Baking for Good and World Water Day

This week, I learned about Baking for Good, an online bakery that gives 15% of sales to the nonprofit organization of the customers' choosing. They also make "awareness ribbon cookies" and party favors for galas. I think this is a great way to add impact to your fundraisers. You can purchase desserts for your event that will actually go back into supporting your cause.

Monday was World Water Day. There were several events to commemorate the day. According to one World Water Day website, one very unique event is the "World's Longest Toilet Queue". The World's Longest Toilet Queue is an attempt to break a Guiness World Record while bringing attention to worldwide water and sanitation issues. UNICEF also recruited volunteers for the "Tap Project". One way that volunteers could help was to organize an event to raise funds for UNICEF and bring awareness to the water crisis. World Water Day is an example of a trend in the philanthropy world that I believe is a very effective one: galzanizing momentum and support around a day where volunteers can feel true ownership and impact by giving them the power to raise funds and support around their favorite cause. My incredibly smart, talented, passionate and all-around amazing friend, Mikelle, recruited me to help her with a fundraising/awareness event on the lack of access to clean water in many areas of the world. We are in the very beginning planning stages, but more details will follow soon.

Partying to Change the World

Please excuse my hiatus. My six-week grant proposal writing class took a lot out of me. I never realized that grant proposal writing was so intense! Major props to you grant writers out there! However, I am so glad that I took the class because I learned a lot and also realized that I have a lot more to learn. Thanks to my friend Raysa for letting me hone my grant writing skills by using her work with Invisible Children as the topic of my proposal. Raysa is going to Uganda this summer to teach secondary school kids for the second year in a row and she needs to raise $4,000 to cover airfare and program fees. Let me know if you are interested in supporting her! For more information, check out this link.

Thanks to my amazing friend, Steph, for bringing this article to my attention. Nicholas Kristoff, who I am growing to love, wrote an awesome Op-Ed on making a difference in the world by throwing parties! I got so excited when I saw this. He basically proves my point that when we get together socially, we have the power to make a difference and change the world. For a group of women entrepreneurs in Uganda, partying has made a difference. Last summer, Raysa brought back the beaded necklaces made from scrap paper that Mr. Kristoff refers to, and so I know first hand that they are pretty cool.

Partying to Change the World