The live crowdfunding event by the Rainmaker Foundation (the new Accelerator that brings disruptive thinking and technological innovation to small charities with great potential) hosted by the London Stock Exchange Group, raised more than £33K. The event was opened by Xavier Rolet, LSE Group CEO, who welcomed the rainmakers and participants. He stated it is important to support youth with an extremely difficult childhood and to support human rights, to focus on food or education supports, not expecting the beneficial effect straightway.
“We are happy to contribute to a development and to support optimism,” – Xavier Rolet finalised.
After the opening address, generally 10 charity startups presented their initiatives to the audience in the following sectors – Children & Young people, Criminal Justice and Women rights. In the Women rights sector there were invited three charity startups, who made short pitches. Among of them Equal community foundation stressed on the aim to ensure that every man in India has the opportunity to study and practice gender equitable behavior so as to end violence and discrimination against women. Now over 100 mln women in India continue to face violence and discrimination at the hands of men. The traditional approach to tackling this problem is to support women directly. The second startup focused on the women rights was Luminary bakery – a social enterprise designed to offer opportunities for vulnerable women to build a future for themselves. Luminary uses baking as a tool to take women on a journey of employability and entrepreneurship, it aims to break the generational cycles of abuse, prostitution, criminal activity and poverty. The third startup, Orchid project, introduced its vision of a world free from female genital cutting (FGC). FGC still takes place across the globe, with 3.6 mln girls at risk of being cut every year and a staggering 2 mln women and girls living with devastating impacts of the practice. Generally, those three startups raised £12K instead of £10K required.
The Criminal Justice sector was also represented by three startups. The first, the Centre for Criminal Appeals, aims to investigate wrongful convictions and unfair sentences, and promote systemic reform of the criminal justice system to prevent future miscarriages of justice. The Centre for Criminal Appeals believes that the first step in improving the justice system is to identify where things are going wrong. Their goal is to free innocent prisoners and reform the existing criminal justice system. Spark inside startup is pioneering the use of professional life coaching for 15-25 years olds in prison and their transition back into community to reduce re-offending. And, the Working Chance, an award winning UK charity, is creating a revolution in restorative recruitment. “Over 75% of women offenders have committed a non-violent crime. Upon release, many women find it hard to gain employment, and many would have lost their homes and children whilst inside,” – the charity representatives stated. The mentioned startups within the pledge session raised £8.5K.
The four startups charities joined to make a pitch in the Children & Youth people sector. Child.org previously has built a series of successful social businesses to support the work of their children’s charity. They provide all the things a child need: food, health services, water, support, and a safe place to be. “over the last 30 years, worldwide absolute poverty has fallen sharply from about 40% to under 20%. But over 40% of people living in sub-Arabian Africa still live on less than £1.50 per day,” – they mentioned on the pitch session. Hull Children’s University located in the UK (Hull) works to raise the aspirations of young people in the city challenged with the highest percentage of unemployment in the UK. Currently over 16,000 children in Hull are living in poverty, and face a stark lack of opportunities to learn about a different way of life. One more charity startup, Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), put its efforts across Kent. KRAN provide help and support to young unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees striving to live independent and successful lives in the UK (more than 960 asylum-seeker children are being cared for by Kent authorities). The Girl’s Network, an award winning charity, matches girls from low socio-economic backgrounds with inspirational female mentors from all walks of life. The startup’s representatives noted that only 33% of teenage girls feel positive about themselves and their future. By this means, The Girl’s Network mission is to inspire, open doors and remove the barriers to young girls’ success. The Children & Youth people sector raised £12.65K.
In all, the Pledging Session raised £33.15K funds which will be delivered to disrupt the cycle of violence and discrimination to improve people’s lives across the globe.
“And what you can do right now to improve people’s lives?” – a reasonable question that everyone should ask yourself.
Kate Shcheglova
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