Giving BTFDay for First Gen College Girls
It is Nov 30 2017, we did it, we have raised $84,500 funds in #GivingTuesday campaign to support 140 new girls for higher education, the first in their families generation going to College from different parts of Turkey. In one single day, our global community of donors — volunteers — advocates came together to enable a brighter future for many girls, being their true hero’s. We exceeded our own internal goals, and humbled by the support from 1062 fellow supporters in the Giving Tuesday single day campaign.Total of 80 leaders from our US giving circles rose to the leadership occasion and sought wide-spread support from their friends to make this campaign a huge success, we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.
Many of our donors are our indeed our volunteers in our giving circles, they raise funds for education for the underprivileged children , and join our local events throughout the year. Each of them bring their passion, skillset and cause development teamwork to advance Girls opportunities in our organization. They believe in the transformative power of education, they all feel privileged to have been given this opportunity to advance in all facets of life and have seen the lack of it especially for women causing problems in the health & well-being, and creating social conflicts in the society.
The college graduation statistics are not on our side, just over 12% of the women have a college degree in Turkey and Turkey ranks 125 out of 140 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, published by the World Economic Forum. Secondary education is a big privilege and cultural mentality holds that as long as girls are able to read and write, there is no reason for them to go to College.
We know we have a lot of work to do, but we are optimistic in closing the opportunity gap as we know the number 1 barrier we can improve on this low achievement profile is basic financial support to girls in need. We are optimistic because our voice is spreading nicely, our call to action is simple and we have been able to increase our scholarships about 25% each year in the last 4 years. As we are writing this post, we provide 600 scholarships in the 2017–2018 school year. We have had many graduates in our program in the past, the first girls in their families who went to College and became engineers, doctors, teachers, and now paying back for other children, for better education system, becoming the change agents in their villages, towns advocating for the future generations to follow on their path. With the results of the Giving Tuesday campaign, we are extremely happy that we are adding 140 more scholarships in our family, taking our total number to 750 in the beginning of 2018.
Each of our 1065 donors became part of this significant achievement, each of our individual fundraisers became a Girl Hero this past Giving Tuesday.
And let’s say we made it the 2017 Giving Tuesday “Giving BTF Day” for first Gen College Girls.
Bridge to Türkiye Fund (BTF) is a US based, UN accredited volunteer run, charitable non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions made to BTF are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by IRS. BTF”s tax identification number is 58–2678580. Bridge to Türkiye Fund’s primary goal is to provide under-served children of Türkiye with the lifelong gift of education.
