Kristen applied for our Fourth Estate Summit and didn’t have enough money saved up to cover her costs. So she punched apathy in the face and took to Facebook, proceeding to raise the funds she needed within 24 hours. We love a go-getter almost as much as we love the generosity of family and friends.
Kristen (middle in black jacket) with two friends and almost every male IC staff member during MOVE:DC
As an ardent IC supporter, Kristen knew she had to do everything in her power to attend the Summit. So that’s exactly what she set out to do. She shared her motivating story with us below.
I first took a jar with me to all of my classes and told people about Invisible Children, The Fourth Estate, and why I needed money and told them pocket change all adds up! At the end of the day I had $60 and then created a fundraising page so that I could upload that money and ask others to continue to donate. I emailed that link to close family and friends but so many of them had already given so much to help send me to MOVE:DC. I then got the idea to create something I called a “Promise Page” so people could donate to me in exchange for a deed I would do for them (under reasonable terms of course!) Some people gave money and asked me to store stuff for them in my house over summer while they were away from school, others asked me to do silly/embarrassing things, and others asked for nothing else in return. I found that most of the people who donated were not people I would have originally thought to reach out to. They were friends who said they believed in me and remembered times I had helped them, and many of them felt I should not be held back from reaching my dreams because of lack of money. IT WAS AMAZING. The power of good people and social media (cough KONY 2012 cough) has proven truly amazing, even with things like this!
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