Tag Archives: boston

Boston Gives Back: BFFs Sponsor Girls in South Sudan

Lauren Horn and Sarah Matthews all glammed up for the funraiser

By Sarah Matthews and Lauren Horn

Sarah and Lauren, here! We’re best friends and recent grads in Boston, MA, and we just finished our second annual fundraising party for She’s the First. This year, we held the fundraiser, Boston Gives Back, to raise money to sponsor girls through Project Education Sudan. Between the event and online donations, we’ve already raised over $1,600, sponsoring four girls and more than doubling the funds we raised last year.

Our She’s the First fundraiser party last year raised over $700 to sponsor girls at the Haiti Outreach Project. We used a successful formula: Sarah’s apartment, Trader Joe’s wine and snacks, a step and repeat backdrop, mini (tie-dye!) cupcakes and lots of friends. We did the same things this year, but added some fun twists, enabling us to double what we raised last year.

Drool-worthy mini tie-dyed cupcakes!

We realized that there were a lot of people who wanted to support our cause, but couldn’t actually make it to the event. We decided to set up a Causevox page which linked to the She’s the First paypal so that anyone could donate directly to our event. It only took a few minutes to set up – we added text and links, uploaded a YouTube video of our plea for help and created a background with our event logo (created by our friend Natasha, who’s an amazing graphic designer)! We’ve been using the Causevox page to post on Twitter and Facebook in order to build awareness of the fundraiser and the cause. It’s a great way to extend our reach beyond just our friends and family to others who may be interested in supporting She’s the First.

Raffles were held for amazing prizes from local Boston restaurants and bars

One of the best additions to this year’s event were gift card donations from six local businesses which we raffled off. Some serendipitous tweeting with Naked Pizza Boston led them to ask us if they could help. From then on, we started asking other local businesses for donations via Twitter. This led to six amazing Boston bars and restaurants (including a food truck that was featured on the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race!), promising lots of Twitter and Facebook love. The raffles were a huge hit at the fundraiser, with many attendees donating at least $20 for two arm-lengths of raffle tickets. It goes to show how useful and powerful social media is for bringing attention to amazing causes!

Want to help us reach our goal of sponsoring five girls? We’re almost there – donate online!

Posted in Independent Fundraisers | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Back-to-School Fundraiser Tonight at Northeastern University!

Sarah & Lauren, Northeastern University students

We are so proud of Sarah & Lauren, best friends at Northeastern University in Boston, who have been planning a She’s the First fundraiser for months! You may remember when they announced their plans in our blog here. And now, tonight is the big night! They’ve chosen to fundraise for a sponsorship in Haiti, via the Haiti Outreach Program partner in our directory.

We wish Sarah, Lauren, and their friends tons of fun. We asked them if we could share the Facebook reminder that they sent out to guests this morning, for some behind-the-scenes insight into what goes into planning a party with purpose. (Answer: lots of enthusiasm!) Our campaign developer, Devin Tomb, will be interviewing Lauren & Sarah after the event to share their tips with you all. Stay tuned, and check out more Back-to-School fundraising ideas here!

You can replicate what Lauren & Sarah are doing to fundraise for a girl's sponsorship at Northeastern University. oh the power of Facebook Events!

Posted in Haiti Outreach Program, Independent Fundraisers, She's the First*{Campus}, Sponsor Stories | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Best Friends Bring She's the First to Boston

Sarah and Lauren -- best friends fundraising in Boston for GIRLS WHO ROCK NY!

Sarah and Lauren -- best friends fundraising in Boston for GIRLS WHO ROCK NY!

Lauren Horn, a student at Northeastern University, heard about what Syracuse University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Tennessee, and other college co-eds were doing to fundraise for girls’ education, so she decided to bring Boston on board! She and her best friend are co-hosting a She’s the First fundraiser in July…below, said BFF Sarah Matthews tells us how it’s done — and why it matters to her.

I’ve always yearned to make a difference — whether it’s helping someone who’s lost with directions, lending a helping hand to a friend, or offering a kind word to someone who needs some positivity in their life. It’s the mantra by which I live my life, and I try to surround myself with people who feel the same. My best friend Lauren introduced me to the awesome work of her friend Tammy Tibbetts and She’s the First. After hearing about everything that She’s the First does, I was floored. How could such a small organization make such a huge difference? It’s everyday people like you and me. Lauren then asked me to join her to support She’s the First by co-hosting a fundraiser.

Sarah Matthews, planning her She's the First fundraiser, a livestream viewing of GIRLS WHO ROCK NY from Boston

Sarah Matthews, planning her She's the First fundraiser for Boston friends

Once we were both on board, our event planning skills took off. Lauren and I met at our favorite brunch spot in Boston and bounced ideas off each other. Pretty soon, we had a fully fleshed out fundraiser jotted down on our little notebooks in front of us. We decided to host the event at my apartment and settled on a “Informal-Formal Gala Night.” In the Facebook invitation, we encouraged our friends to dress in their best to dine on finger foods and wine. It would be a classy night, without the stuffiness of some fundraiser events. We decided to send all of our collected donations to the Haiti Outreach Program. Since only $100 dollars funds one year of primary education for one girl, we figured that this is our chance to help out more than one girl. Also, with the devastating earthquake in Haiti earlier this year, what better way to make a difference that will matter NOW!

We marketed the event via twitter, Facebook invites, and old school word-of-mouth. I’m proud to say that the response has been tremendous. Parents of friends are getting involved and doing their own fundraiser collections for our event. Invited guests are telling their friends to join them and donate to the cause. It’s been exciting to see our fellow college students so excited about making a difference. Lauren and I are planning on hosting the event in the month of July, which gives us plenty of time to collect as many donations as we can.

I was first introduced to She’s the First through my best friend, Lauren. Imagine the possibilities if everyone told one person about this amazing organization. And now – Lauren and I are spreading the word to all of our friends. Pay it forward. You CAN make a difference in a girl’s life.

Peace and love,

Sarah

Posted in She's the First*{Campus}, Sponsor Stories | Tagged , , | 3 Comments