It’s not everyday you get a text from your wife telling you that she’s starting a nonprofit. In case you don’t know what that looks like:
My wife, Steffi, is a stay-at-home mom. She is a qualified attorney, but she spends her days looking after our two kids. It’s not uncommon for Steffi to declare to me that she’s starting something new. Usually she’ll announce something like, “healthy living starts tomorrow”. Or “lets get rid of Comcast”. Although she usually has the truest of intentions, more often than not, I know that her declarations aren’t going to have too much impact on me if I just smile and nod.
So my reaction to her announcement about starting a nonprofit was the same as usual. At least it was until she called me on my drive home from work to pitch me the concept. She told me that the nonprofit was going to be called, Birthdays for All. The lightbulb in my head turned on immediately. She didn’t really need to say much else, because I was already sold.
My first thought was a flashback to our daughter’s birthdays. We always wanted her to feel like she was the most important, special, and loved girl in the world on her birthday. We would spend so much time and effort into making it happen. So the idea of Birthdays For All resonated with me. Why can’t all kids feel the same on their birthdays? I know that the vast majority of kids aren’t as lucky as my own.
There are too many kids out there that don’t even get any attention whatsoever on their birthday. Could Birthdays For All help solve that problem?
That was a question that we were both willing to sink in a lot of time to answer. So we both got to work. She handled the business administration during the day, while I worked on the user experience, branding and web design. In less than a month, we launched the Birthdays For All website. We got the word out to our friends and family on Facebook and immediately started receiving donations and building our email list.
Thanks to everyone who supported us, we were able to buy presents to all the June birthdays.
It’s amazing how today’s technology allows us to take an idea and make it something real in no time at all. Here is a list of platforms that made it possible:
- Lucid Chart – for planning and wireframing
- BlueHost – web hosting
- WordPress – CMS
- Stripe – payment platform
- GravityForms – WordPress plugin to create forms
- MailChimp – for email marketing
- Facebook Ads – to get the word out
Please go and check out the website: https://www.birthdaysforall.org
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BirthdaysForAll