Reflecting on our Give Hope, Find Hope Campaign
We love staying in close contact with our incredible SDDC community, providing details on what we’ve been up to, and sharing opportunities to become engaged global citizens. However, when May 2020 rolled around and we were still no closer to returning to in-person programming, we knew we needed more than just a connection with our community. We needed help.
From the stay at home order in March to the launch of our fundraising campaign in May, we reached out to alumni around the world to learn how they were dealing with Covid-19 in their communities. It is incredible to think about how many responses we received. Thanks to the engagement of our diverse community, we were able to deliver bi-weekly online events in those first few months of the pandemic. We were touched by how many people understood the value of fostering positive changes in themselves, their community, and the world amidst a pandemic with unprecedented challenges and uncertainty. We wanted to continue driving this movement, providing opportunities for people to connect, grow, and commiserate with their global counterparts.
However, being a non-profit organization, we knew that we needed help from the community if we were to continue our work. We had taken measures to cut our expenses, having lost over half of our revenue. We were beginning to feel the pain.
And so began the Give Hope, Find Hope campaign, headed by our Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and team. Not one to shy away from a challenge, and recognizing the immense good that we could do with such a sum, we proposed that we raise $40,000 by September 1 to sustain our operations and online programs.
We wondered whether it would be possible. Could we band together and raise such a large sum before September? As usual, we had nothing but the utmost faith in our community of citizen diplomats and its ability to pull off the feat. The journey of Giving Hope, Finding Hope began, and it took off.
We are amazed and immensely proud to report that not only did we raise $40,000, but we exceeded our goal to raise a total of $42,110 through the Give Hope, Find Hope campaign. The generous contributions of our community directly help us to sustain the virtual programs that keep us connected and engaged in diplomacy. Because of you, we can continue hosting innovative online programs, including the Global Leaders Online Summer Program, E-Cultural Diplomacy Program, E-Talk About Event Series, and our Global Leaders Online Forums. Because of you, we can continue to promote global dialogue and collaboration between our country and other nations on important issues.
And we’re only getting started! Thanks to your support, we have the capacity to not only continue offering our existing online programs but to expand into some new and exciting offerings expected in the near future.
If you donated $1, or $1000 – thank you. If you have attended any of our events – thank you. If you follow us on Instagram, receive our newsletter, are an SDDC member – thank you. Because of your help, we can continue to generate a better world – one of trust, dialogue, and collaboration among nations.
Our work would be fruitless without you. We value you all immensely.
Here’s to the next chapter!
The SDDC Team
See our campaign homepage for a full list of donors.
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I enjoyed reading, thanks.