$4,000-per-Minute-Facebook-Fundraiser Has Everyone Talking

by | Jun 21, 2018 | Article, Inclusion, Leadership Opportunity, Sustainability

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It’s time to restore TRUST in our common humanity.
It took the collective horror of images of toddlers ripped from the arms of their parents, of caged children sobbing, some even drugged into compliance…, for one tech savvy couple from the San Francisco Bay Area to say BASTA! Enough!
The one simple action they took to raise $1,500 to help one family post bond and be reunited with their children has now gone viral. In less than five days, the $4,000-per-minute-Facebook-fundraiser set up by former Facebook employees Charlotte and Dave Willner (who now work at Pininterest and Airbnb, respectively) is about to reach their new goal of $20 million.
They money will be given to RAICESTEXAS.org a Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in Texas.
Felix Salmon a regular Slate contributor and host of the Slate Money podcast, can vouch for the organization’s capabilities. Salmon says that he donated money to RAICES before the campaign even started and “it’s been amazing to watch as this formerly obscure nonprofit has achieved a level of visibility that thousands of much older and more established organizations can only dream of.”
America is good at throwing massive amounts of money away: This year, the federal government gave the Austin-based non-profit Southwest Key Programs almost $500 million to operate its shelters, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Could Congress tell the Appropriations Committee to un-fund it? Yes. Should the almost $500 million now directed to Southwest Key Programs be redirected instead toward RAICES?
RAICES staff say the money will “provide legal representation to every child” and “ensure every parent has representation and legal counsel.” The money will also go to ”centralize … management” that will ultimately help other organizations that represent parents and children locate parents and children and refer them to “pro bono counsel.”
Think what an additional $500 million could do to solve the problem of kids separated from their families at the border.
  1. It could provide a 5-year-guaranteed income for families who chose to return home… where poverty, not violence, was the reason for leaving.
  2. It could fund 100 family sustainable start-up entrepreneurial villages for immigrants willing to return home – and the staff to train them – in safe countries where the government agreed to provide in-kind support, including land.
What would YOU do if you were given $500 million to solve this very BIG problem?
Alexia Parks is Founder and Inventor at 10TRAITS.com