Interview with Rachael Stott
Co-founder, Dandelion Support Network
By Adam Smiley Poswolsky, Contributing writer
In 2012, after raising over $7,000 for its initial fundraising campaign on StartSomeGood, Dandelion Support Network launched a support services network for families in crisis in two states in Australia. Dandelion Support Network is a volunteer-run organization that collects, sorts, cleans, and safety checks pre-loved baby gear and children’s clothes for redistribution, free of charge, to families in need through social workers. Dandelion has a policy of making no judgment on what constitutes ‘need.’ Social workers request items for families facing financial hardship, social isolation, domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health issues, homelessness, disasters, and for teen parents, refugees, foster families, widowed parents, and others. Dandelion currently serves Sydney and Canberra in Australia, and with a model that is easily replicable, it is planning on expanding to other states in Australia soon.
Recently, I interviewed Dandelion’s co-founder Rachael Stott about her passion for children and Dandelion’s success thus far.
What is your personal story? How did you get involved in working in family services?
I have been involved in charity work and volunteering with a variety of organizations since high school. But I got involved working with families after I started my own family. I have always believed that we can make a big impact by collectively doing little things. So when I became a mother, and became aware of the struggles other parents faced, I naturally wanted to do something to leverage what I did every day to make a difference in the lives of others. When my-co founder and I couldn’t find an organization to give our pre-loved baby gear to, that was used but in great condition, the impetus for Dandelion was born.
How can someone in Australia get involved with the Dandelion Support Network? How can someone in the U.S. get involved?
We are always looking for volunteers! Australians can get involved in many ways from washing clothes, to donating services, or hosting a dandelion day. We believe the ways to contribute are as individual as those contributing, so we have put some ideas down to help people find their own service here.
Those based in the U.S. could volunteer virtually or help out at Baby Buggy. Baby Buggy does amazing work providing nursery items to families in need, and there are offices in New York and Los Angeles.
What advice do you have for other social entrepreneurs looking to build a children’s support organization in their community?
My recommendation is to partner with someone already doing what you want to do—you will have a bigger impact if you don’t reinvent the wheel. Helping families is a complex undertaking, so make sure you are connected with as many of the existing support agencies as possible. Then, your job is to think outside the box and find a new and more efficient way of delivering those services.
We are lucky to have partnered early on with a company called Canvas. Canvas empowers businesses and organizations to build their own mobile apps effortlessly, in record time. This product revolutionized our work and made us exponentially more efficient. As a result, we won their inaugural Ante Up! Award for best nonprofit use of mobile technology.
What has been Dandelion’s greatest success and challenge to date?
Our successes are deeply personal. We have reunited a family torn apart by domestic violence by helping the mother set up a home with everything she needed for her infant. We have helped a grieving widow whose husband died just before their child was born, leaving her with no way of supporting herself and their child. We have welcomed families of refugees to Australia by giving them everything they need for their children. Our greatest challenge is keeping up with the rampant organic growth of our organization.
What’s next for Dandelion? Any plans to expand to other parts of Australia or other parts of the world?
2012 saw us establish our first two branches in two states in Australia, and we will likely expand that to four branches in three states in 2013. But our real goal for next year is to become a sustainable organization. We will be looking for major sponsors to partner with and continuing to work with local socially conscious businesses to help the agencies and families we support. We would love to find a way to help more young people get involved with our work, and will hopefully make this happen in 2013.
To learn more about Dandelion Support Network, and to find out how you can get involved, check out this website.
Inspired by Rachael’s passion? Do you have a world changing idea but need to fund it? Learn more about running a campaign on StartSomeGood here.
Adam Smiley Poswolsky
I am a writer, editor, and social change inspirer. I am a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow, and I care about supporting social entrepreneurs and encouraging people to live out their full potential in life. For the last two years, I worked at the U.S. Peace Corps, writing speeches and working on special projects including President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. Prior, I received my BA in film studies from Wesleyan University and worked as a film producer and location scout. I live in San Francisco, but I travel often, mostly by dancing and smiling. Check out my blog and follow me on Twitter.
StartSomeGood partners with The Sharing Engine to support collaborative consumption
Collaborative consumption is a movement sweeping the world, inspiring entrepreneurs to re-imagine how we access resources and build community, earn a living and find a helping hand.
Collaborative consumption initiatives often have a strong social dimension, either by reducing our consumption towards more sustainable levels via sharing resources or by creating social and education capital by sharing meals or knowledge. This has become an important part of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, a model for creating change in any community.
We have seen this trend both on our fundraising site and at our events. Our Pitch Some Good event at SXSW this year was dominated by collaboration consumption initiatives, and won by collaborating learning platform HourSchool.
On StartSomeGood we have seen a number of successful initiatives in this space, from food-sharing through Real Good Food, redistributing children’s clothes to families in need through the Dandelion Support Network and sharing space and collaboratively funding young social entrepreneurs through Vibewire.
Today we are pleased to announce a partnership with The Sharing Engine to further support social entrepreneurs working in this space. The Sharing Engine provides technical infrastructure for peer-to-peer sharing networks, making it easier to implement a proven system and focus on where the real magic happens, in building a trusting community.
Ventures who raise funds on StartSomeGood will now be able to access The Sharing Engine’s platform at a significant discount, making the pathway to impact a little shorter and easier for ambitious social entrepreneurs.
As always, if you have a project you are looking to raise funds to launch or scale, please get in touch!
Photo by Jason Tester made available on a creative commons license.
StartSomeGood News
The Center for a New American Dream promotes Americans shifting their consumption to improve quality of life and protect the environment. The Center works with organizations, governments, and individuals to help them conserve resources and support community engagement. The Center’s newest project is The Guide to Going Local—a free guide in the Community Action Kit that provides steps people can take to strengthen their local economy. Funds raised will cover research and development and design costs.
Junior is promoting youth self-empowerment in Liberia through teaching agricultural skills, and hence creating jobs and a source of sustainable income for them. He has been invited to attend the Dell Summer Social Innovation Lab, but he needs to purchase his own plane ticket from his home in Liberia to Boston, where the lab is being held. This lab is the opportunity for Junior to develop his venture idea and create lasting partnerships in the US that will help him on his entrepreneurial journey. He’s raising $1,600 to fund his round-trip plane ticket to Boston.
Reagan High in Austin, Texas is a success story—an example of a struggling high school where, after the threat of closure, students rallied against tough odds to raise test scores enough to save the school. The Brick family is determined to turn Reagan High into an inspiring example of success to rally students in struggling schools across the country. During their book release party for Saving the School: A Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform, they are trying to establish a scholarship fund for promising students at the school. The tipping point goal will help pay for the entire book release party and the total funding goal will go towards a new scholarship fund.
Spark International trains and empowers local changemakers who are working in some of the poorest areas of the world. The goal is to establish strong local leaders who are creating local solutions to local problems. This campaign, a dollar for a year of education, is supporting John Taka’s project, “Seed of Hope”. In each village, they raise a sweet potato farm and then sell the harvest. The money raised pays for school fees for children in the village. Spark International is providing one-third of the startup costs for “Seed of Hope” to John Taka, which is the funding goal for this campaign.
SPOUTS of Water just finished its campaign, raising $5,665 from 74 backers to help develop a ceramic water filter production center in Uganda. These funds will help officially launch SPOUTS of Water. The goal is to increase access to sanitary water in Uganda, decrease their dependence on foreign aid, and give Ugandans a sense of pride and ownership in personal water hygiene. The water filter design is durable, cheap, and easy to produce from materials already found in Uganda. The simplicity and low-maintenance requirements of this filter will result in it being more accessible and easy to get Ugandans using it in their homes quickly.
Dandelion Support Network collects and sorts pre-owned nursery equipment and children’s clothes and distributes them through local support agencies to families in need. Dandelion Support Network is creating a future where local communities support each other in an inclusive and nonjudgmental way—where families can accept help from the community, free of prejudices and shame. Dandelion Support Network is utilizing this campaign to officially launch and cover overheads for the first year. With just under two weeks left, Dandelion Support Network has surpassed the campaign tipping point goal, raising $7,280, and is striving to reach the total funding goal of $9,751.
__________________________________________________________
Social entrepreneurs, have these campaigns inspired you to start your own good? Do you have a social enterprise, a non-profit, or an amazing idea that needs some momentum to take off? Visit our site to find out how to start your own campaign today. Still have questions? We have answers—check out our FAQ section.
StartSomeGood News
The Urban Seed Project sells a collection of heirloom seeds that can be used for container growing on balconies, rooftop gardens, and windowsills. This appeals to an urban market that has very little free outdoor space to grow their own food. It promotes local and sustainable food in urban areas where people typically have no choice but to patronize local big box grocery stores that sell food transported from all over the world. The main goal of this project is to create jobs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in addition to helping develop sustainable food programs within Vancouver’s inner city. This campaign will help launch the Urban Seed Project, with funds going towards hiring workers, promotions, and the purchase of materials and seeds.
SPOUTS of Water is developing a ceramic water filter production center in Uganda. The goal is to increase access to sanitary water in Uganda, decrease their dependence on foreign aid, and give Ugandans a sense of pride and ownership in personal water hygiene. The water filter design is durable, cheap, and easy to produce from materials already found in Uganda. The simplicity and low-maintenance requirements of this filter will result in it being more accessible and easy to get Ugandans using it in their homes quickly. To launch SPOUTS of Water, equipment (a generator, a hammermill, a clay mixer, a press, and a kiln) needs to be purchased for the factory in Uganda.
Dandelion Support Network collects and sorts pre-owned nursery equipment and children’s clothes and distributes them through local support agencies to families in need. Dandelion Support Network is creating a future where local communities support each other in an inclusive and nonjudgmental way—where families can accept help from the community, free of prejudices and shame. Dandelion Support Network is utilizing this campaign to officially launch and cover overheads for the first year.
Adventures in New Giving raised over $10,000 from 150 backers, making an inspiring rally in the last few hours of its campaign to surge past the tipping point. Now, Nathaniel James can pursue his mission to research and explore the newest frontiers of the evolving altruistic community. He will be taking a 90-day, 10-city multimedia road trip to investigate the shifting landscape of giving. Follow along on his trip as he shares what he learns and discovers at adventuresinnewgiving.com.
_________________________________________________________
Social entrepreneurs, have these campaigns inspired you to start your own good? Do you have a social enterprise, a non-profit, or an amazing idea that needs some momentum to take off? Visit our site to find out how to start your own campaign today. Still have questions? We have answers—check out our FAQ section.
