Trump’s ban on refugees prompts fundraising and giving campaigns

President Trump's executive order banning refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries has inspired a variety of fundraising and giving campaigns. These are designed to support individuals directly affected, organisations supporting refugees, and organisations opposing the ban. 1. $24m to ACLU One of the biggest beneficiaries was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which received $24m in donations over the weekend following the ban, in the form of 350,000 gifts. It successfully persuaded a Federal District Court Judge to issue a stay. https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/825531338333773825 Nick Burne has shared his analysis of the mobile giving platform and content that helped ensure that ACLU could handle such a wave of gifts in what was effectively an emergency campaign. In Just how did ACLU raise so much so quickly? ($24million in 48 hours this weekend) he highlights the role of: Spontaneous "peer-to-peer matching" which went viral thanks to social media A mobile donation experience optimised for touch A home page focused on asking for a donation A compelling, distraction-free, single page donation page (with a monthly gift upsell)      Some individual supporters set up their own campaign for ACLU, including one via Facebook Donate (available to US nonprofits): https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/826112006033985536 https://twitter.com/neilsonandrew/status/826094196159295490 https://twitter.com/tompkinsstange/status/825905528689811456   2. Actor's crowdfunding appeal raises $600,000+ Actor Kal Penn reacted to a bigoted social media message by launching an appeal for Syrian refugees which has raised over $600,000. He shared an edited version of the original message which he was told "you don't belong in this country". He announced that he had set up a crowdfunding campaign in the Instagram name of the person who he said had sent this message. http://ift.tt/2jIWIQh Syria of course was one of the countries included in the Presidential ban. The appeal was in aid of the International Rescue Committee. $250,000 was donated within 24 hours, so he had to keep raising the target to $50,000 and now $600,000. https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/825453456269926400   3. Peer to peer matched giving Using Nick Byrne's definition of this phenomenon, the fundraising totals for campaigns such as that for ACLU were further boosted by a number of offers of matched giving by celebrities and Twitter users. Many came forward, unprompted it would seem, to offer to match a variety of different sums, in order to encourage others to donate. https://twitter.com/Sia/status/825459576036220929 https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/826118502004174850 https://twitter.com/Rosie/status/825536012763983872 https://twitter.com/rahdieh/status/826136222896623617 https://twitter.com/jessetyler/status/825902434664845313 https://twitter.com/mvernal/status/825846013638299648 https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/825782329113075712 https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/825804280577679360 https://twitter.com/jackantonoff/status/825527049909571584 https://twitter.com/boztank/status/825903365402030080   3. Corporate donations After transportation company Uber did not distance itself from President Trump and his policy fast enough, rival company Lyft seized the opportunity doing the right thing by announcing it would donate $1 million to the ACLU over the next four years of the Trump presidency. Of course, it knew it would benefit commercially from so doing, as Uber users started to close their account and delete the app.   https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/825895801670991872 https://twitter.com/MikeLynch09/status/825719651233579008 https://twitter.com/harveymckinnon/status/825788596900671488 There was even at least one opportunity to make signing up for Lyft raise funds for another nonprofit: https://twitter.com/nicolettemason/status/825839341951791104   4. Pro bono support Many lawyers volunteered and turned up to air ports to provide free legal advice to families of those being held in detention as a result of the Presidential ban. They were not permitted access to the individuals in detention. https://twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice/status/825478697306173443   https://twitter.com/HeyItsMurad/status/825894362160717824   Other support Other companies also offered support in a variety of different non-financial ways. In addition to providing some instant or long-term support, these were clearly designed to demonstrate to the public and to politicians that the company did not support what had by then become referred to as the #Muslimban. The President has criticised the use of this phrase as inaccurate. • Starbucks has pledged to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years. An open letter to staff from CEO Howard Shultz stated that the firm would: "neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new administration's actions grows with each passing day". He stated: “There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognised as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business. And we will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support.” • Airbnb's CEO and founder Brian Chesky offered free accommodation to those affected by the ban, saying: "Airbnb is providing free housing to refugees and anyone else who needs it in the event they are denied the ability to board a US-bound flight and are not in your city/country of residence." http://ift.tt/2kGbbwE It will use its disaster response tool to offer free housing to displaced people when needed.        

from UK Fundraising http://ift.tt/2kkgQLF