If you’re already a donor, thank you for your donation! The Ada Initiative’s work is funded primarily by donors like you. We can’t do it without you.
Please help spread the word about our latest fundraising campaign. Whether or not you can donate to the Ada Initiative yourself, you can help us by emailing your friends, blogging, or tweeting about supporting the Ada Initiative. Tell 10 friends today and make a difference!
Ways to spread the word!
Help women in open tech/culture: Donate now to the Ada Initiative #supportada http://supportada.org/donate via @adainitiative” Tweet
I am an Ada Initiative donor because they do things like AdaCamp, anti-harassment work, and teaching men to be allies of women in technology and culture. They can’t do this work without our support. Join me in donating to the Ada Initiative today so they can do even more in the year ahead! http://supportada.org/donate/
Choose 10 friends and email them. Use the example email below and replace the personal note with your own.
Subject: Donate to support women in open technology and culture Hi! [Personal note - ask about family, I saw you in the news the other day, it was nice chatting at Grace Hopper, etc.] You’ve probably heard of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit working to support women in open source, Wikipedia, etc. I became an Ada Initiative advisor because I want to go to open source conferences and feel safe. Their work on conference anti-harassment policies made that possible. I’m asking you to join me and become a donor to the Ada Initiative today, at whatever level you can afford. Will you donate today? http://supportada.org/donate Thanks for listening,
Extra guidelines and examples for writing a fundraising email Don’t put in too much effort on this email – we recommend using the example email. These guidelines are only if you aren’t confident about customizing your email. The most important quality in an effective email is BREVITY. People don’t read long emails. Make it short and include links to more information if you feel it is necessary. Overall structure An effective fundraising email is structured something like: The very personal note People like reading personal email! It’s a good chance to catch up, too. It takes a little effort but adding the personal note is well worth the time. Examples: “It was good to see you last week! I hope your daughter’s first week at school went well. :) Thanks for the career advice, I used it this week and it worked better than I expected.” “Congratulations on your keynote at [conference]! I watched the video and thought it was awesome. I know it was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.” “How are you doing? I didn’t say anything on Twitter, but I wanted to let you know that I was a bit sad to see you were leaving [city]. Anyway, I wish you the best on your journey, and I’m excited to hear about whatever you decide to do next.” Explaining what the Ada Initiative does A lot of people have already heard of the Ada Initiative but aren’t quite clear what it does. Others may already be supporters. Most people haven’t heard of it at all. Examples: ‘You’ve probably heard of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit working to support women in open source, Wikipedia, [your field], etc.” “I’m not sure if you know about the Ada Initiative already, but they are doing great work to increase the number of women in [your field].” “As you know, my friend [Mary Gardiner/Valerie Aurora] founded a non-profit to help women in open tech/culture, the Ada Initiative. They’ve done great work in just over a year!” Why you support the Ada Initiative Briefly describe your involvement in Ada Initiative and what Ada Initiative does that inspires you personally to support it. This section should answer the question: How do you support the Ada Initiative and why did you decide to support the Ada Initiative? Examples: “I became an Ada Initiative advisor because I want to go to [your field] conferences and feel safe. Their work on conference anti-harassment policies made that possible.” “I donated $1024 to the Ada Initiative because I believe the work Valerie and Mary are doing is vitally important. I don’t have the emotional energy to take this work on myself so this is how I support them.” “I volunteer for the Ada Initiative because because I attended their AdaCamp conference and it changed my life. I was feeling discouraged, but after AdaCamp I’m excited again!” Suggestions for writing the request to donate “I’m asking you to join me and become a donor to the Ada Initiative today, at whatever level you can afford. Will you donate today?” “The Ada Initiative’s work is mostly funded by donations from people like you and me. Can you join me in donating today?” “I know you care about women in [your field] as much as I do. Donating to the Ada Initiative is an easy way to help. Will you donate too?” Include both the links to donate and what the Ada Initiative does: http://supportada.org/donate Closing “Thanks!” “Thanks for reading,” “Thanks for considering this,” Here’s some examples of ways to link to the Ada Initiative: Plan text description and link Copy and paste this HTML: Small donation counter Copy and paste this HTML: Large donation counter Copy and paste this HTML: Proud donor badge Copy and paste this HTML:
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http://adainitiative.org
http://adainitiative.org
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