Why Are We Crowdfunding?
- By Chloe Tingle
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- 12 May, 2016
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All about our crowdfunding campaign- and how you can help!
What is No More Taboo?
Your average woman will have 450 periods in her lifetime. If anything in life is inevitable, natural and necessary, it is menstruation. Yet globally we do not cater to the needs of people who menstruate. No More Taboo is a Bristol-based social enterprise dedicated to making periods understandable, sustainable and manageable worldwide. Our range of menstrual cups and pads save you money that would otherwise be spent on disposable pads and tampons, and reduces the tons of waste that these products generate. Your purchase helps pave the way for gender equality, supporting us as we work to eradicate menstrual shame and stigma, donating all of our profits to charitable organisations who uplift women and girls worldwide.
Since 2014, our mission has been threefold: to sell and raise awareness of reusable menstrual products, to run educational programmes and to donate our profits to charities that uplift women and girls.
Our goal
Beginning on the 18th of May, we’re running a 28 day campaign to raise £7,000 through your donations. We’re giving ourselves the length of one average menstrual cycle to work towards changing perceptions and understanding of periods.
The money we raise will allow us to build our audience and keep spreading our message: that there’s nothing taboo about menstruation. We want to run workshops and ‘period parties’ to showcase the reusable alternatives to tampons and pads, and educate people about their bodies. We strongly believe everyone who menstruates should feel confident, informed and empowered about their body and their choices!
We’re using Crowdfunder because we appreciate the platform it provides for authentic projects that have a story to tell. It allows us to be transparent about our goal and our progress. By using Crowdfunder, we can be supported by likeminded individuals- like you, and create a network of people who want to say no to taboo.
What is World Menstrual Hygiene Day?
World Menstrual Hygiene Day is marked on the 28th of May every year. In 2015, it was celebrated in 33 countries, and its global focus is exactly what we are all about at No More Taboo. Periods don’t have geographical boundaries, and we can all do more to triumph ending menstrual stigma. Each year the event brings together non-profits and government agencies to promote menstrual hygiene and the challenges that people who menstruate still face. This year, the theme is #menstruationmatters. Any gender, anywhere, anyone: menstruation impacts us all. We will be holding an event to mark the occasion in style: stay tuned for how to get involved!
What’s in it for you?
As one of our funders, you’ll receive a specially designed ‘perk’. We’re working on designing these and making them as creative and universal as possible! We will also be running a period party of our very own to mark World Menstrual Hygiene Day, and you’re invited! Keep an eye on our twitter and Facebook pages for updates on what to expect.
Any donation you can make goes a long way to helping us achieve our goal. Please share and spread the word, and help us end menstrual taboo!
Crowdfunding link:
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/nomoretaboo
WOW Women of the World festivals have been popping up across the world, if you get the chance to go along to one we would strongly recommend it.
WOW – Women of the World festival celebrates women and girls, and looks at the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential.
Around the world, individuals and communities are insisting on the simple proposition that women and girls must have equal rights and asking the question: why is gender equality taking so long?
Southbank Centre's WOW – Women of the World festival is a global network of festivals which provides a platform for celebrating what has been achieved, and exploring all the ways we can change the world for the better.
What’s not to love?
Our Founder, Chloe, and her Mum Angela went along to represent No More Taboo with a stall across the two days. Here’s her highlights:
“Although we didn’t get much time to take in all the discussions as we were kept busy wo-manning the stall (thanks Mum for helping out)! We had some great discussions around gender, equality, inclusivity and of course periods with new customers, supporters, other panellists and some old friends who came to see us.
In fact, we were really pleased to catch up with Plan International UK who were opening the festival with a discussion about Period Activism exactly one year on since the launch of our #BreaktheBarriers research and Period Poverty Conference that we ran in collaboration with Plan.
On the first weekend of September, No More Taboo set up shop at Lush Cribbs Causeway for their Charity Pot weekend.
The Lush Charity Pot is a wonderfully creamy shea-butter hand lotion where all the sales money (excluding VAT) goes towards a chosen charity or non-for-profit. This scheme is designed to help boost grass-roots, small and local organisations, like ourselves, financially so that we can continue to do the work we do such as our Tackling Period Poverty programme.
As we were Lush’s chosen organisation for the weekend of the 1-2 September, one of our volunteers, Iloni, and one of our advisors, Carolyn, went along to wo-man the (suitably Lush-styled aesthetic) stall that Lush had kindly provided for us. We took along a range of our products, stacks of leaflets and information as well as our enthusiasm for talking about all things to do with periods.
Over the weekend, we sold over £200’s worth of stock with Ruby Cups and Honour Your Flow re-usable pads proving most popular with Lush customers. On top of this, Lush sold so many of their Charity Pots that £340.60 was raised for No More Taboo – which was amazing!
However exciting the money side of things were with this event, what I personally took away as being the real highlight of the weekend was the number and nature of conversations we shared with customers.
Mothers and daughters came and chatted to us about how they agreed it was so important to use re-usable products for personal and financial reasons as well as for the planet’s sake. Boyfriends accompanied their other halves as they prodded and probed the range of menstrual cups on display. Older women commented on how it’s such a relief to be able to talk about menstruation in public and with people you’ve only just met. They regaled of a time when periods were even more hush-hush and celebrated with us out mission of there being No More Taboo.
We would like to thank Lush Cribbs Causeway for being such wonderful hosts, encouraging every customer that came through their doors to consider buying the Charity Pot or simply to chat with us. Each member of their staff team was incredibly warm and so keen to find out more about what we do. On behalf of all of us at No More Taboo, thank you.
For more information, take a look at their website: https://www1.uwe.ac.uk/whatson/biggreenweek.aspx
Read more here: https://www.wen.org.uk/environmenstrual-week-of-action/
