“Not one fundraising platform comes close to CauseVox. The process of creating our site was quick and intuitive to learn, and the team at CauseVox was always available for questions. The entire experience was phenomenal!” — Tammy Tibbetts/Cynthia Hellen, GIRLS WHO ROCK
About GIRLS WHO ROCK
GIRLS WHO ROCK (GWR) is an annual crowd-pleasing, change-making benefit concert, sponsoring girls’ education with non-profit She’s the First. They wanted to turn their local event during Internet Week New York into a national movement for universal education. GWR online supporters who have been following the journey since the very first concert, in June 2010, wanted to be involved again. Organizers saw the urgency to create a platform where those who were unable to attend, or who were watching via UStream, could contribute. Upon learning of CauseVox’s easy-to-use platform and its focus on online storytelling, GIRLS WHO ROCK decided to utilize the platform for their digital campaign.
Campaign Techniques
GIRLS WHO ROCK mobilized bloggers and YouTubers to promote the campaign, and they did so by creating a sense of community among them. That community was called the “GIRLS WHO ROCK Class of 2011.” On girlswhorock.org, organizers provided a downloadable “supply kit” where they could find graphics to use in their blog posts about the campaign. They also had a PicBadge for them to display on their Facebook and Twitter avatars as a symbol of their support. A few of the bloggers created their own personal CauseVox fundraising page, including teen YouTubers Katy Bellote and Alanna Anuszewski and popular Tumblr blogger Carlo Garcia, who Mashable recognized because for a year, he donated to charity every day and blogged about it. For his June 2011 charity campaign, he chose GIRLS WHO ROCK as the beneficiary and rallied his following to support.
GWR also promoted their CauseVox page on social media and had the support of their Global Advocate, singer MoZella, who recorded a special PSA that she shared with her loyal fans, several of whom were generous contributors to the campaign.
Campaign Results
The more than $3,000 raised toward the GIRLS WHO ROCK grand fundraising total directly supported the sponsorship of girls at the Arlington Academy of Hope, the Uganda partner school of She’s the First. It costs $1,000 for a year of secondary school, so online fundraising efforts alone impacted nearly 4 of the 29 total girls who were sponsored from our $17,000+ grand total. An extra year of secondary schools adds 15% to 25% onto a girl’s future income. The benefits of GIRLS WHO ROCK stretch way beyond one night of a concert, one month of a campaign, or even one year in school — it’s life-changing.
The GIRLS WHO ROCK campaign also taught three local high schools students how to articulate themselves on video to send a strong call to action in the final days of the campaign. Cordilia, Teri, and Aija joined the GIRLS WHO ROCK team on several meetings and learned the ins and outs of using social media for social action, skills that will follow them throughout the rest of their lives.
More Information
Support their efforts by sponsoring a girl on shesthefirst.org, and become digital pen pals with them. Follow @shesthefirst and @GirlsWhoRockNY on Twitter so you don’t miss an update.
Title photo of JoJo by Kate Lord/She’s the First
