The 7 Stages of Fundraising

Fundraising is a lot of things. But for me, it has been a roller coaster of emotions. On my journey to raise $20,000 for the Suubi Health Center in Uganda, I have encountered several ups and downs. Let me show you what I mean. Here are my 7 Stages of Fundraising:

1) Excitement:

There's nothing like coming out of an intensive weekend filled with inspired ideas and motivation and thoughts of changing the world. We emerge out of the Mama Hope bootcamp with hope and excitement; we are embarking on something big. Ideas flood my mind. I think of all the people I want to share my experience with, all the people who also want to make a difference. I think of my best friends scattered across the country rallying together to change lives in Uganda. I hit the ground running with such elation that it is more like skipping in air. Here we go!

2) Anxiety:

I press "send" and hold my breath. 

After hours of creating a list of contacts, compiling email addresses, editing and re-editing my first fundraising email, I am ready to put it out into the world. I am ready to engage all of my family and friends on the most exciting and life-changing experience of my 25 years. The stakes are high and it is all up to me. I  press "send" and watch my soul-bearing letter drift off into cyber space.

Breathe out.

Minutes go by. I refresh my Gmail window. Nothing.

More minutes. Then ding.

It is from the Mail Delivery System. "I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not be delivered to one or more recipients."

Ugh. 

3) Disappointment:

Nothing. I get nothing! Why did I even waste my time? Who reads emails anyway? The very next day I have my first breakdown. I realize that despite how inspired I am by the story of the Suubi Center, despite how passionate I feel about Mama Hope, regardless of the fact that this is the most important thing I have ever done in my life, one email isn't going to change anything. 

That night I have a dream. I am in a big house with all my family and friends. Everyone is socializing and having a great time, but I am not. I have anxiety pounding in my chest with urgency. I run frantically around the party, trying to get everyones attention. I am shouting something and waving my arms but no one hears me. No one even looks my way. Exasperated and panicked, I find a bathroom to hide and collect my thoughts. That's when I look in the mirror. But the face staring back at me isn't one I recognize. My skin is cracked and puffy, peeling away at the edges. Instead of my pale complexion, I have white concealer hiding the darker skin underneath. I run my fingers over my cheeks and nose, as if to smooth the skin that wants to fall off my face. What is happening to me?

4) Vulnerability:

After the underwhelming response to my initial email, I begin feeling incredibly foolish and exposed. I have tried to do something, but no one has listened. Was I going to fail so publicly?

5) Overwhelming Gratitude:

Slowly, things start to change. Donations start to come in from unexpected places: a neighbor who bumped into me the day I got home from Kenya, my sister's friend who saw the link on her Facebook, my brother and his girlfriend, my mother's coworker. Gradually, people begin to support me in a way that I can see. I am shocked and touched and completely beside myself. I swell with gratitude with each donation or promotion or expression of encouragement. The feeling is staggering. It knocks me back. It makes me want to fall into a pile on the ground and cry. How can I ever say thank you enough? 

6) Complete and Utter Selflessness

Without all of the uncertainty and doubt and fear, I wouldn't have been able to fully recognize the most beautiful side of fundraising. It comes at me rapidly and hard, smacking me over the head and forcing me to see things clearly. It is the realization of one simple fact: that this had nothing to do with me. 

As I tell the story of the Suubi Center to friends and family, as I receive a donation, as a friend reaches out with new ways to contribute, I realize that we are all coming together to achieve something bigger than ourselves. That no matter our politics or race or religion or location, we want a better world. Human suffering is the ugliest of things and if we find a way to be a part of the solution, if we find a way to help even one person, then we can hold on to the hope of a better tomorrow.

I think I had known this all along, but I had never felt it with more acute certainty. 

7) Hope
There is no way that I can fail, because we are going to do this together. The Suubi Center will be built and we will forever be connected to the healthier lives in Budondo, Uganda. So what I'm left with is hope. Hope that you and I can make real change. Belief in what we can do together. 

The Power of Eight-Year-Olds

Today I visited the 3rd grade classes at Laurel School. They were so excited to be a part of my project in Uganda. We talked about the importance of staying healthy. How when you are healthy, you can go to school, participate in sports, learn a new language or play an instrument. How when you're healthy, you have the energy and spirit to develop who you are. Being healthy gives you the opportunity to be who you want to be when you grow up, to dream big. Because of this idea, we are launching a fundraiser called Coins for Kids.

For two weeks, the students will collect and earn coins to deposit into their classroom bank. The team with the most money at the end of the competition wins! One-hundred percent of the money will be donated directly to the Suubi Center. 

One of the greatest things about having students participate in an effort like this is the empowerment they feel. Sometimes when you're young, it's hard to imagine how your actions can make an impact. But how incredible is it that these students will see the direct impact of their contribution? I will be sending them updates while I am in Uganda--show them pictures of the families, videos of the children, documentation of the construction, and it will happen all because of them. 

I want these kids to see the possibilities that I see, the difference in the world we can make together. It isn't impossible. It isn't even hard. When we stop looking at the less fortunate as charity cases, when we stop pitying the poor, we begin to see a truer reality. Let's unlock the potential. Let's discover endless possibility. 

Mama Hope Bootcamp: Inspiration in San Francisco

The train rattled underneath me as I held my bag. It contained clothes that had just been transplanted from my other suitcase. Clothes that still had African soil in the fabric. I should be nervous, I thought. But in reality, I was just exhausted. One night of sleep wasn't enough to make up for the jet-lag and the sickness I felt coming on. A day ago I had just gotten back from Kenya. A day ago, I had just left the other side of the world.

The hotel in San Francisco was bustling with afternoon meetings and cocktails. I scanned for faces that looked just as lost as I felt. A group of twenty-somethings sat with their suitcases next to them, looking uncertain and tired and eager all at the same time. I knew I had found them. They waved me over, recognizing the same expressions I must have had on my face.

So, here we were. The next class of Global Advocates.

I was participating in a five day bootcamp hosted by Mama Hope, a San Francisco based nonprofit that shared my vision in positive impact, unlocking potential and creating sustainable change in Africa. I had been accepted into Mama Hope’s First Fifth Institute, an international development 9-month training corps that would give me hands-on experience in community growth and the chance to make an even bigger impact in the world. These four other women had also been accepted.

I'm glad I didn't have time to think too hard about what to expect in the next five days. Bootcamp was challenging and raw and emotional and demanding. We started immediately. International Development lessons were sprinkled throughout TED Talks on vulnerability and stereotypes, soul-baring and extremely personal discussions squeezed in-between lunch and Fundraising 101, speech practice and dinner-hosting circled around reflective writing and research. It was a non-stop, wonderful whirlwind.

From left to right: Helen, Kimberly, Hannah, Lillian, Jasmine

Nyla Rodgers, founder of Mama Hope, giving a lesson on marketing

Brainstorming session outside

Jasmine adds a thought to our "I believe..." board

Storytelling, finding our personal "why"

Helen and Kimberly

Each of us have been assigned a project in Africa. We will be flying to our sites and living in the community for three months. My assignment is a health clinic in Uganda. Our departure date is set for January 15, but before we go to our project locations, we need begin fundraising, with a goal of $20,000. To kickoff our campaign, Mama Hope invited their friends and donors to a dinner. We gave a speech explaining our purpose and goals, how we discovered Mama Hope, and how our project would be significant. We were each able to raise over $1500 that night. 

Toasting to a successful evening, a table full of people hoping to make positive change

Learning about passions and motivations

Sharing stories and experiences

The Global Advocates! From the left: Helen, Hannah, Jasmine, Lillian, Kimberly

The whole Mama Hope/First Fifth crew: Hannah, Amy, Thomas, Kimberly, Lillian, Jasmine, Helen, Nyla

But we couldn't stay in San Francisco together. Most of the Advocates had flown across the country (or the globe) to come to the bootcamp. We had lives and jobs and expectations to get home to. We left San Francisco with a common goal in mind: to make a difference. 

And this is how...

I will be going to Uganda to build the Suubi Women's Reproductive Health Clinic for women and families who need access to high quality care, medicine and education.

Click to view my website

Lillian will be traveling to Ghana to live and work at the Unite Hearts Children Center

Click to view her website

Jasmine will be going to Kenya to help support the phenomenal group of women that manage the Rita Rose Demonstration Garden.

Click to visit her website

Kimberly will be going to Kenya to build a rescue center for at-risk youth.

Click to view her website

Hannah will be traveling to Tanzania to complete the construction of the St. Timothy's Boarding Home.

Click to view her website

This is the next nine months of my life. This is my direction, my focus and my passion. Follow me on my journey through fundraising, traveling, connecting, listening, enabling and developing. I promise, it's going to be life-changing for everyone involved.

To learn more about Mama Hope or the First Fifth Institute, click on the links provided on the top-right of this page under "Inspiring Website".

Finding My Next Step With Mama Hope

In July, I went straight back to square one. I quit my job, moved back in with my parents and lived off of my savings. Nothing was certain and my future was fuzzy at best. But I knew I had to try. I had to try to make my life into something that I truly wanted. So instead of reconnecting with hometown friends and playing in San Francisco, as my parents and (let's face it) myself had anticipated, I spent hours-on-end locked in my room and scouring the internet. I came up for air only to eat, play with the dog, or check in with the TV. I was on a mission. I was looking for jobs, fellowships, volunteer work, anything that would give me the opportunity to work in Africa. 

I hopped onto idealist.org and searched the keywords "Africa", "education", "Bay Area". I scrolled down while words whizzed up my screen. Until one posting caught my eye. It read, Global Advocate Fellowship with First Fifth Institute:

Do you have a passion to make a meaningful difference in the world; To travel to distant places not as a tourist but as a global citizen? Do you want to leave a huge mark on the world and to be able to look back and see that YOU made a positive impact? Are you willing to give your time, your attention and your dedication to something the incites your passion? If so then the First Fifth might be right for you.

I stopped dead.  I immediately clicked on the link and excitement rushed through me as I landed on the organizations website. 

Then I watched this video:

Done. 

I was done searching. I had just found my next move. For the next week I labored over the application. I read and reread inspiring articles and listened to TED talks and did real soul searching so that my words would be just right. Because I knew, as soon as I had found Mama Hope, that they would be a part of my future. 

A week before my independent volunteer trip to Kenya (which you can read about here), I got an interview. Nyla, the founder of Mama Hope asked me questions I was prepared for and had anticipated. After all, I had lived on the Mama Hope website, investigating all of the components that made up their organization, reading the blogs of the current Global Advocates, watching their videos and listening to interviews. The more I heard, the more excited I became. I had somehow been able to find an organization that touched on all things I desired: a way to break into international development, the opportunity to travel to Africa, involvement with an organization that believes in re-humanizing Africa and unlocking its potential. This was big. And after the interview, I knew I was in.

To get a glimpse of my life in limbo (before Mama Hope and before Kenya, read my post "Goodbye Practicality, Hello Dummy")