In less than 24 hours, World Orphans staffers Mark and Julie Gumm raised enough money to send 20 Ugandan children to school.
They didn’t host a formal dinner or a WO video viewing, they created a fundraising campaign on the MyWorldOrphans site, used their blogs as a marketing tool, and committed their own resources to jump-start the process.
“Because of God’s blessing we want to pay it forward and one of the ways we’re doing that is to help these beautiful kids at one of World Orphans projects in Uganda go to school. Education is a VITAL piece in breaking the cycle of orphaning and abandonment,” Mark Gumm wrote on his blog on Aug. 12.
“There are 20 kids. School fees are $62 each. So here’s the challenge…We’ll match every dollar you guys donate on our campaign page until we reach the goal ($1193) and all these kids school fees are paid. If you donate $36, we’ll donate $36 and that’s one child educated.We’ll match any amount $1, $5, $100. Because no challenge is any fun without a deadline we’re going to give you ONE WEEK!,” according to Julie Gumm’s blog.
In just one day, the Gumm’s blog followers and Facebook friends donated enough money to send 20 children to school for a year.
“Thanks to all who contributed to help these kids-more opportunities to come :),” wrote Mark.