position as President of the Board as well. He now lives outside of Los Angeles. Executive Editor Secretary of the Board mary@lifemattersjournal.org
Mary started as an editing intern for LMJ while she was in college, studying Journalism at Dominican University (class of 2012). She has worked her way up and is now proudly the Executive Editor of the magazine and our literary publications. She now lives in Chicago.
Mary Stroka
Executive Director Member of the Board aimee@lifemattersjournal.org
Aimee Murphy
Aimee is one of the founding members of LMJ and currently leads our super team. She graduated with a Bachelors in Ethics, History, and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011. She recently was given the honor of a Susan B. Anthony List Young Leader Award for her trailblazing pro-life leadership. She now lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their two dogs.
C.J. Williams
Board Treasurer & Deputy Editor cwilliams@lifemattersjournal.org
Natalie Antoniello
Phil Eddy
Board Member & Deputy Editor
Maria Oswalt
Lisa Twigg
Layout Editor & Graphic Design Intern
Board Member & Social Media Coordinator twiggy@lifemattersjournal.org
John Whitehead Deputy Editor
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Board Member
Kyle Murphy
Accounts Manager accounts@lifemattersjournal.org
The team at Life Matters Journal extends heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters, donors, corporate partners, family and friends for making 2015 such a fruitful and fantastic year! We especially would like to personally thank our most generous benefactors, who through their gracious support of our mission have enabled Life Matters Journal to expand our operations, grow our team, and reach more people than ever with our message for life, peace, and justice. Thank you so much, donors -- so many of you are such dear friends and have watched us grow from the seed of an idea to a fruitful non-profit. It is truly because of you and donors like you that we are able to do the work that we do. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Aimee Murphy
Nicholas Neal
Phil Eddy
Lisa Twigg
Mary Stroka
ChelseaW
Natalie Antoniello
illiams
K M yle
urphy
“The name “Life Matters Journal” belies the truth of the thing, really. It gives the impression that the limits are drawn at collecting and publishing forward-thinking writing on the primacy and dignity of human life. Certainly that is done, but more than that, LMJ has proven to be a community of critical thought, activism, and shared emotional wherewithal. I have enjoyed reading challenging work on women’s rights, the death penalty, war, torture, and art, all with a focus on celebrating and safeguarding the human person at all ages and in all spaces. Non-partisan and secular, the journal and community have been a haven to and catalyst for a variety of discussions and initiatives around this goal. I am a left-leaning pro-lifer who sees society’s greatest injustices as a direct consequence of valuing money and power, even status and ease above fellow humans. LMJ is a vanguard association of young people who believe this to be unacceptable and have the courage to say so, championing peaceful solutions that rise above this all-too-common apathy. Thank you, you lot, for all that you do.”
- “I.A.S.”, grassroots activist & convert to pro-life
“LMJ fills a much-needed niche in the movement “Fantastic publications! Really different and for human dignity. They stand up for all people and engaging!” - Astrid Bennet Gutierrez, all life by showcasing a variety of perspectives and The VIDA Initiative voices. Great organization and great people behind it!” - Rachel Peller, Feminists for Nonviolent Choices “Life Matters presents and supports Pro Life “Pro-peace and pro-love. A wonderful organization. Truly pro-LIFE.”
issues using factual information and peaceful approaches. What a beautiful way to be a voice for the voiceless. Thank you!!”
Acknowledgements & Endorsements - Brice Griffin, Stanton Healtchare
- Jennifer Koralewski, grassroots activist
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How you can help If you believe in our mission, vision, and work to change our world and usher in a culture of peace and a culture of life, here are some ways that you can get involved and become a member of our support team!
Become a Monthly Donor
Visit www.lifemattersjournal.org/ #!support/c1avz to donate via PayPal, or contact Accounts@LifeMattersJournal.org to learn more about how to pay by check.
Be a Volunteer
There are lots of ways that LMJ needs help, sometimes itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s small tasks like helping gauge interest in a future project, sometimes itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing articles for our magainze or blog, other times this volunteer work may involve your individual skills set. Email Info@LifeMattersJournal.org to learn more about how to get involved.
Bring us to your Campus/Community
We have a small handful of powerful speakers that have experience presenting on a number of different topics, including the Consistent Ethic of Life, Pro-life Feminism, Theories of Just Defense, Adoption, and more. To inquire about opportunities and costs to bring in one of our team members for your event, please email Aimee@LifeMattersJournal.org.
Be an Intern
We offer year-round remote internships that you can take part in from home/your college campus/wherever you are in the world in graphic design, writing, web design, and more. We also offer full-time Summer Internships from our Home/Office in Pittsburgh, PA with more concentrated work in a field of your skills and interest. For more info about the positions and how to apply, check out http://www.lifemattersjournal.org/#!careers/c1et6 16