When we began using DonorSee in September 2021, we really had no idea what we were doing. (I mean REALLY…!) It’s a truly unique fundraising platform that relies on lots and lots of relatively small projects, shown in video format, with follow-up videos so donors can see exactly what their money accomplished.
Switching from a general “please donate to help us” to dozens and dozens of individual projects, figuring out the best way to create compelling but short videos, and doing timely follow-ups around time differences, and power and internet outages — not to mention just learning a whole new platform’s algorithms and rules — was a pretty steep learning curve.
BUT
We did it! It helps that I’m really stubborn and a natural problem solver. It also helps that DonorSee is extraordinarily responsive to our questions and suggestions, as well as committed to our success.
And now we’re in the Spotlight! You can click the button below to see my interview and hopefully get a broader overview of our work, our challenges, and our dreams.
We’ve raised over $11,000 on DonorSee in 5 1/2 months, and we’re very excited to see where 2022 takes us!
DonorSee listened, and their newest update means more of your money to our programs!
We have loved being on DonorSee, and have had over $8,000 in donations through the platform since September. It has allowed us to quickly respond to urgent needs as well as fund supplies for our students, a daycare, and more.
But the most common feedback from YOU was that 17% of your donation went to DonorSee, 3% to credit card fees, and only 80% to us directly. While your donations also helped us get traction with donors directly on the DonorSee platform at a 3-4 ratio, it was still a basic-math sticking point for a lot of you.
Well, DonorSee listened! This year, they started a Premium Membership for a limited number of partners, and we were invited! Now we pay a flat fee per month — $30 for the first 3 months and $100 after that — and all your donation comes to us (minus card processing). Since we “spent” $1303 on the 17% fee in just 4 months in 2021, this is a BIG deal for us!
With Term 1 of 2022 Skills for Life starting this week, several medical needs, and more up right now, we hope you’ll check it out and donate today! Every dollar counts, and goes to the programs.
Baby Liz received second degree burns this weekend after swatting a bowl of hot porridge out of mom Jenifer’s hand and onto herself. She was rushed to Nsambya Children’s Hospital where she is receiving daily treatment. She’s doing very well! We have a project up for her medical bill, if you’d like to help!
UPDATE: Liz was treated successfully and is fully healed! We are so grateful to our donors on DonorSee who gave to her medical bills!
It’s almost our FIRST ANNIVERSARY! We opened the Ross House a year ago, and my how we’ve grown!
What started out as an idea I got while walking on the beach contemplating the devastating effects on teen girls of the COVID19 lockdown is now a bursting-at-the-seams, thriving hub of activity! Every week we have
5 teen moms in 2 residential settings
1 homeless teen girl in a dormitory
20 teen girls and moms in Skills for Life
30-40 visitors for Saturday’s Turning Point
A dozen girls for Friday’s Teen Talk
20 girls in Strong Mind Mentoring groups
We average 1800 meals a month in our Namuwongo project, and we’re growing all the time! Coming in our second year: a computer lab, literacy class, advanced tailoring class, a daycare for our teen moms, and an expanded residential and dormitory program.
Our partnership with DonorSee is allowing us to provide the needed supplies for the girls in Skills for Life, give micro-grants to teen moms to start a small business, handle medical emergencies, and grow our program. We have also been able to provide much needed food for our foster families in Mbarara. We expect the last two months of 2021 to be huge for us on the platform, and we’re so thankful to those of you who have checked us out over there!
At the end of the month, on the 30th, it’s Giving Tuesday. Like all nonprofits, our year end campaigns are really important to keep us healthy for the upcoming year. Please follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletters — we’ll have all the Giving Tuesday and Year End Giving information for you!
We’ve been working in Uganda almost 13 years now, and while our programs and focus have evolved, one thing remains the same: we want to create meaningful opportunity and skills so our participants can be self-sufficient.
SKILLS FOR LIFE –
Mildred is 12, the youngest girl in our Skills for Life Vocational School. She is learning tailoring, so that she will have a skill on which to build a life outside of desperate poverty. She has never been to school before.
We have 20 teen girls like Mildred enrolled in Skills for Life, and a waiting list for the next term. Twenty girls completed Term 1 last year, just before the lockdown happened (which cancelled Term 2). When girls like Mildred learn a skill like tailoring, they can get an actual job, or they can have their own business. SKILL + HOPE = OPPORTUNITY.
RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS –
During the 2020 lockdown, we realized quickly how many girls were using sex work to survive. That resulted in skyrocketing teenage pregnancies all over the country.
To respond to the need, we opened the Ross House for teenage moms like Gloria, who are in crisis. This halfway house provides medical care, food, clothing, shelter, vocational training, sexual trauma counseling, psycho-social counseling, and childcare education.
As the first moms were finishing the Ross House program, we realized that now we needed a transition house, to prepare them to live in the community and be self-sufficient. We opened the Suubi House to provide oversight through a live-in social worker, financial and business training, and continuing medical care, food, clothing, and shelter as they learn and grow.
When Term 2 of Skills for Life opened after the 2021 lockdown, Cecilia became homeless. We opened a dormitory to house any students in the current term who are faced with the same situation, and provide medical care, food, and shelter for them during their training.
FOOD FOR CHILDREN –
We began providing food for children at Hopeland and Wells of Hope Primary Schools and the Arise Africa Babies Home in May, 2019. The 2020 and 2021 lockdowns have created a lot of disruption, but we continue to provide monthly food to about 75 children even while schools are (still) shut down.
Mama Mary has had 5 foster children for 19 months now! (It was supposed to be 4…) Forty orphaned children from Hopeland School are currently living with 9 foster families. Schools are supposed to begin a phased re-opening in January 2022.
We have two ways you can join us in our work — we’d love to have you in the Ten Eighteen family!
FUND SPECIFIC PROJECTS ON DONORSEE – we have 8-10 specific projects on Donorsee at all times. Donorsee allows us to post videos of the projects, updates, and follow-ups, so you can see exactly what your money has done for the project’s recipient. It’s a great way to really feel involved in Ten Eighteen’s work and in our Ugandan community!
As we announced in our last email, we were invited to post a project on DonorSee. Once that was funded, they did some research on us, checked out our follow-up video and communications, and we got approved to be full partners with their platform!
With DonorSee, we are raising funds project-by-project. Their philosophy is to introduce donors to individuals and families, see their need first hand, and then post a follow-up video to show exactly where the money went. (Donor + See)
To be honest, it’s a lot more work for us since it involves a lot of video production. It also has forced us to be focused not only on our overall programs but on how they are helping individual youth — and that’s a good thing! We want you to have options, and we want to be able to introduce DonorSee’s 18,000 donors to our work in Uganda.
We will have about 10 active projects in the $50-500 range going at all times on DonorSee, so you can check back weekly and see what we’re up to. We’ll let you know how it’s going in our newsletters from time to time, and will always include a button for you, too.
Would you please share with friends, family, church, or small group? We love to grow our Ten Eighteen family and need help more than ever thanks to the latest lockdown!
NOT ON OUR MAILING LIST YET? JOIN HERE! WE DON’T SPAM YOU AND NEVER GIVE AWAY YOUR INFORMATION.
