1%Club and the SDGs
1 Project, 4 SDGs
Recently, Eva and Sander successfully completed their crowdfunding campaign From Trash to Cash on 1%Club. With this campaign they supported the do-good project by Joe Green. Joe is from the Philippines and he and his small team collect plastic waste that pollutes the streets and beaches in their area. They recycle this plastic by turning it into bags and wallets which are then sold.
This relatively small project has an impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a variety of ways. Firstly, it provides work and wages for the members of Joes team and thus advances SDG 1 & 8, No Poverty and Decent Work. Secondly, it contributes to the cleaning of the ocean which aides SDG 14, Life Below Water. Finally, a contribution is made to SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production. With the money from the crowdfunding campaign Joe was able to expand his project, enabling him to make an even bigger impact. This example shows that even a small project can contribute in many ways to the achievement of the SDGs and provide solutions to the world’s biggest and most complex issues.
SDGs? What are you talking about?
In 2015, the 193 member states of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda includes the 17 SDGs, goals which will make the world a better place. Each of the goals has a separate list of targets that need to be achieved in order to reach the goal; a 169 targets in total.
Achieving all these goals by 2030 is an enormous challenge which will require a lot of effort and can only be done if we all work together. Most people will look to governments and large corporations and organizations to take the lead and implement grand plans and strategies to achieve the goals. And while their work is crucial, smaller bottom-up initiatives by people who are motivated to improve their own community can also make a big contribution. We at the 1%Club are strong believers in the change these bottom-up initiatives can make.
What do we do about the SDGs?
Since November 2018 the 1%Club has decided to make the SDGs a top priority and part of our strategy. Since the goals strongly correspond with most of the the projects we have been facilitating since 2008 this felt like a natural move for our platform. So what has changed? First of all, we have been creating more awareness of the SDGs by making it visible to initiators and supporters to which SDGs a project contributes. We ask campaigners to explain to us,which SDGs their project will have an impact on and make this visible on their own campaign page. This shows the initiators (who in some cases have never heard about the SDGs) that even their relatively small project can be part of the solutions to the world’s biggest and most complex problems. At the same time, we show supporters that their donation not only contributes to the solution of a local problem but also provides solutions to problems on a global level. Since November, we have facilitated campaigns that focus on SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, and SDG 4: Quality Education. However, while most campaigns focus on 2 or 3 SDGs, the potential impact of these projects is much broader, as was shown in the introduction.
Adding to our conviction that donation based crowdfunding is a great way to do good in the world and aid the SDGs, a recent study by the Oxford University also pointed out that crowdfunding could prove a very viable strategy in order to achieve the 17 SDGs.
Do you have a great project or idea that will do good in the world? Visit our website and start your own campaign or support one of our live campaigns!
