Where Has the Time "Gone, Gone" & How Do We "Go, Go" Forward?

It seems like just yesterday that I was attending my son’s high school graduation, then immediately sending him off to Camp Newman to be a counselor and song leader for 8 weeks. It was now his turn to help create a fantastically memorable summer for children, as so many counselors had done for him over the years, and at a place that had become his second home.

During his absence this summer I was hard at work with the support of our Shopping for a Change® interns: six incredible high school juniors and seniors who volunteered their time learning about what we do, and how to help make a difference in the world 

Our first two weeks were spent behind the scenes in photo shoots and editing images for the newest version of our website (if you haven’t checked it out yet, click here to do so).

The next six weeks were spent developing our first crowdfunding campaign. In case you’re not familiar with this newer term, crowd·fund·ing (ˈkroudˌfəndiNG/) is by definition, the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. We created ours on a website called Indiegogo.com.

Beginning Friday September 5th, we will launch our 45-day Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to expand our operation. As you may know, we currently operate as an all-volunteer organization, with no paid employees. I handle all of the roles and tasks associated with running a small business and generally have very little outside help. 

It thrills us to say that in the four years since our launch, we have grown from partnering with 11 artisan groups in Africa and South America to over 40 artisan groups spanning 4 continents and 28 countries. That’s over 25,000 lives that we have touched! Our business has tripled, indicating that people are excited by the way our organization enables them to help both at home and abroad.

Our goal is to raise $50,000 through this Indiegogo campaign. With this money, we will be able to update our marketing materials, pay for new inventory, hire a professional photographer and graphic artists, expand our reach through public relations, and finance our first paid employee to assist me. All of these expenditures are vital to the growth of our business, so we can continue our important work. 

We invite you to watch our video on our campaign page, learn more about our Indiegogo campaign by going to http://igg.me/at/shoppingforachange, and explore the wonderful perks we have put together (thank you gifts in exchange for your tax deductible donations). We could not have gotten this far without your support and we hope you will consider a donation of any amount to enable us to continue empowering others and transforming lives. 

We appreciate your support and encourage you to share this blog post with your friends and family!

Warm wishes,

Stacey

Shopping for a Change^® is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.