Movers & Shakers: Adam Hutchison of Roots & Shoots Raises $10,000 to Educate Children in Indonesia

Adam Hutchison set off to Indonesia to pilot a literacy program for WIJABA/Roots & Shoots, hoping to raise $10,000 to continue educating children this fall. By the power of short videos, video editing skills, and a personal touch, he did it!

Let’s learn more about Adam and his campaign.

Can you tell me about Roots & Shoots and your role with them?

Of course! This fundraising campaign was a collaborative effort between The World is Just a Book Away (WIJABA) and Jane Goodall’s program, Roots & Shoots. I represent WIJABA and recently returned from Indonesia where I was able to pilot the deforestation Roots & Shoots program that we were promoting through our fundraising campaign.

The overall mission of WIJABA & Roots and Shoots is to spread literacy and improve children’s awareness of environmental and endangered species within the country.

What was the reason for the CauseVox campaign?

The goal was to raise $10,000 to implement an eight-week curriculum in eighty schools in the fall. The curriculum I created and adapted for Indonesia is about deforestation with a focus on raising kids to be leaders in their community in Indonesia.

The funds from this campaign will be used to take this curriculum to eighty schools by the end of the year.

What’s been your fundraising approach?

I started out by Googling a variety of fundraising sites. Initially I wanted to use Kickstarter, but it required a tangible product to give to your donors so it’s not really for nonprofits, and then I found CauseVox.

• My approach was informal yet personal. I used Facebook to promote my CauseVox page three to four days before I left and I fundraised $4000 in the first 48 hours!
• My CauseVox campaign was heavily Facebook-driven at first. I moved to Indonesia to pilot the program and posted engaging photos of me with Indonesian children to help people see the real impact of their giving.
• I used Vlog (video blog) updates. The videos weren’t perfect but they gave legitimacy to the work because it was on the ground. Each video was two to three minutes long.
• I followed up with each donor within twenty-four hours of when they gave. I thanked them for donation and asked if their place of employment had a donation-matching program.

What has surprised you?

Who donates and how much they donate! You’ll get money from people and places you don’t expect! Some of the largest donations came from people that were friends of mine from years ago that I haven’t talked to in a while.

Some people prefer for you to ask for a specific amount of money. Something to the effect of, ‘We need $3000 to fund the salary of one teacher.’ I found that large donors like specificity.

What tips would you offer other fundraisers?

1. Always go personal. I didn’t solicit anyone I didn’t know personally. I waited until I had $5000 before I reached out to my closest friends, family and professional contacts.
2. Be smart about when you post. People are less likely to like your Facebook post if you post at 8pm at night.
3. Take advantage of corporate matching programs. People were glad to ask their companies if they had donation matching and it made all the difference to help reach our goal!
4. Create videos on iMovie. It’s surprisingly easy to learn how to use iMovie. People were most drawn to videos, which explained why I’m passionate about this literacy and deforestation program in Indonesia. They said, “It’s clear you’re passionate about this!” and it motivated them to give. In hindsight, I would have made the videos no longer than thirty seconds.

The eight-week module will be launched this fall due to the generous gifts of Adam’s family and friends. Over 200 Indonesian children will learn about the reality of deforestation in their country and learn how they can be empowered to engage and affect change as upcoming leaders.