Last December, we began our end-of-year fundraising for Scarleteen with a goal to raise the minimum we needed from online donors for 2012, $35,000, a very modest ask compared to other organizations or projects of or near our tenure and level of service.

Unfortunately, we still have not yet been able to raise even half of that sum. As of today, we have raised almost $15,000. We're so very grateful to the 135 individuals who donated generously to help us get to that sum, but that total just won't do. We run our organization and services far more cost-efficiently than similar organizations or groups, and can stretch a dollar like nobody's business, but that can only get us so far.

We need that minimum of 35K for this year -- which, combined with a private grant and existing donors, still giv us only $80,000 to do everything we do -- in order to sustain and maintain our services and those who provide them, create new content and tools, and to keep our organization afloat.

We don't like to ask for money again (actually, we don't like asking for money at all) so soon after we've just asked, but what we like even less is the prospect of being unable to continue with the level of education, information and support that so many people rely on us for and have valued year after year. So we're asking again.

We didn't use to do fundraising at the end of the year: for years we did our yearly push around Valentine's Day. Why Valentine's Day? Well, because everyone is usually talking about sex and love already, for one. As a sex and relationships education organization, we're obviously up with sex and love. Commodified holidays, not so much, but at the same time, celebrations of love and sex are things we'll generally figure can be a Good Thing.

Too, it's a time of year when an awful lot of people shell out an awful lot of money to express, celebrate or instigate sex and romantic love. Americans alone will spend close to 17 billion (that's right, 17 billion) dollars on flowers, candy, baubles, bangles, cute underpants, dinners, getaways and other gifts and tokens. We think that spending ten, twenty or fifty dollars less on that stuff so you can support something a lot more likely to help people cultivate and nourish healthy, happy sexual and romantic lives when they want them (and with no risk of cavities!) is a great gesture of love and care, one certainly more meaningful than a Whitman's sampler or lingerie that's really for the person buying it rather than the person it's being given to.

We keep hearing people asking where truly comprehensive, inclusive and thoughtful sex education can be found, or even saying that no one does or provides that kind of sex education anywhere.

Where is progressive, inclusive and in-depth sex education, information and support most young people around the world can easily access, any hour of the day they want or need it?

As the millions of teens and young adults who find it at Scarleteen every day of every year can tell you -- nearly 5 million of them used our site and services in 2011 alone -- it's right here.

Where's sex education that's as supportive of people choosing not to engage in sex as it is for those who are? Right here. What about sex ed that also supports those choosing to have an active sexual life, including with partners, and does so without judgment? Right here. Where's sex and relationship education that really talks about what makes relationships healthy and what makes them unhealthy? Right here. How about sex ed that addresses consent clearly and thoroughly? Right here.

Where's the sex ed that isn't just for straight people, able-bodied people, cisgender people or people whose relationships are inside the proverbial box? Right here. What about sex ed that also helps victims or survivors of sexual assault or abuse, intimate partner violence or domestic violence? It's right here at Scarleteen.

Where's sex ed that helps young people unpack misinformation or mixed messages they pick up from friends, parents, poor quality sex ed or abstinence-only and the media? Right here. Pro-choice sex education, and sex education that not only isn't conspiculously silent about abortion, but talks about it openly and soupportively? Here. Sex education that talks about body-image, self-image and self-esteem? Here. Sex ed where people can actually engage in candid, frank conversations with someone educated who they can trust, someone who won't blow them off, blush or back away when they ask questions? Here. Sex ed whose agenda is set by what those receiving it are asking for, rather than by funders or state or federal mandates or politics? Here. Sex education that actually addresses pleasure, and talks about sex as something that isn't just about avoiding the bad stuff, but seeking out the good stuff? Here, again. Where's sex ed that also is sure to provide all the basics, like information about anatomy, safer sex and STIs and contraception? It's all right here.

We've been right here, doing all that we do for 14 dedicated years now, and we'd really like to keep on doing it, continuing to hold up a high bar for not just online sex education and information, but all sex education; the kind of thoughtful, in-depth, diverse and candid sex education young people themselves ask for. But we need help and support in order to keep doing that.

It probably doesn't surprise you that sex ed this forward-thinking, this progressive and this pioneering isn't usually the kind of sex ed that gets state and federal funds or giant grants. It's not the kind of sex ed taught in most schools, even those with comprehensive programs. During most of the years we've been around, here in the U.S. federal funds weren't even available for ANY comprehensive sex education, and that's not something which has improved much with the end of the Bush administration. It's also not something very likely to improve very much very soon from the looks of things. And private funding for sex education of any sort, let alone sex ed like we private, is also tremendously hard to come by, especially when you answer to those you provide services to and what they want, rather than to funders, whose aims and agendas often aren't in alignment with what young people say they need.

But we're stubborn, and we've kept doing what we do despite all the challenges, financial and otherwise. We love doing what we do just as much as those who benefit from all our services love it, and our hope is that anyone who also loves what we do and can help us to keep doing it will.

If you already know that all the kinds of things people are asking for in sex ed can be found right here at Scarleteen, and you know how valuable that is, we'd very much appreciate your help. If it's news to you that we've got all this going on, or you've never even heard of us before today, take some time to look around: if you like what you see, please help us out. Even a small donation can make a big difference.

If you want a great way on Valentine's Day to demonstrate some love and care, to support sex and sexual or romantic relationships that are as good as they can be, we don't think you could do better than to give a little towards a service and organization as deeply passionate about and dedicated to quality sexuality and relationships education as Scarleteen is.

If you'd like to know more about who we are, what we do and why and how we do it, or how else your contribution will be utilized, the links below are some starting points. We're also always happy to answer any questions you may have directly, including discussing larger contributions or private grants: feel free to email us anytime.

Big thanks for taking the time to read and consider our ask of you today, and we wish you and yours the richest celebrations of sex, love or both you might have today and every day. If you're able to give today and support what we do, we hope your hearts swell all the more with the knowledge that you've helped give young people a big foundational piece of what they need in order to best cultivate, navigate and enjoy their own sex and love lives, in all their awesome diversity, for the rest of their lives.

• Support Scarleteen: Your Support Gives Young People Our Support
• All About Scarleteen
• Scarleteen Is...
• Support Scarleteen
• What Is Healthy Sexual development?
• User Testimonials
• About Our Bully-Free Zone
• Our 2011 Demographic Survey
• Real Peer Education

UPDATE: As of 2/18/2102, 21 new donors contributed an additional $1,795 in support. Thank you! We still have a long way to go to reach our $35,000 minimum goal, but your help gets us that much closer!

This summer, Arianna, who is one of our readers, wrote and produced a play at her college about sexuality which also included a fundraising ask for Scarleteen.

This month, Marlena, another Scarleteen user, surprised us with this incredible video she made as part of Project for Awesome, to do what she could to help support what we do and express her experience of what Scarleteen can offer to young people, particularly in a world which is so often unsupportive not just of youth sexuality, but of youth as a whole.

And now, in the last week, yet another fantastic young person began an ingenious self-designed fandom auction to help us here, an effort a host of creative, generous folks have hopped on so far to pitch in with.

We feel the information, support and services we provide for young people are things that young people truly are owed: things they should be able to receive for free from any of us who have the ability to provide them for them. Ideally, our hope is always that older folks with a greater ability to help support organizations and services financially do so that youth can simply take what they need from us as they need it and not have to worry about whether it will still be there for them or not tomorrow or next year.

At the same time, even though their resources are most often far more limited, we've had some young people step up now and in the past to do what they could to help keep us going. That's evidenced well by our fantastic and highly dedicated volunteer staff, all of whom are under 30. Young people have also given through our give-a-buck campaign (which sometimes also includes lovely thank you letters I keep on one wall of my office, letters which always make me smile). Over the years, some of our strongest donors have been those who used Scarleteen as young people, and years later, want to do what they can to say thank you and assure that we're here for other teens and twenty-somethings like we were for them.

We just can't thank all of you enough. Both for what you've been able to do to help provide financial support (support we think you really shouldn't have to give in the first place), but also because when you do things like this, it makes all of us who run and manage Scarleteen feel so great about what we do, have done and can keep on doing. All of the Scarleteen team love the work we do here, but it's hardly an easy job; it's one that asks a lot of our time and energy and requires intensely sustained motivation and determination, especially in a world where what we do and the way we do it is so often grossly unsupported, even though it's exactly what young people themselves are asking for. Efforts like yours are wonderful gifts. They're like having the most amazing alternative cheerleading squad an organization could ask for. Thank you.

Our thanks, too, to all of you, whatever your age, and in whatever way you've done it, who have already given us your support this year. Scarleteen has remained the kind of independent, grassroots media and free-range, progressive activism and advocacy we want it to be for all the years we have operated, and as we enter our 14th year, we are excited to be able to continue the work and service we couldn't sustain without your generosity. Thank you.

We're at the last day of end-of-year fundraising drive. I know how overwhelming it is this time of year with the flood of requests in your postal or email box asking for your support for so many organizations or issues. If you're like me, part of the overwhelm you feel is a deep desire to give to many of these when you know you can't possibly give all you'd like to to all of them, or even more than one or two, at best. Often enough, the most charitable and progressive of us also happen to have wallets whose skimpy contents are highly unreflective of our big-hearted desire to support the organizations and issues most important to us. I know that asking for even a little financial support is often asking a lot, which is one reason why I continue to keep Scarleteen one of the most cost-efficient organizations out there and continue to set our fundraising goals as modestly as I can.

This time around, we've unfortunately -- so far -- only been able to reach less than 1/3rd of our minimum-needed goal of $35,000. When we subtract the two highest donations from the $7,500 we've raised as of today, we're only looking at around $3,000 raised. Anything you can give will make a real difference.

If you can help out in the last days of 2011, we'd truly appreciate it. You can be sure every and any dollar you give to us will be stretched as far as possible to help us continue to provide the trailblazing, holistic sexuality education, information, services and advocacy for millions of young people around the world that we have since they started asking us for our help in 1998.

This isn't now or never. If you can't give now, but may be able to within a few months, that would be fantastic, too. Whether you can help out now or a bit further down the road, your contribution has real value.

If financial support isn't an option for you, we understand. But don't forget that as an organization without the budget to even adequately compensate one staff member, let alone have a paid staff of more than one, we always can use extra volunteers. For 2012, we could use any help you might be able to offer in the following areas, particularly:

• ethical SEO consulting and services
• qualified volunteers to help answer our Sexpert Advice queue with thousands of questions
• grantwriting
• reviewers for books and other media
• qualified adolescent and young adult medical consulting and fact-checking
• grunt work: such as meta-tag adding and spam moderation
• legal services, specifically in helping us manage unauthorized copies of our content online and in keeping our copyrights current
• office management assistance
• tech development
• ethical marketing and public relations
• teen and young adult writers for our blog

If those are skills or services you can and want to offer to share, you can contact us here. Thanks!

Our very best to all of our readers, users, colleagues and allies as we wind up 2011 and enter 2012. We feel lucky to have you as members of our community as we enter another year of creating and supporting what we think is some of the very best sex and sexuality education on the planet for readers we strongly feel deserve nothing less. The very least we owe the young people in our world is to be half as awesome as they are, after all.

I want to focus this entry on the second of the optional questions in the demographics survey. Of the 2,000 participants who completed the survey, this question was answered by 1,530. The question was this: Since using Scarleteen, which of any of the following has changed for you, and by how much?

We saw a couple comments at the end of the survey, from statistics-focused folks, concerned that our aim was to state that whatever improvements users reported were solely because of Scarleteen. That was never the intent.

The intent in asking this questions was primarily to get a picture of what, if any, improvements relevant to what we address here our users were experiencing which may have been due to using our services or may not have been. What we most wanted to see was not the areas where we may have done a good job or where our users already felt things were going very well for them, but areas where it would seem sound to say we currently are not having the impact we'd like to with positive changes. In other words, this question seemed likely to be most useful in identifying our potential weak spots, rather than our strengths, and could give us a clearer sense on how and where we should look most to improve our content and approaches.

We also figured we couldn't expect many users to be able to identity if positive changes or a lack thereof had to do with their use of Scarleteen or not, or, if it did, only had to do with using Scarleteen. We do hear from users in direct services, in email, and did from some in comments to this survey, about how they feel Scarleteen plays or has played a part in improving certain areas of their lives. Some of the answers to this question were, indeed, reflective of some of the positive feedback we get.

At the same time, some of these changes tend to happen for some people as they move through adolescence and into adulthood, regardless. So, in the interest of intellectual honesty, as well as supporting young people's agency, we've framed this the way we did and are now because while we feel it's fair to figure that Scarleteen may have had some of the impact reflected in the answers, as these are issues we work on with and for users, but we also don't feel it is sound for us to claim a given level of authoritative ownership or influence with those changes with a survey like this.

I personally feel some the more illuminating answers, the answers most useful to us as an organization always aiming to improve how we serve our readers and users, and always needing to identify where we could do better or need to work harder, were the ones where a good deal of positive change was not reported. Some of those answers were surprising to me and to the volunteers as well: without that feedback, our awareness of these possible weaknesses would have been much more limited. (Thanks, survey participants!)

Here's that data in text, with the highest percentage of answers to each question bolded:

Since using Scarleteen, which of any of the following has changed for you, and by how much:

My relationships have improved (1,452 answers): No change, 10.4%, a little, 10.9%, some, 21.0% (305), a lot, 15.4% (223), not applicable, 42.4%. Comments reflected that many of the users answering either are not in relationships or feel their relationships are already of high quality.

I feel more able to make and respect my own best sexual choices: No change, 3.6%, a little, 9.5%, some, 22.5%, a lot, 42.8%, not applicable, 21.6%.

I practice safer sex more or more consistently: No change, 9.7%, a little, 4.7%, some, 11.1%, a lot 19.7%, not applicable, 54.8%. Again, some of this is was spoken about in comments regarding not being in relationships, or safer sex seeming to be something participants were already excellent at. However, given that we know from other data sources and one-on-one conversations with users that many people have incorrect ideas about what safer sex is and how to do it properly, and given some of the answers below reflect a good amount of respondents not doing part of safer sex at all, this answer still concerns me.

I use birth control more or more consistently: No change, 13.1%, a little, 3.3%, some, 7.4%, a lot, 17.3%, not applicable, 58.8%. See above, though also bear in mind that around half of our users are not heterosexual and many have no need for contraception when they are sexually active.

I have sought out sexual healthcare: No change, 18.7%, a little, 6.3%, some, 11.3%, a lot, 16.8%, not applicable, 46.9% . Again, some of N/A being the highest answer here is about users who have not yet had life or health experiences that facilitate a need for that care. At the same time, this is an area where we have often experiences many users clearly in need of that care who avoid it, so, this set of answers is a concern.

I have been able to ask a sexual partner to get tested: No change, 20.5%, a little, 4.2%, some, 5.2%, a lot, 9.9%, not applicable, 60.2%. While yet again, some of this may be because there has not been a partner to ask, we do often experience users who feel they don't have to ask or feel testing isn't needed when it is, so this answer also raises concern.

I have gotten tested for STIs more often (or for the first time): No change, 22.5%, a little, 3.6%, some, 6.9%, a lot, 10.6%, not applicable, 56.5%. See above.

I feel more able to set sexual limits and boundaries: No change, 7.3%, a little, 11.0%, some, 18.9%, a lot, 33.0%, not applicable, 29.8%.

I feel more comfortable talking/communicating about sex:, No change, 6.0%, a little, 9.5%, some, 19.4%, a lot, 42.2%, not applicable, 22.9%.

I have worked harder to be sure I have a partner's consent with anything sexual:, No change, 9.6%, a little, 5.4%, some, 12.4%, a lot, 25.8%, not applicable, 46.8%. Again, some of this is likely about a lack of relationships. At the same time, this answer is a concern because we find many people's ideas of when consent is needed and what doing consent well entails are often problematic or one-sided.

My confidence/assertiveness has improved:, No change, 9.8%, a little, 14.3%, some, 21.9%, a lot, 29.8%, not applicable, 24.2%.

I feel better about my sexual identity:, No change, 7.9%, a little, 9.8%, some, 19.1%, a lot, 34.7%, not applicable, 28.5%.

I feel better about my body:, No change, 10.8%, a little, 13.5%, some, 20.7%, a lot, 29.5%, not applicable, 25.5%

I have come out (w/orientation or gender identity):, No change, 17.8%, a little, 6.6%, some, 6.1%, a lot, 8.2%, not applicable, 61.3%.

I feel stronger in healing from sexual abuse or assault:, No change, 11.5%, a little, 4.0%, some, 6.1%, a lot, 8.2%, not applicable, 70.2%. While we see a high number of users who have survived sexual abuse or assault coming to us for information, help and support, the majority of our users have not been sexually abused or assaulted.

I have recognized areas in my life/relationships I could improve/ where I want to make positive changes:, No change, 8.6%, a little, 12.3%, some, 9.2%, a lot, 29.0%, not applicable, 30.9%.

If in school, my grades have improved:, No change, 22.9%, a little, 5.2%, some, 7.2%, a lot, 6.3%, not applicable, 58.4% While many of our users are still in school, our general sense is that the majority tend to already be very high-achieving.

Here's a taste of some of the comments (including a couple which support why automatically associating positive changes to use of Scarleteen would have been problematic):

• I think I can work on asking someone out now.
• Your texting service helped me talk about my past abuse in real time; made me feel important and listened to
• I feel more comfortable around my girlfriend.
• I have decided that I am interested in undertaking academic work in the field of sex & relationships for people with mental health support needs.
• I'm just guessing - but these are areas where my life improved thanks to educational resources and mentors like these...
• I feel more positive about sex, rather than the negative opinion my parents hold and forced on me
• I answered a lot a N/A because I have never had sex.
• I feel I have a reliable and accurate place to refer my 14-year-old when he has questions he doesn't want to discuss with me or his father.
• I now PLAN to get tested :)
• I feel better about my gender identity
• I think Scarleteen is great but I can't give you guys credit for the positive changes in my life.
• I started reading scarleteen after I had dealt with a lot of my stuff, and after being employed as a sexual health/harm reduction educator. It hasn't changed a lot of these areas of my life, hence the n/a's, but is incredibly helpful in my work
• [improvements are] not just because of this site, but also by immersing myself in the sexpositive community
• Knowing I'm not alone.
• I was damn good at most of these before I started using Scarleteen (if I do say so myself).
• Communication with my daughter about sexual issues.
• I feel like I can be myself (generally and sexually) because I know I have support from people like me
• Reassured.
• Since being aware of my sexuality I've been visiting this website- so i can't tell you if you've improved me. but i can tell you i turned out pretty okay.
• I have learned more about sex and everything that comes with it. Thank you!
• I know how to help my friends with their own questions about sex
• My understanding of the issues younger people are facing.
• My knowledge of the complexity involved in the many facets of sexuality
• Scarleteen has given me a better understanding of sexuality and the role it plays in our lives
• I learned things that had made me nervous before, and now don't feel like a minority or like something was wrong with me. thank you.
• Have not had sex, but this has really opened my eyes to wait
• I feel much more confident offering advice to friends who are unsure of sexual issues.
• I feel I have somewhere to look for trustworthy information.
• Realize what can and cannot get me pregnant
• I feel more confident in representing myself and being myself as a woman
• I have learned many things I did know know about my body. It's like a health class, but 10 times better and more informative.
• I am more confident in my ability to raise my daughters with healthy attitudes about their bodies and sexuality.
• Thinking about what I've read on Scarleteen reminds me that there are people able to give so much acceptance and support to others. Gives me motivation to be one of those people.
• I am being abused less
• This site gives me hope!

So, where do we think either we're probably doing a good job for our users, or where are they are experiencing improvements already? With self-confidence issues, healthy relationships, body image and awareness, empowerment around making one's own best sexual choices, sexual communication, and sexual or gender identity. This is all great news for our users, whatever role we have played in these outcomes. We intend to keep building on these positives with our content and current approach.

Where do we think we need to work harder, rethink approaches and start trying some new ones, or create more content that addresses certain needs? While we've a great deal of content on safer sex, testing and contraception already, it seems we could stand to have more, and to try some new approaches in those departments. In those areas, it seems like we also need to be doing more to help users feel confident communicating with partners about these express issues, such as by asking for or about STI testing with partners. We've already launched the Find-a-Doc database to help users with access issues that present barriers to them in getting sexual healthcare, but we can certainly pair that with more content about why and how to seek out that care, and how to feel better about utilizing it. We already have a good deal of content on consent, but only one piece that focuses solely on consent, and it seems creating some more content to support it could benefit our users.

The really good news is that if the positives have to do at all with what we do, then we already have some excellent foundation to build on when it comes to working on what we can do to help current users improve their lives in those other areas, where positive change was less reported. For those where a lot of those things were N/A, we also have the opportunity to expand and improve our content and approach before they get to a point in their lives where these issues are something they need to address and deal with. Our goal for those users is to work on those improvements to prepare them well for those issues if and when they do become personally relevant to them.

As with the previous set of data, we're very open to your feelings, thoughts and ideas around these findings. Stay tuned for the last bit of information we have from this survey, from the general comments section, and then my overall perceptions and thoughts about the study findings, including some intersections of the data I think are important to look at.