Awareness leads to progress and progress leads to breakthrough. This is what Sevenly is all
about, helping bring awareness to various causes – with hopes of leading people towards their own
breakthroughs. Three years ago was when Sevenly began their quest, but progress was not far in
their future. Their first charities were only raising around six thousand dollars; through knowledge
and experience they were able to progress and grow into an extremely well working system.
Because of their efforts with social media websites, and their modern approach to an old concept,
Sevenly has been able to make vast improvements in raising money for charities over the past few
years. The fact that they used devices that were unique and have had a great impact on the current
society is rather simple, yet ingenious. The creators or founders were able to use social networking
to create a business that would benefit others. Though it was rocky at first and took some time to
promote, they have progressed to achieve more awareness from the population. This meant well
business has had the chance to support its’ employees and also change peoples’ lives all around
the world through their charity work. Their current charities are raising anywhere from sixteen to
forty thousand dollars per week. Through their expansion they have been able to make products
other than shirts, and have brought other companies products into their organization to help both
raise awareness for themselves and great companies that support them.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
What Sevenly Means to Us Personally
Personally, I, Emily, can relate to a number of charities that Sevenly has supported and raised money for. I find that I relate most to the National Autism Association charity. During my childhood, my mother worked as a teacher for those effected with Autism, so I spent a lot of time learning about it. I would also attend work functions with her and would interact with the children she worked with. Also, as I grew up I have had the chance to be friends and attend school with many children and young adults with Autism. This makes the charity have emotional relevance to me and I can understand raising awareness and helping families out is important.
While teaching, she was also an aid to students with Down syndrome; this allowed me to also have the chance to interact with those children. The teachers would have trips and days when they would take to the children to the movies and I would tag along. And I am glad that I was given the chance to interact and meet with them. This allows me to understand why it is important to help expecting parents understand Down syndrome and allow for more awareness in the population as well.
I, Dayna, appreciate the fact that Sevenly has donated to the Humane Society of the United States multiple times. I support the work the HSUS does, especially with pit bulls. As a pit bull
owner myself, I am angered when I see the severe discrimination and abuse against that breed.
The HSUS advocates in favor of pit bulls, working to end that discrimination and abuse by working
with the national and state governments and legislators. Their message on that issue is that
discriminating against a breed has been proven ineffective, because breed alone is not what makes
a dog a danger to others. I love that Sevenly donates tens of thousands of dollars towards this
cause, and many other causes that the HSUS fights for.
I, Jessi, find everything that sevenly does to be an inspiration. I personally have a hard
time focusing on just one issue, or just one cause. So, I may not know much about every one of
them – but I know about each of them a little bit. I also find it nice that I can pick and choose what
cause I am supporting, and in the process I am also supporting good companies in the process. Out
of the causes we chose to highlight I find that I align myself most with Mercy Ships. I think what
they do is far different than any charity I have heard of before, and they help a variety of people
with a variety of needs. I like that their cause can affect people in various places around the word,
rather than having a focus on just once specific area. For me supporting a charity that supports a
very wide variety of people matters most.
Mercy Ships
Mercy ships is a company that thrives on the idea that people deserve health care, even if they have no access to it. Their mission started in the 80’s, and is still prevalent today. What they do is man ships with volunteers, turn the ships into mobile hospitals, and boat around the world towards countries without healthcare. On their website they show a chart listing all that happens in just one single day on the African Mercy, their current ship. Here are some of the numbers: 138 dental procedures, 128 beds, 10 radiology procedures, and over 1600 hours of labor. The procedures they do are both large, and small. A specific story shown by Sevenly was about an African boy with a deformity on his face. In his community they outcast people with deformities; Mercy Ships visited his community and he was allowed to have a surgery that removed the growth. These stories are not rare for Mercy Ships however, they are abundant. These are the kinds of life changes they strive for on a daily basis.
For more information see the Mercy Ships website:
Lettercase
Lettercase is a charity or organization that began in 2008; its goal is to bring awareness to those with Down syndrome. With the use of a book called Understanding a Down Syndrome Diagnosis, which they created. Over 25,000 copies of the book have already been distributed to homes all over the United States in hope that families will gain more knowledge about Down syndrome, especially those families that have a member with Down syndrome. In 2009, the book was selected by Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation First Call committee as the gold standard for prenatal information about Down syndrome. Now the organization has branched out to more books to help those seeking knowledge. The books also allow expecting parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis or already parents that have received a diagnosis of Down syndrome in a child to gain information and support right away. The books are all up-to-date on information, balanced, and accurate; books are written in Spanish and in English. The material written also includes common medical conditions for those with Down syndrome, educations and health resources that may be available to the families, and other helpful resources.
For more information on Lettercase see website:
RE-Generation
Re-Generation is charity that was started by the company Virgin Mobile and is comprised of a group of partners including Green Chimneys, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, and Virgin Unite. The mission when beginning the charity was to, as they put it, “A generation helping its own”. The charity focuses on young people within the United States that due to certain circumstances may have become or are currently homeless. Whether they have become homeless do to natural disasters, family troubles, or financial struggles; the occurrences are out of their power. Re-Generation seeks to ensure that those young people have a chance and the means to complete school and stay away from the streets, begging, drugs, and prostitution. This charity is specific to young homeless people or kiss because they have different needs than homeless adults, especially being as they have not had a chance to live their lives yet. So, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Unite created this charity to change this. They bring together youth with those that seek to help the homeless youth by bringing together with organizations that would like to do the same. This they believe will empower youth. Virgin Mobile also connects the charity with texting, volunteering, donating, and making phone downloads. Since 2009 the outpouring of support for Virgin Mobile FreeFest has provided 75,000 hours of community service have been donated to homeless youth, nearly $800,000 raised for homeless youth charities, nearly 25,000 outreach kits created for kids on the street and 1000 pairs of shoes were donated by Converse to youth homelessness all because of Re-Generation.
For more information see the Re-Generation website:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/virgin-mobile-life/regeneration-past-about
Angel Faces
Sevenly donated $18,844 to Angel Faces, an organization that gives aid to young girls who have suffered from burn/trauma injuries. The money was donated primarily to the Angel Faces programs and retreats. The organization was founded by Lesia Cartelli. She is the current CEO, well as an inspirational speaker. Cartelli created Angel Faces after suffering from a traumatic burn injury herself at the age of nine. She was at her grandparents’ house when a natural gas explosion occurred, destroying half of her face and body. Miraculously, she was able to survive such a horrific incident and eventually rise above her circumstances. Angel Faces was founded in 2003. According to the official website (http://www.angelfacesretreat.org/af/), Angel Faces is “a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide healing retreats and ongoing support for adolescent girls with burn/trauma injuries.” Their goal is to help these girls be the best they can possibly be, and they also help the girls “develop meaningful relationships for themselves, their families, and their communities.”
The charity places a focus on teen girls, ages 11 to 19. These girls can experience the healing benefits of Angel Faces by either going through the programs, which include the Angel Faces retreat and the Angels in Flight ongoing support. The programs are meant to encourage, inspire, and support teen girls living with these traumatic injuries. They come face-to-face with their deepest emotions and grief, gain a stronger self-esteem and confidence to help them move forward in their lives. The programs also teach the girls how to handle stares and/or teasing that comes as a result of their disfigurements in a loving manner. Healthy boundaries are developed and maintained in their daily lives.
The Angel Faces retreat is residential and lasts seven days. It is held once a year in Southern California. According to the Angel Faces website, the retreat consists of: skill building and practice sessions, emotional healing, corrective cosmetics, the importance of self care, mindfulness and physical strength, and friendships, balance, and play. This retreat allows the teen to begin the emotional healing process. The retreat continues to support her journey through life after the seven days are over.
Angel Faces is the only organization of its kind in the country and in the world. It is different from other burn camps because it addresses grief and trauma in addition to social and self-esteem problems. Their goals for the future are to reach a broader audience- possibly teen boys with burn/trauma injuries. They also want to get the surrounding communities more involved in their mission. Ultimately, they want to further spread their message about the “beauty and personal power within us and how we each can rise above our circumstances to create a meaningful life.”
For more information see the Angel Faces website:
Polaris Project
The Polaris Project was founded on February 14th, 2002 by two college students Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman. This organization is the leading organization in the global fight against human trafficking and modern day slavery. It was named after the North Star “Polaris” which guided slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
Sevenly donated $27,160 to this organization. The money that they raised for this organization goes toward multiple areas of the Polaris project. The following paragraphs explain multiple areas where the money donated could benefit the organization.
They have a crisis response team which provides emotional support, legal advocacy, emergency housing coordination, transportation assistance, and critical social services support. Another thing that is part of the crisis response team is the national human trafficking hotline.
Next they have therapeutic services. This includes individual therapy and group therapy. Group therapy helps the survivors support each other in the healing process.
Case management is another thing they have. With case management everyone is assigned a case advisor that helps them set goals and help with their individual needs. Some of those needs include helping find food, clothing, obtaining government benefits, receiving health services, access to classes, and supporting them with criminal justice proceedings against the trafficker.
Workshops are also offered. They have weekly workshops that provide a positive supportive environment to discuss relationships, careers, and transitions. Skill providing workshops are another type of workshop offered. The skill building workshops focus on areas like budgeting, nutrition, exercise, and goal setting. They also provide creative outlets such as art therapy, dance, acting, and photography.
Lastly they have a drop in center which is a safe place for the clients to feel at home. At the drop in center they can come in and use the computers, phones, receive donated clothing and appliances, eat, and rest/relax.
To find more information on the Polaris Project see their website:
National Autism Association
The national Autism Association is a parent run non-profit organization that was founded in 2003. It is the leading voice on urgent issues related to severe autism, autism safety, autism abuse, crisis prevention, and regressive autism.
Sevenly ended up doing three different weekly fund raising for the National Autism Association. One of the times they did it strictly for providing parents with emergency kits equipped with critical tools to assist in preventing and responding to emergencies. These kits included door alarms for the house, ID tag for the child, visual safety prompts to be displayed on doors and windows, and an emergency plan. They ended up raising $43,218 on this weekly cause. The other two times they did it they raised a good amount of money as well. They raised another $34,531 one time and another $53,332 the other time. Sevenly has raised a total of $131,081 for the National Autism Association.
To find more information on the National can be found on their main website:
The Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has received donations from Sevenly on multiple occasions. One week, they donated $37,786 to the HSUS by selling their products. Sevenly chose to donate to the HSUS because animal neglect and abuse is seen as a major issue in our nation and in the world. This is an issue that people of all ages care about., whether they are animal lovers, pet owners, or both.
Since 1954, the HSUS has been fighting for animal protection through education, advocacy, and programs. It is the largest program of its kind in the United States, and it has been rated most effective by fellow animal advocacy organizations. While the HSUS rescues and cares for tens of thousands of animals on a yearly basis, their main mission is to prevent animal cruelty before it happens. They work towards a humane and sustainable world for both animals and people. The voice of this organization is most trusted when it comes to animal abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Their mission statement is “Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty.”
The HSUS lobbies for sensible public policies that benefit animals as well as people. They investigate animal cruelty cases and work to enforce existing laws meant to protect animals. In addition, they educate the public about animal-related issues going on around the nation through hands-on programs. Many people, including those within this group, would be unaware of many types of animal abuse if it wasn’t for the coin-donation jars we saw as kids. We wouldn’t have asked our parents questions about the HSUS if we had not adopted pets of our own as children, and we would not have realized how serious of an issue finding forever homes for pets can be if it were not for the impact the HSUS created on our lives as young children.
The HSUS is also a primary disaster relief agency for animals; they provide care for thousands of animals at shelters, mobile veterinary clinics, and wildlife rehabilitation centers. They also fight for the end to animal experiments by making use of scientific innovation to discover healthier and more humane alternatives. The organization fights to tackles the major national and global animal-related issues such as: dog fighting and cock fighting, abusive factory farming in agriculture businesses, and abusive puppy mills.
The organization is also the nation’s leading supporter of local humane societies. The HSUS provides shelter standards and evaluations, employee and volunteer training programs, advertising that promotes pet adoption, direct support, and invites these local societies to national conferences.
In Washington, D.C., they own and operate a Humane Wildlife Services program that works directly with homeowners and business in the area to help them deal with neighboring animals the proper way. It is very helpful for this major city to have such a helpful resource on hand for a humane alternative to dealing with the wildlife in the area.
Animal Sheltering is a magazine published by the HSUS bi-monthly and it is geared toward animal shelter professionals. Another magazine that they publish for the general public is titled, All Animals. Both are very helpful resources to have access to.
The $37,786 donated by Sevenly was put towards these services the Humane Society provides to animals around the country and around the world. Through Sevenly, the public awareness of the HSUS increased, hopefully increasing a passion for helping animals as well.
To find more information on the HSUS can be found on their main website: http://action.humanesociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=hsus_donation_general_ppc_splash&cr=THSR_Donate&s_src=ad_ggsearch_brand_general_2013&gclid=CP3fjcWAu7oCFU1gMgodywYARQ.
Preview of Past Campaigns
We ended up picking seven different campaigns supported by Sevenly in the past. Each
of the campaigns we chose and researched them in depth because one of the main goals of Sevenly
is to make people go out and be more aware of the different campaigns they did. We also tied in
the amount of money that was raised for that cause and some of the areas where all the money
that was raised would support. We have also made certain to show why these specific campaigns
influence our generation as a whole, and the reasons behind the support they have found. The next
post will cover seven charities that have benefited from Sevenly.
of the campaigns we chose and researched them in depth because one of the main goals of Sevenly
is to make people go out and be more aware of the different campaigns they did. We also tied in
the amount of money that was raised for that cause and some of the areas where all the money
that was raised would support. We have also made certain to show why these specific campaigns
influence our generation as a whole, and the reasons behind the support they have found. The next
post will cover seven charities that have benefited from Sevenly.
The Start-up Story and Overall Background of Sevenly
Sevenly was started by two men by the name of Dale Partridge and Aaron Chavez. The creation of Sevenly officially happened on January 13th, 2011. Both Partridge and Chavez were between 18 and 23 years-old when they began their organization. They believed that people mattered and that is why they began their journey to change the world. ‘People Matter’ is actually the motto of Sevenly to this day. They started creating weekly cause campaigns and customers purchased products from them knowing that seven dollars of their money went to the weekly charity.
One minute videos were also created for each weekly cause. Through the young age of the entrepreneurs, they knew how to focus their efforts towards the younger generation. We may not have the desire or time to watch a fifteen minute video on a cause, but one minute gives just enough knowledge to inspire the viewer without boring them. They did not simply know how to raise money for their weekly cause, but they also found an ingenious way to create social awareness as well.
How the Model Works
The overall goal of the Sevenly organization is to activate intentional generosity and love for others. Instead of them going out and asking millions of people who have never supported a charity before to donate money they encouraged them to donate their social influences through social media sites. By getting their name out there in this manner they allowed people to visit their website, www.sevenly.org, to allow them to look through their products and purchase the ones that were closely related to them personally. Lastly, they wanted to encourage all of the donors to go and have a deeper connection with the charities that they purchased the products from.
Their goal was to raise awareness for each person out there, knowing that maybe this week’s charity would not resonate with the donor – but next weeks will. They are not focused on helping one single problem, but in helping in small amounts to many charities over time. They are known for bringing back specific charities when they believe in the cause deeply enough. A great example of this is Mercy Ships, which we will talk more of later, whom they have raised money for twice in the last three years.
How Much Progress they have Made
Sevenly has seen millions of people donate their social influence through sharing in Facebook, retweeting tweets in twitter, and liking pins on Pinterest. They have also seen hundreds
of thousands buying the awareness products for a cause that they support. The starters of Sevenly,
Partridge and Chavez, are seeing their mission unfold before their eyes. They are starting to see a
generation moving toward generosity and the world starting to realize that people matter. In just
three years they have gone from raising just under ten thousand dollars in one week to raising over
thirty. In just three years they have seen our generation get on board and attempt to change the
world, even if at this point we can only do it through material means.
Introduction
As a group, Emily, Amber, Jessi, and myself (Dayna) chose to write our paper about an organization called Sevenly. In short, Sevenly is an organization geared towards raising awareness for non-profit programs that support issues from around the world. In the early days of their organization they only sold T-shirts to raise money, but as their efforts were rewarded they brought about more companies to help them raise their money. Now they don’t just sale T-shirts, but other products such as children’s stuffed animals, socks, cutting boards made from recycled materials, etc.
A fellow group member, Jessi, discovered Sevenly.org, and fell in love with it. She thought the organization was a great way of raising awareness for major issues, such as the neglect and abuse of animals and sex trafficking. She introduced the rest of the group to Sevenly, and we fell in love with it as well.
Sevenly is a great organization for college students to make use of through its constant input through social media websites, and their always changing focus. The supports one charity each week and gives seven dollars of each item sold to said charity. The constant change keeps our generation aware of Sevenly. There is a short deadline to donate to each charity, and that increases the urgency for people to donate before time runs out. Since the featured charities are constantly changing, the donors are kept interested.
The information for each charity and how to donate is posted primarily on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube - in addition to Sevenly’s official website. This makes it easily accessible, especially for college students who make use of these social networking sites on a daily basis. Donating is almost effortless, because it allows the donor to buy a product they would buy anyways, but from a company that is doing something more with their money. Although Sevenly makes use of other companies, their shirts are their pride and joy. Sevenly.org has their own artists that custom-design shirts that relate to the charity it is benefiting for that week.
The majority of college students are familiar with online shopping, and the prices for the shirts are relatively affordable, ranging from twenty to thirty dollars on average. College students,
and people in general, can feel better about spending their money on worthy causes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)