It takes a village.
Yesterday, Pet Refuge NZ became the largest project campaign in PledgeMe’s seven-year history. With over $120,000 pledged on a single day, they smashed our previous $219,966 record AND their $250,000 goal (and are still going until 17 June!).
I’m incredibly proud that the Pet Refuge team chose us, and it’s been a heartening week watching their vision resonate with people around Aotearoa as the pledges rolled in. From $5 donations to anonymous gifts of tens of thousands of dollars, the campaign shows the power of a crowd to come together for a common purpose. We’re all a bit more hopeful about the world here at PledgeMe HQ, thinking about those 1800+ (and counting!) people who’ve pledged their support to make it easier for people to leave violent and abusive relationships knowing their beloved pets can be safe too.
But a compelling story is just the first step, and I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the hours, weeks, and months of hard work that Julie, Annie, Sophie, and the rest of the team put in behind the scenes to get Pet Refuge to this point. So while we celebrate their amazing milestone of a quarter of a million dollars raised in a week, that’s not the whole story. It’s more like a quarter of a million over many months of planning, relationship building, spreadsheets, timelines, endless revising, and inspiring the crowd that made this project possible.
Anything worth doing takes a village. Meaningful change is the result of many small acts by many different people, and that’s the magic of crowdfunding.
So here’s to everyone who’s working away to make their dreams a reality, and to the hours of sweat and tears that go into these beautiful moments of celebration. We all have the power to change the world — together.
Jess Ducey is the Chief People Wrangler at PledgeMe and a dog-patting enthusiast.
