I subscribe to an email network which has just raised £1000 in 19 hours to help young Kenyans share their views on political issues in the build-up to the next election.
It’s been an incredible few hours. The original email was sent from Tonee Ndungu who asked the ecampaigning forum for advice on how to look for funding. Fifteen minutes later, Patrick Olszowski, the campaigns manager at Action Medical Research replied, pledging £20 if five others would also donate.
I didn’t pick up either email to start with because I was out at a meeting. By the time I saw the email thread at about 5.30pm yesterday, they had already raised a couple of hundred pounds. so I felt duty-bound to throw in £20.
The donations kept on coming through the evening yesterday and this morning and the final donation has just come through to ensure that the ecampaigning forum has raised £1000 in 19 hours – most of which were spent asleep.
The forum has around 400 members who run ecampaigns for charities. It’s never before (to my knowledge) been used to raise money and usually just discusses ideas and offers support to practitioners.
It appears to be a good cause – although I knew I was making the donation knowing less about it than anything else I’ve ever given to – the initial email was just four paragraphs setting the context for the site. I think it worked because of the combination of being asked money in an unexpected place and the regular updates provided by Patrick to show the growing support for the campaign. Perhaps also my knowledge that the group wasn’t that large placed a greater sense of personal responsibility to ’step up to the plate’.
It’s an amazing achievement and a tribute to Patrick who I’ve always found to be generous with his time, advice and networks. I look forward to seeing how Wazimba develops and hope that the Kenyan election process is more peaceful this time around.