Our first crowdfunding campaign Lighten the Load for Syrian Mothers was not only our first crowdfunding success, but also an exception to the usual crowdfunding rules. We launched the campaign after a minimum amount of planning, which is something we don't usually recommend to the teams we educate on the Crowdfunding Academy. The situation was asking for a prompt response. The needs were big and the citizens eager to help, so we had to react quickly.
In collaboration with the NGO Roda, who were familiar with the refugee families' needs as they actively volunteered at the borders, we decided to ensure baby slings for refugee parents. Our first goal was to collect funds to produce and distribute 100 baby slings. We were joined by the women-run textile collective Kamensko, who produced all the baby slings we raised for, which turned out to be 10 times more than we originally intended.
After the quick campaign launch, we collected all the funds needed for 100 baby slings in the first two hours, so in the remaining two weeks of the campaign we collected more than 578% of the original amount. Eventually, we distributed a total of 1000 baby slings to the refugees on the borders of Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.
