Why Donate

Oregon State Law mandates that all children experiencing foster care have access to a Court-Appointed Special Advocate.  However, the operational costs to recruit, train, and supervise volunteers continue to be unmet.  The funding sources for local CASA programs have faced years of inconsistency and face an unstable future.  In 2012 the threshold identified for programs to be able to serve all children experiencing foster care in Oregon, was estimated to be $20 million.  More than a decade later, we are still far below this level of funding and have since faced additional financial setbacks. 

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2021-2023 was the closest we've ever come to serving a majority of children in foster care.  Since that time, CASA programs stopped receiving Victims of Crime Act funding due to a reduction in the federal VOCA fund. In Oregon, HB3196 was proposed in 2025 to help offset the reduction in federal funding.  Unfortunately, that effort was unsuccessful.  Additionally, the Oregon CASA Network anticipated $1.7 million in federal-earmark funding in 2025.  Due to federal budget changes, this was also not received. 

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However, we are grateful to be receiving $6.3 million in state dollars for the biennium.  While most of this funding is disbursed to local programs for children's advocacy, it only contributes, on average, 25% of individual program budgets.  This means 75% of CASAs budget statewide must be raised through grant writing, fundraising activities, and donations.  The time and energy spent on these activities limits the ability for programs to actively recruit and train more volunteer advocates.  With the recent funding losses, this amount also fails to keep program operations at current service levels.  Many programs have had to reduce staff, close office locations, and project to serve less children in the upcoming biennium.  

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Every donation, helps keep our advocacy efforts alive, When you give to CASA programs, you're ensuring that more children can receive the support they need while living in foster care.  If you would like to donate to a local CASA program, please go to the CASA programs page to find the program near you.