Fridays are for fundraising
Chiara Gero ’18 is raising money to support anti-racist work around the world.
One day a week can make a difference with a collective effort.
That’s the driving philosophy behind the Friday Fundraising Collective, a social media initiative co-founded by Chiara Gero ’18 and her close friend Grace Reeder. The initiative, which launched on Instagram this past June, is aimed at supporting small, underfunded organizations that work with black, indigenous and people of color globally.
Each Friday, the Collective’s Instagram account features a different organization and then collects donations from members’ respective social media followers. At the end of the 24-hour fundraising period, Gero and Reeder contribute the funds to that week’s organization and post the receipt for full transparency. To date, the initiative has raised and donated more than $60,000.
“It started when I was thinking about how to utilize my social media during the Black Lives Matter movement and how to try and engage my mostly white social media circle,” Gero explained. “Grace and I initially promoted an organization that supports and uplifts Black people on Juneteenth (which was a Friday) and we asked our followers to donate, eliminating steps from the donation process, and it grew from there. Combining something people consume daily—social media—with something people should be engaging in daily—anti-racist work—seemed to be the least we could do to support the movement,” she added.
The Collective’s streamlined and accessible approach struck a chord and quickly caught on, with now close to 70 members from across the U.S. who are dedicated to enacting change using social media platforms to raise money from within their respective networks.
Gero, who majored in sociology at Conn, said that the pandemic has encouraged people to find different ways to support the social movements and community resources they feel passionate about. The Friday Collective has tapped into that generosity and has already expanded in a few short months to also include fundraising on “Mutual Aid Mondays” and also dedicates at least one Friday a month to a mutual aid fundraiser as well.
“We started such a short time ago and we never imagined it getting to where it is today, but we hope we’ll continue to expand and put organizations that have a smaller social media following on our followers’ timelines, and continue to encourage our social media circles to do the work, redistribute their wealth, and participate in the movement,” Gero said.
