BROWN WORKING WITH WOMEN IN CHAPA, ETHIOPIA, DURING A 2016 FUND-RAISER. |
THE MOTIVATOR |
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MAIN IMAGE: ADAM VOORHES / GALLERY STOCK. ALL OTHER IMAGES: COURTESY SUBJECTS. |
Mallory Brown
Social entrepreneur and director of the CrowdRise 24-Hour Impact Project PLATFORM: CrowdRise RAISED: $ 228,912
Mallory Brown, 30, has always been happiest living out of her backpack. After studying economics and management in college, she took time to trek through Southeast Asia and South America. The more she traveled, the more she wanted to find a way to connect her wanderlust to her skill set. That led her to founding a company that provides clothes to people in need as well as consulting with global charities.“ I thought that I could use my training, resources, and access to connect businesses and donors with people who need help,” she says. In January 2015, she traveled to Haiti to deliver clothing to people still affected by the devastating 2010 earthquake. While there, she launched her first“ flash fund-raiser”— a campaign in which the goal amount had to be earned in 24 hours and distributed in another day. Brown used the fundraising site CrowdRise to make it happen. The campaign raised $ 10,954, more than double her goal. The money helped move one displaced family into a new home and enroll the children in schools. That success impressed CrowdRise’ s CEO Robert Wolfe, who brought her on board as a partner. She and CrowdRise now run 24-hour challenges for philanthropic efforts around the world, which have included Mexico( for education), Nepal( for disaster relief), Las Vegas
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P O I N T S OF LIGHT
HONOREE NO.
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( to combat homelessness), and Greece( to support Syrian refugees).“ It’ s a ton of work, but the wonderful and challenging part of crowdfunding is that there’ s no barrier to entry,” she says.“ It’ s open to everyone.”
SUCCESS SECRET“ Just because you’ re really passionate about something doesn’ t mean the rest of the world will be,” Brown says. To create an emotional connection with her donors, she creates personalized video shout-outs while she’ s traveling that show how the money she raises is being used.“ People I’ ve done that for become repeat donors and give to my next campaign,” she says.“ They have a sense that their money made a difference.”
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BROW N VIEWS HER CROW DRISE PAG E W I T H A G ROU P IN ETHIOPIA. SHE RAISED $ 41,966 TO CRE AT E JOB S A N D PRO- V IDE WAG E S FOR 30 WOMEN. |
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JANUARY 2017 _ COSMOPOLITAN _ 121 |