Smiley Movement launches to connect people with charities & causes

An initiative is launching that aims to transform how charities and social enterprises connect and interact with the public. The Smiley Movement is the brainchild of Nicolas Loufrani (pictured) who is the CEO of The Smiley Company: the £400m global firm that licenses the use of the iconic yellow and black smiley. The philanthropic initiative has developed its own social network called The Smiley Network. By registering with The Smiley Network, members of the public are matched to causes, charities and social enterprises they feel most passionate about wanting to help such as climate change, gender equality and action on poverty. They can also advertise skills they have in areas such as legal, marketing and accounting that organisations could benefit from. It is also running a series of free nationwide town hall events, called Smiley Talks. These feature people telling personal stories relating to subjects including marginalisation, social injustice and gaps in social care and feature moderated panel discussions with local leaders and community figures. They began last month in Brighton, and featured local MP Caroline Lucas. Founder Nicolas Loufrani said: “Our mission is to create the technology and events that enable communities to act on issues important to them. We want to help them start up, scale up and reach more people. “The Smiley Movement exists for everyone who wishes to give back. Our tech-for-good makes it easy to start creating positive action by matching people and organisations with projects that need their support. We help connect and contribute so that little by little we can make a big difference.”        

from UK Fundraising https://ift.tt/333BymW