Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH) is a small, nonprofit located in Arlington, Virginia, that helps support  children living in the Bududa district of Eastern Uganda reach their full potential by providing them with access to quality education and health services. In 1995, the organization’s founders John and Joyce Wanda relocated to Arlington, Virginia. There, they witnessed the high level of education their children received in the public school system and were inspired to create the same experience for students in Uganda. In 1999, they began providing financial resources for education purposes to a handful of students in local schools, but they wanted to do more, so in 2004 they established a primary school in the village of Bumalukani, and in 2015 about 350 students are enrolled.

AAH’s primary school grew rapidly, both in the number of students it was supporting and the number of graduating students eligible to attend secondary school. By 2006, 100% of AAH’s seventh graders were passing their national exams and qualifying for admission to secondary schools throughout Uganda. While the AAH team celebrated this milestone, they faced a new challenge. How could they ensure that their primary school graduates attended and completed secondary school? They badly wanted to support their students beyond primary school but found that they did not have the resources to do so. AAH has a solid base of donors and supporters in the United States, but the increasing number of students eligible for secondary school would require them to raise funds quickly and look outside their existing network.

In order to grow their programs AAH’s Executive Director Maureen Dugan knew they needed to increase their visibility and find a broader donor base. Maureen searched for a crowdfunding platform that would help the organization grow their donor network and provide hands on customer support. For Maureen and her team, that platform is GlobalGiving. In 2012, AAH joined GlobalGiving’s September Open Challenge.“I had no prior experience with online fundraising; it was not a part of my skillset when I came to AAH,” explained Maureen. But she soon found that GlobalGiving specialized in working with organizations new to crowdfunding. “What’s great is that GlobalGiving works with organizations at all different levels.The GG staff is very approachable. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and call in,” Maureen stated.

By explaining the potential of a partnership with GlobalGiving to their supporters,  the AAH team was able to get them behind their Open Challenge campaign, and they raised almost $7,000 during the Open Challenge. Due to more donors and increased funding, 100% of AAH primary school graduates have gone on to secondary schools since 2012! Rachel, who began as an AAH primary school student, is now entering her third year at university. She credits AAH for her success as a student: “Before AAH, I just assumed that after 7th grade, I would get married. That is what all my older sisters did. That was all I knew. Now, I am in university and will have a career helping others.”

Maureen and the AAH team are now crowdfunding experts! Due to their hard work and open communication with the GlobalGiving staff the AAH team quickly became a Superstar organization that actively participates in GlobalGiving’s programs. “GlobalGiving is making us a more effective organization because of what the team asks us to do and by the tools and information they share. GlobalGiving also increases the visibility of our organization, even though we are small”, Maureen said. Maureen has made learning from GlobalGiving’s tools and programs like the Online Fundraising Academy an investment  and priority. Maureen shared her experience with the Online Fundraising Academy, “GG has brought many new donors to us and enabled many youths to go to school as a result. I would say that the Fundraising Academy was an absolute lifesaver for us.”

As of July 2015, the team has raised more than $300,000 on the GlobalGiving platform, including $15,681 in GlobalGiving’s July Partner Rewards Bonus Day.  AAH’s crowdfunding success has allowed them to provide each of their students with a secondary education and the greater Bumwalukani community of schools with additional resources ensuring that students like Rachel will continue their education.

All photo credit to AAH

Written in collaboration by Karis Ailabouni, Jenn Bell, and Emma Park, and Katherine  Sammons

Designed by Emma Park 

Based in the Sacred Valley of Peru, Awamaki works to empower rural female artisans by providing them with the training and market access to run successful cooperative businesses. The organization’s mission is to enable these women to generate a reliable source of income and lead their communities out of poverty.

Founded in 2009 by Kennedy Leavens, Awamaki originally served a single cooperative made up of 10 women. Now, the nonprofit works with 150 women in eight cooperatives. Awamaki’s cooperative members like Florentina not only run successful businesses but also engage in sustainable tourism and community education programs.

A year after the organization was created, Awamaki’s team and cooperative members were making great strides in their work. They came across an exciting opportunity, the chance for two Awamaki members to travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the location of America’s largest folk art market. Participation in the market could be an amazing opportunity to connect their cooperative to an expansive global market. However, the organization needed to raise funds in order to be able to participate.

As Awamaki searched for a way to fund the trip, it became clear that their current income would not cover the cost. They identified crowdfunding as a way to tap into their broad network of global donors.  Kennedy recalls, “We had no previous experience in online fundraising, but we figured we had nothing to lose.” By raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, Awamaki hoped to receive the financial boost they needed to achieve their goal.

It was decided that crowdfunding was the solution, but how?  As a small, internationally-based nonprofit, Awamaki needed a platform that would effectively rally their supporters, connect them with new donors who care about their cause, and offer them tools to help grow their organization. The Awamaki team was introduced to GlobalGiving through a friend and after learning more about the platform it was decided that GlobalGiving was the right fit.

Awamaki joined GlobalGiving’s Open Challenge, which is a time-bound campaign that offers an opportunity to test out the power of crowdfunding. They built a project page on GlobalGiving that shared their story with potential donors and then spread the word about their GlobalGiving project through phone calls, emails, and social media outreach. Awamaki’s supporters were inspired to help the organization succeed in the Open Challenge due the team’s unwavering enthusiasm for their work and time sensitive nature of the Open Challenge.

The Awamaki team and members were blown away by the results of their fundraising efforts on GlobalGiving. In just 30 days, Awamaki raised more than $10,000 from 379 unique donors and earned $5,000 in bonus prizes from GlobalGiving! Most importantly, two team members were able to attend the market in Santa Fe and spread the word about Awamaki.

Awamaki joined GlobalGiving with the intent of funding one unique project. Today, Awamaki is a Superstar on the GlobalGiving platform and raises around $12,000 every year! As Leavens puts it, “GlobalGiving has helped our organization to grow and is now part of our core operations.” What’s their strategy for long-term success? Rallying their donor base around GlobalGiving’s Bonus Days.The Awamaki team has found that establishing a specific monetary and donor engagement goal during a time-bound campaign creates an urgency that motivates donors to give.

Today, Awamaki has been able to continue to harness the power of a crowd to further their mission so that cooperative members like Florentina can continue their businesses for years to come. Fundraising isn’t easy, but GlobalGiving, a trusted crowdfunding platform can help you accelerate your efforts and help you to continue your earth-changing work!

All photo credit to Awamaki

Written in collaboration by Karis Ailabouni, Jenn Bell, and Emma Park, and Katherine  Sammons

Designed by Emma Park