We are proud to have officially joined Global Giving as a permanent member of the platform after successfully raising over $6,500 from 40+ donors during their accelerator program in September. Global Giving is a platform that gives visibility and resources to small & mid-sized nonprofits like ours. We were part of the 200+ nonprofit that graduated from the program and this will open up new opportunities for funding from their donor pool and take part in their recurring matching donations campaigns.

The Support a Youth Leadership Journey campaign was our first ever crowdfunding campaign which took place from September 13th to 30th 2021. The goal of the campaign was to raise funds to support and in part cover costs for the shift of our governance structure to co-presidency.

As always, the first time experience can prove challenging, and our fundraising team wasn’t an exception to it. Nonetheless, the months of hard work the team had put into preparations for a crowdsourcing campaign helped us rise up to the challenge and make the best of it. The opportunity to be a part of the Global GIving Accelerator only emerged in the later stages of preparation. Although time-strapped with the campaign launch date, our team received a week of training and one-on-one coaching from the amazing people at Global Giving, which prepared us to embark on this journey!

When the timer started ticking and our campaign went live, we were eagerly awaiting to see the response from the community. This response was incredible – we were overwhelmed by the positive reception and support we received from both from within and beyond the oikos Community. When the first donations started coming in on the very first day, we were given a boost of energy and motivation to make the best of the campaign. As the campaign went on for its 13-day run, we made sure to keep pushing and reaching out, with the help from our community in spreading the word over these intense two weeks. It was moving ahead slow and steady, at times not entirely clear whether we’d reach the Accelerator goal.

Eventually, we managed to get it over the line and meet the requirements both in the number of donors and funds raised to become a permanent member of the Global Giving platform. With two days left after we hit the Accelerator goal, the donations kept on coming, rounding up to 6,617$ raised from 43 donors on the final day. For this we are grateful to everyone who supported us both by donating and spreading the word. Successfully completing the Global Giving Accelerator earned us the permanent spot on the platform, providing us with new opportunities for future crowdfunding projects to drive change towards sustainability!

However, the Support a Youth Leadership Journey does not end here – even though we reached the goal set by the Accelerator, we’re still aiming to reach the final goal of raising 14,250$ for the co-presidency project. If you wish to support us on this leg of the journey, the campaign remains active and you can still donate here. Stay tuned to hear about our participation in Giving Tuesday coming on November 30th with matching donations from Global Giving.