After years of fighting corporate human rights abuses in the courts, ERI decided that it was time to take their message out to the world. They set out to create a series of short films and training curricula that would give a voice to survivors of corporate human rights abuses and share information for activists.
EarthRights International (ERI) takes on corporate human rights abusers in arena of public opinion. Using the power of the law and the power of the people, they defend human rights and environmental rights around the world. Founded by Katie Redford, a lawyer who became passionate about human rights while teaching English in Thailand, ERI documents and exposes human rights and environmental abuses, organize and rallies activists, and litigates on behalf of survivors of human rights abuses in the U.S.
Most of ERI’s donations come from foundations and larger grants. But this campaign was designed to create a message for the people and to share information among activists. So, for Katie and her team, it was important that this campaign also be funded “by the people.” Rather than reach out to major donors or find corporate sponsors, ERI wanted to crowdfund the campaign and reach out to individuals.
After researching crowdfunding options, ERI selected CauseVox because of the control it allows over the design of the page.
Additionally, the ability of individual fundraisers to create and tailor their own pages was a huge asset. Patrick Boyle, ERI’s Development Associate credits the ability of each individual fundraiser to customize their own page with the success of the campaign. Individuals who personally reached out with their own customized page attracted new audiences to ERI and allowed personal connections to be made.
ERI set their initial goal at $15,000. When staff participation increased, they then bumped it to $20,000. Due to the incredibly warm reception and their success nearing the end of their campaign, they raised it again to $25,000.
The final total raised was $24,532. This, along with meeting Gillian Caldwell along the way (Gillian is, among other things, an experienced human rights film producer who offered her service at a discounted rate), ERI raised more than enough to complete their project.
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