Epic Change has launched a clever social media infused fundraiser for Mother's Day, called To Mama With Love. Leveraging the emotional connection we feel with our own mothers or our own pride of being a mom, Epic Change is inviting donors to participate in an online collaborative art project to honor moms around the Globe.
The fundraiser's goal to is to raise money for one amazing Mama who dreams of building a home for children in her village in Africa. The money you donate to this effort will support Mama Lucy Kamptoni, a changemaker in Tanzania who once sold chickens and used her income to build a primary school that now provides a high-quality education to over 400 children in Tanzania. The money raised from this fundraiser will help build a boarding facility on campus so that every child who attends her school has a place to call home. To Mama With Love is a project of US 501c3 nonprofit Epic Change.
Here's how it works. You have to make a donation first. Then once you've donated, you can create a special heartspace in honor of your mother or a mother you admire. You are given the option to customize your "heartspace" with photos, video, poems and artwork. The program creates a mini-web page with a unique URL that declares your love.
Here's the one I created to honor my mother, Ruth. Ironically, she isn't on Facebook or Twitter, nor does she have an email address. So, will have print it out and send via US postal mail. The heartspace also lets you create an e-card and I sent it to my Dad to share with my mom. (And, if anyone in my house is reading this blog, this would make a terrific mother's day gift - hint - hint.)
According to Epic Change's founder, Stacey Monk, the web site was created by volunteers that included developers who are students from CMU (where Stacey attended school) and a designer in London whose parents come from a village one hour from Mama Lucy in Tanzania. I love the design.
To help spread the word, the site has integrated "sharing" your love for your mother and Mama Lucy both on Twitter as well as on Facebook (or should I say sharing your "like"). For Facebook, they're using one of the Facebook social plugins.
What are you doing to honor your mother on Mother's Day and help change the world? If you are a mother, how are you celebrating your special day and making the world a better place?
A group of nonprofits pulled together to create the #momsrule campaign as a way to honor moms around the world AND kick off a letter writing campaign to G8 leaders to support funding for maternal and child health. If you go to http://www.momsrule.org, you'll be able to upload a picture of your mom to the "Momsaic" and attach a note about her, send an e-card to your mom for Mother's Day, and select a letter to a G8 leader that will be sent on your behalf urging them to support funding for maternal and child health.
To answer your question, I'm honoring my mom by advocating for moms around the world.
Posted by: Emily IH | May 06, 2010 at 09:14 AM