How your charity can join in

Freecember (Freedom + December)

Step 1) Choose a Funding Goal

From < $500 to £50,000+

It can be anything: from < $500 to €15,000 or £50,000.

Whatever’s meaningful (and achievable) for your charity.

Step 2) Choose a Giving Platform

Any Platform. Any Currency.

Whatever works best for you and your supporters.

A giving site that’s designed for events and lets multiple people make fundraising pages works best for Freecember, sites like GoFundMe Charity or Just Giving, for example.

Step 3) Set Up Your Charity’s Challenge Page

Share Your Goal & Why It Matters

This will show your Freecember fundraising goal and why it matters or what the funds will make possible.

You (and your fundraisers and guests) will be able to see at a glance the progress toward your Freecember goal (and how much is left to raise).

Step 4) Invite Your Supporters to Join In

People want to help. give them a Way.

People are looking for ways to make a difference, you can give them one, something they can do to help stop trafficking, help victims find freedom and survivors be supported.

Invite them to take a Freecember Challenge for you. (You might be amazed at what people will do to help you, a charity they believe in.)

If they sign up at freecember.org, we’ll send them tips and emails to help them… help you.

By the way, Freecember touches 0% of funds raised.

Freecember

Raise awareness. Raise funds. Raise freedom!

As an anti-trafficking NGO leader,

people are probably always asking you "what else can I do to help?"

We help those people raise money for you. For FREE.

Really. Pro bono.

Here are just a few examples:

WMFBolivia raised $7,200

Brooke raised $227.50 in Australia for A21.

Tate's Team raised $2,685 in the USA for Not For Sale.

Kyle raised £459.41 in the UK for Love146.

HUG Project raised $10,000

(having never done online fundraising before)

New Funds (& New Friends). Raised for You.

(During the biggest giving month of the year.)

Dear grassroots anti-trafficking Non-profit leader,

(First off, let us say, we at Freecember believe in you and the frontlines work you're doing! And we really want you to have the resources you need and for even more people to know and connect with you, too. Thanks for taking some of your valuable time to consider joining in Freecember and what it could mean for you and your team and the people you're helping. Now, let's cut to the chase.)

Q: What would you do with another $500, £2,500 or even $5-10K this year? (Like being handed a magical bonus pot of money.)

Q: And what if someone would raise it for you? (With very little time or attention required of you or your team.)

And the people who raised it for you felt empowered, more connected to you and your work and thankful they could do something specific to help!

Q: What if dozens or hundreds more people got to know about you from people they trust? (and began connecting with and giving money to your amazing, difference-making, life changing work?!)

Too good to be true?

There is no magic pot of money. We know.

(Our founder worked for a charity based on personal support raising for 15 years. And, we're grassroots ourselves.)

This isn't a magic unicorn or a mythical dream from la la land, either, though.

So far, it's been done every year since 2014 with teams raising amounts such as $1,641, $2,500 and $2,685 for NGOs such as Not For Sale, IJM, A21, Love 146, Hope for Justice, iSanctuary and Saving Innocence.

In 2017, two non-profits raised $7,200 and $10,000

(Total funds raised by teams for WMFBolivia and HUG Project. You can see for yourself in the pic or here.)

Full disclosure, some NGOs had people raise in the hundreds of dollars or pounds for them, but also remember, these amounts were all raised with zero prompting, involvement or coaching from said NGOs, people just raised money for them... whereas WMFBolivia & HUG Project invited people to raise for them and people were raising between $515 and $2,675… each.

So far, people in the UK, USA and Australia have raised pounds (GBP) and dollars (USD) and dollars (AUD), because they wanted to!

Do you have people that believe in you and what you're doing?

Imagine what a even a small group of them could raise for you with just a little prompting, encouragement and appreciation from you, along with some direction and coaching from us, and by joining in with a community of people supporting, encouraging and cheering one another on!

What would you do with an "extra" $227, £459 or $2,685?

Or even $5-10K? Or whatever amount would make a difference?

Think about it.

What would it mean to you, your team, the people you're working hard to help avoid, exit or be restored after modern slavery/human trafficking?

Stop for a moment.

Really.

What would you do with an "extra" ______?

Maybe it would mean

• five more sewing machines to train and provide employment to 5, 10, 15 women at risk of or survivors of sex trafficking

• being able to add a new member to your team or have someone focus on a specific project

• two "new to you" mopeds to get out to the villages to work with village elders to help educate their community and prevent trafficking

• you name it...

Whatever it is, write it down.

On some paper.

An amount.

What it would mean?

Ok.

Now, could more money come from your current sources (during the biggest giving month of the year)?

[It's possible, especially if you haven't been intentional, organized, diligent or thorough (or trained in effective fundraising principles and practices.) Let's say you have been.]

Let's consider.

• Your monthly donors are giving steadily and providing a good solid base, but there's unlikely to be a bunch more of them starting during Freecember (People tend to give single gifts at the end of the year), and

• You're pretty confident about the year-end gifts you are expecting

• Your fundraising event (if you have the time and resources to pull one off) is already over or is a ways off (the month of Freecember is a terrible time for a fundraising event. And the month that's worse than that for giving? January. Not a whole lot of giving happening in January, not even for anti-trafficking, not even if it is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month in the USA. And February's not super either.)

And so, those possibilities aren't great options for new funds, during the biggest giving month of the year!

P.S. Who has time to do more donor communication, care or follow up than you're already planning?

You don't have the time.

Your team doesn't have the time.

Time & Money, Money & Time.

It can feel like there's not enough of either.

You and your team already have plenty to do in Freecember.

Your work doesn't stop.

The people you're helping don't stop needing help.

Traffickers aren't stopping for the holidays. Some are even gearing up to traffick around one of the biggest events of the year in the USA (the Super Bowl).

Hey, you barely have time to do your ongoing supporter communications, keep up your social media posts ("are those even making any difference?"), oh yeah, follow up from your annual fundraising event, follow up with year-end givers, not to mention doing the actual anti-trafficking work, which is what you and your team really want to focus your time and attention on anyway, and why you got started doing this work in the first place! (the work, by they way, we are sooooooo glad you're doing! and want you to have more funds and more friends to help you do it!)

You've got enough on your plate.

And you and your team legitimately need to take appropriate time to rest and be with family and friends.

You can't do everything. And you can't do it nonstop.

So, you're working to have the money you need. How can you even think about "extra?"

Take a look back at what the "extra" would mean?

Now, you'd love more money. But you don't really have the time, so...

What now?

What if someone, or a whole group of someones, who care about you and your organization, raised that "extra" amount for you?

What if, this year, you empower the people who already love you to help you connect with new friends and raise new funds for you?

And, along the way, they learned and grew and felt more connected and empowered and shared with their friends about your amazing organization and the real difference you're making to real people?

People.

Let's talk for a moment about people.

Two groups of people specifically.

Those who know and love your work & those who don't yet know and love your work.

Let's start with those who don't know you yet.

Where will you connect with these new friends, that is, new people who will care about, believe in and financially (and otherwise) support the work you're doing?

Thankfully, and thanks to awareness raising days, organizations and events, more and more people are becoming aware of human trafficking. Often, their burning question is: what can I do? Followed closely by, who should I get involved with or give money to?

They want to give to something making a difference (like your non-profit). But, how do they know which to give to? How can they feel confident their money will make a difference? They see "Give Now" buttons on every site. How do they come to know, trust and give to you? Even big organizations with big marketing budgets have to overcome the question: "how do I feel confident about giving money to this organization with a website? Anyone can put up a website." And you don't have a big marketing budget or marketing department.

(If you are a big organization with a big marketing budget, and happen to be listening in, you still face the same reality of people new to you potentially finding your page, but not giving because it's a cold landing on your page. You probably have the stats on people giving that find your page via a search engine. We bet it's not pretty.)

The good news is, at the same time you’re asking, “How do we find and connect with more people who will believe in and support our work?” They are asking, “How do I find a trustworthy organization making a real difference? Who can I trust and support and feel confident in?”

Enter: the people who already know and trust and believe in your work.

They are the ones who can introduce you to their friends... naturally, via their social networks, where they already connect with and share with their friends, new people you may never have the opportunity to meet or connect with in a meaningful way.

What you do to honor and grow the connection once you've been introduced is up to you. But the key is it's not a cold landing on your website or a scroll past a social post. New potential friends are introduced to you by someone they trust, so they check you out in more depth.

(The first two organizations our founder first supported in anti-trafficking? He was introduced to them both... by people he trusted.)

Q: Do people ask you “what (else) can I do?”

Taking or leading a Freecember challenge (and introducing new people to your work and raising funds for you) is something within their power to do.

Maybe they're giving. Maybe giving monthly. If they're a praying person, they're praying. They care, and they want to do more. Maybe they help you with your fundraising event. Maybe some volunteer in other ways. Maybe some have asked you: what else can I do?" (besides giving or what they're already doing).

But maybe,

• They don't live near where you're working

• They have great hearts and would put in the effort, but the work you do requires specialist skills or training

• They don't have the right chunks of time available on an ongoing basis (because of their jobs, kids at home, school)

• Because of the nature of human trafficking, they can't help directly because it's dangerous or makes survivors feel like they're an exhibit at the zoo

What else can they do? Umm...

Maybe you already have great answers to that question. Maybe you don't.

Either way, for some of the people that ask you (or even the ones who don't ask, but would do anything to help you if you asked), one of the things they can do is help you raise your reach and resources.

Reach & Resources

What do we mean by Reach & Resources? It's new friends and new funds. Connection and coin (if we can be direct and use a little slang here.) More people and more money, to put it bluntly.

In business, one of the most effective ways of marketing (and your website and social media posts, YouTube or Vimeo videos, when it comes down to it, are aspects of marketing, that is, letting people know about the crucial, essential, valuable work your non-profit does and the impact you and your team are making)...

One of the most effective ways of marketing, and therefore, getting new business is... referrals. (We know you're not running a business, but we can learn from good, honest, helpful business practice that enables wise use of our time and resources.)

Where do people go when they're looking for a dentist, a tutor, a realtor, a movie worth watching, a... you-name-it? Their friends.

Whether in person or online, people go to people they know and trust to find out who to trust.

And people naturally share about what they love and believe in with the people they know. The same is true for anti-trafficking.

Take a look at the kind of posts people have shared during Freecember. These are just two of the dozens posted by a mum in Australia:

New potential friends find out about you from their friends in natural and genuine ways!

And, they give to you… because their friends ask on your behalf. Sometimes, maybe just because they want to support something their friend cares about.

This isn't new or unique.

There are multiple fundraising platforms and initiatives helping people raise hundreds and thousands, totaling multiple millions of dollars, for all kinds of charities doing all kinds of work.

People raising funds. And happy to do it!

Let's take a look at what Luc, a high school student in the USA did:

A teenager and his fellow ice hockey goalie raised $2,500! On the nose. (Or maybe we should say, "On the face mask!")

Do you have someone (or lots of someones) that would raise funds and friends for you?

Now, Freecember won't be a fit for everyone. That's okay.

Freecember may NOT be a fit for you and your team if:

• You aren't working to address an aspect of modern slavery/human trafficking.

• You don't already have people who love your work and believe in what you do

• Amounts between $100 - $500 per team member recruited to join in wouldn't make a big enough difference

• You don't have a clear vision or "bright spots" you can point to about how you're making a difference

• You can't be specific about an amount that would make a difference or what it would enable you to accomplish

• It doesn't fit with your fundraising or "friendraising" strategy

If it's not a fit for you, no worries. We're thankful for you and what you're doing. Maybe you know the leader of an non-profit it would be a winner for or someone who would enjoy the opportunity to join in and raise funds and friends for an non-profit they care about. Let them know about Freecember and the possibility to raise new funds and new friends for their grassroots non-profits.

Freecember could be for you and your team, if you do have

• people who believe in you

• vision or can show new people the difference you're making

• a specific amount that would make a difference and the difference it will make (if not right this moment, then fairly soon, by the time you're ready to invite some people to be your team captain(s)).

Join us this Freecember, and have new funds & new friends, raised for you.

P.S. Freecember touches 0% of money raised. Actually, we run Freecember entirely pro bono/out of pocket. Our heart is empowering everyday people to fund the frontlines of freedom by raising money for an anti-trafficking non-profit they care about. That's you!

How exactly does Freecember help people raise funds and friends for grassroots anti-trafficking NGOs?

Register your interest now, and we'll send you a short explanation.

Interested in finding out more specifics?

Fill in a few fields & Click "Send Me the Details."

 New Funds. Raised.

New Friends. Raised.

For you. For Free.

Freedom. Raised!

This Freecember.

NeW FUNDS

More money. Money to do that project or make that something possible. From people that wouldn’t have given to your organization (because they aren’t connected to you and your work… yet).

New fRIENDS

More people finding out about your work from someone they know and trust. People that would bounce from your web page, people that may never see one of your social posts are introduced to you and your work. They begin a relationship with you and your organization based on an introduction from a friend.

raised for you. For Free.

By people happy to do it. Give your current supporters something they can do.

Current Supporters feel a part of something bigger than themselves or even bigger than your specific organization, they’re part of a global movement to stop slavery.