Thank you for giving BIG to GeekGirlCon! You helped support geeky women and girls celebrate who they are and what they love. In GeekGirlCon’s second year of teaming up with Seattle Foundation for its GiveBIG program, we raised $11,625with 90 donors!
As a volunteer-powered, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, these dollars are crucial and we can’t wait to give back to all our supporters at GeekGirlCon 2017 on September 30th and October 1st. We can’t thank you enough for being a leader in joining us in this yearly online giving campaign. It allows us to welcome all forms of diverse geek identities in a safe space, celebrate the geeky women, girls and allies at our annual convention, and put on more year-round events and community engagement.
Written by Michele Carrico Domingo, Executive Director, GeekGirlCon
GeekGirlCon connects geeky women, girls, and their allies in order to build an empowering and inclusive community. Our mission is to celebrate and honor the legacy of women and girls in the fields of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), comics, science-fiction, arts, literature, and game play and game design. Our impact centers around providing a safe and welcoming place to share our passions, amplifying underrepresented voices, and celebrating who we are and what we love.
This 24-hour giving marathon takes place on May 10 from 12:00am to 11:59pm. Starting now, donors can pre-schedule gifts to their favorite participating nonprofits (including GeekGirlCon). Gifts won’t be charged until the morning of May 10, but it’s a great way to get your donations scheduled in advance without having to worry about it later!
Despite huge technical difficulties, we couldn’t have asked for such amazing donors this year. In GeekGirlCon’s first year of teaming up with Seattle Foundation for its GiveBIG program, we raised over $12,000 with 115 donors!
As a 100% volunteer-run, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, these dollars are crucial and we can’t wait to give back to all our supporters at GeekGirlCon’16 on October 9th and 10th!
GeekGirlCon currently has 79 #GiveBIG donors so far. That’s almost 30 more than our original goal!
If we can make it to 100 donors our Board of Directors will donate an additional $500. Will you accept the challenge? Every donation counts, and helps GeekGirlCon #GiveBACK more to you!
[Extraordinary update: Despite huge technical difficulties, we couldn’t have asked for such amazing donors this year. In GeekGirlCon’s first year of teaming up with Seattle Foundation for its GiveBIG program, we raised over $12,000 with 115 donors! Read more about it in this blog post!]
GeekGirlConcurrently has 79#GiveBIGdonors so far. That’s almost 30 more than our original goal!
If we can make it to 100 donors our Board of Directors will donate an additional $500. Will you accept the challenge? Every donation counts, and helps GeekGirlCon#GiveBACKmore to you!
GiveBIG is a one-day, online charitable giving event with the goal to invest $20 million in community nonprofits.
In addition to the money we raise today, we get an additional percentage of funds from the Seattle Foundation.
With the extra funds, you can help GeekGirlCon (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization), incelebrating every geek and promoting women in science, tech, gaming, comics, and all other geekdoms at a variety of events throughout the year and at our annual Con.
Our goal is 50 donations. Be one of our fabulous 50 donors and #GiveBIG!
We celebrated at Wayward Coffeehouse on Tuesday to track live results.
We will not be at Wayward on Wednesday, but the party continues online! Mention us on Twitter at @GeekGirlCon using the hashtag #GiveBig. You can see some of our tweets throughout the day, in the box below.
GeekGirlCon is 100% volunteer-run. With this additional funding, we can add even more diverse guests and options to our programming, promoting the role of women in geek culture.
We hope you join us in this adventure! Questions? Tweet us @GeekGirlCon or email us at info@geekgirlcon.com.
Written by GeekGirlCon Board President Jennifer Stuller. Cross-posted with permission from the author from her blog.
One of my most treasured GeekGirlCon memories involves puppets. Okay, several of my favorite GeekGirlCon experiences involve puppets (looking at you, Puppet Joss Whedon – you handsy bastard), but this one in particular involves the spectacular Red Fraggle and her handler, the extraordinarily talented & singularly kind Karen Prell.
Karen had attended our inaugural con in 2011 for a sing-along screening of Labyrinth at the EMP. We’d held a sock-puppet making workshop earlier in the day, led by our Design Team, and she pointed out some key moments for puppet participation. (Seeing happy geek women & girls singing and smiling and waving sock puppets they made themselves packing the JBL theater was SQUEE.)
In 2013, celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of Fraggle Rock were taking place, and GeekGirlCon was presented with an opportunity to get in on the joy. The Jim Henson Company agreed to loan us Red – but she needed to be flown out with a handler and put up in a hotel. Red was certainly not a diva, and the expense was less than I’d predicted, but more than our entire programming budget.
The Executive Director and I decided it was something too special to not make happen.
Explore and experience the cultural roots of the Asian-Pacific Islands through live performances, visual arts, hands-on activities, games, and a lively marketplace. The festival launches Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Seattle with spectacular dances, youth drill teams, drumming, martial arts, and artists from around the state.
Plus our fan-favorite Hum Bow Contest with local celebrities and API Community displays and enjoy children’s activities! This is guaranteed to rock your heritage!
Tuesday, May 3: GeekGirlCon’s giveBIG campaign!
On May 3, GeekGirlCon will team up with The Seattle Foundation for an online fundraising extravaganza! Anything donated to our organization will be matched from a pool of stretch funds. If you’re an information enthusiast, we made it easy for you, click here to read more.
“Mom, why do you have to help GeekGirlCon raise money?”
This question was asked by my nine year old daughter as I shepherded her out the door on the way to GeekGirlCon’s first ever fundraiser last month.
“Well, GeekGirlCon is a non-profit – that means no one person benefits from any money we make. We have to take all the money that people give us and put it back to work. When we want to do more, we need to raise more. That’s why we are having this fundraiser.”
I hadn’t intended for the fundraiser to be a teaching moment, but her questions made me realize that teaching our kids about why we give was an important discussion to have. Philanthropy, whether it be financial or through volunteerism, is important to my husband and me, so it makes sense that we would teach those values to our kids as well. But where to begin?
On May 3, GeekGirlCon will team up with The Seattle Foundation for an online fundraising extravaganza! Anything donated to our organization [obligatory click here to donate] will be matched from a pool of stretch funds. If you’re an information enthusiast, we made it easy for you, click here to read more. Or keep on keepin’ on by continuing to read this post.
So you know what your dollars will support, we’re here to share some stories from folks who’ve attended GeekGirlCon’s annual convention. Get ready: they may pull at your heartstrings.