Maria Choi
As Director of Development at the Advertising Council, Maria is responsible for raising funds and developing new partnerships with the insurance, financial services, advertising agency and retail sectors. Prior to her position at the Ad Council, Maria worked at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Carnegie Hall and the National Football League. Maria is an active volunteer with Nomi Network, a non-profit organization created to bridge the gap between the private and public sectors to support survivors of human and sex trafficking. In her spare time, she is eating her way through Brooklyn.
Posts by Maria
Gifts that Give Back: Mother’s Day Edition
Hi all, your resident last minute gift-giving guide here. We all know Mother’s Day is around the corner and if you, like me, are looking for that perfect, meaningful gift, I’m here to help. I know many of you probably can’t get home to see your mother’s or loved ones and personally thank them for always showering you with (sometimes unwanted) attention and love. So, here are some thoughtful gifts that give back, Mother’s Day edition.
What better way to start than feature Save the Children*! This year, Save the Children features a menu of great mother’s day gift donations for any mom. For the Care giving mom, you can See Where the Good Goes® and donate in her honor to support a community health worker. For the Techie mom, you can purchase a handmade iPod case for $40 to help address urgent needs for children and families in the U.S. and around the world.
My co-worker gave me this next great gift idea for your Sentimental mom. Last year, she made a donation directly to the Children’s Miracle Network hospital where she was born, and trust me, her mom was very touched! See if you were born at one of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and make a donation in honor of your mom! If your hospital is not on the list, you can still donate in your mom’s honor.
Water is the New “Holiday” for Non-Profits
Water. It’s something we, in the United States, probably take for granted. But that’s not the case for some around the world. According to UNICEF, nearly 900 million people lack access to clean water and 2.5 billion people still lack improved sanitation. That’s 3 times more people than live in the US, according to Water.org.
In the past few years, water has become a hot issue and a major topic for fundraisers. According to a brief authored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, water-related grant-making organizations have more than tripled in the past six years and grants given to non-profits implementing water and sanitation programs have increased five times over.
Even major brands are getting in on the issue, from Coca Cola and Pepsi with their water stewardship efforts, to Levi’s Go Forth sustainability initiative to P&G’s Pur water filtration system, water is the new cause du jour. Typically, spring is a “down” fundraising season for most non-profits, having just come off of the most critical fundraising period during the holidays. Let’s take a deeper look into how non-profits are fundraising around water.
According to Charity: water’s founder, Scott Harrison, he wanted to “re-invent charity for his generation,” and in turn, he’s revolutionized fundraising. From taking simple ideas like “Pledge your Birthday,” successfully leveraging marketing to drive fundraising, getting celebrities and “real people” to participate and get the buzz going, to emphasizing transparency and a 100% guarantee that your money goes to programs, Charity: water is poised to raise $100 million by 2015.
Filed under: Campaigns, Communications, Social Media, fundraising
Tags: Conrad Hilton, Conrad N. Hilton, tab project, UNICEF, Water.org, World Water Day
International Women’s Day
Yesterday was International Women’s Day – a date set-aside, since the early 1900s, to honor and pay tribute to women worldwide. This year’s UN theme is: “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”.
Exemplifying the real-life fruition of this theme is Rosaline, a woman I met on a recent trip to Haiti. Rosaline was provided with a micro-loan to start a coffee roasting business. Haitian coffee is very different from the coffee that we’re used to in that they roast the coffee with sugar (yum). Rosaline was able to purchase beans and a roaster to start her business, and now she runs one of the most successful small businesses in her community in Les Cayes, Haiti.
Rosaline is a great example of how a little support can go a long way to her path for a better future. Today, we enjoy the progress of women’s rights and have seen an attitudinal shift in recent history. Women’s empowerment initiatives are now a core focus for many Fortune 500 companies and thousands of nonprofit organizations and NGO’s. But, there is so much still to do. According to the UNESCO, over 1 billion people in this world live in extreme poverty – and the majority of them are women and children. According to Kiva.org, research shows that women reinvest a majority of what they earn to provide herself and her children with a better future. For each additional year a girl attends school, she yields a 20% increase in her future earning potential. It is with this determination that many women around the world are creating change and helping to pull their families out of poverty to provide their children with hopes for a better future.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: Haiti, International Women's Day, Kiva.org, United Nations
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