http://sevenly.org/
Around the world, there are hundreds of thousands of charities, which support causes from ending hunger to protecting women's rights. But every year, about 74% of them go out of business because of either lack of funding, awareness, or following (according to http://sevenly.org/our-mission).
Sevenly has a way to end this cycle. Sevenly is a site that started only a little over 15 weeks ago, but has already raised over $69,726 for various respectable causes, such as companies combatting human trafficking, such as International Justice Mission, Love 146, and Not for Sale Campaign. Sevenly connects people to interesting and worthwhile causes that they may or may not have known otherwise.
Each week, they have an awesomely designed t-shirt for a different cause and focuses singularily on that cause for the entire week. For example, this week's t-shirt is raising money for Convoy of Hope, a non-profit focused on feeding the world that I never knew existed until this week.
While Sevenly has only been up for a few months, they have already made big changes in the world, and their following is growing. People like me find it easier to follow a website that prescreens charities and gathers them in a simple place than to look for them myself. When buying a t-shirt, $7 goes to that cause. While the percentage going to the cause may not be the highest of any organization, what the buyer gets in return is incredible. The t-shirts Sevenly produces are opportunites for conversations and spreading more awareness for causes, which in turn gathers a strong following and increases funding.
T-shirts are an easy way for people to donate. Also, for people it can be an excuse to buy new clothing, especially women who love to shop. Also, the person buying the shirt will know exactly where their money goes. Then the next week they can donate their money to another cause. It seems like a very thoughtful process, and seems to be successful. After visiting the site, this week alone they have raises 4,067 dollars. Think of how much food that really is for a poor country.
ReplyDeleteOops, this is definitely post #5...
ReplyDeletebut I don't want to edit it in case it changes the time stamp....
Sorry if there is any confusion!
This is a great way to raise money and is a different way than other organizations. Like you talked about, there are lots of organizations that go down each year since they are sustained out of pure donations. But if there is something that comes out for the donator such as a tee shirt, people are much more willing to donate to an organization. Toms is another great example. Professor talked about how Toms donates a pair of shoes for every one bought. If you have an organization giving back to the donator like Sevenly or Toms, you will be able to keep up an organization.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great way to raise money for the organizations. It's great to see people coming together and finding a cause to help. With today's society, selling shirts is a great way to make money. People love buying stylish items so this will for sure work. It would be awesome if something could be done like this for poverty because that needs to be addressed. This is a really great idea though, and I would buy a shirt.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I was confused too! Thanks for making sure!
ReplyDelete