We’re aiming to raise £10,000 to make our first collection of ‘Happy Blankets’, creating opportunities for mothers in Bangladesh to provide for their children with dignity.
“Every time you spend, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want!”
Why do we want to raise £10,000?
It’s the equivalent of 200 pre-orders at £50 each.
We’ll use the money to train the first group of mothers, purchase fabric, embroidery threads and other raw materials, and make, safety test and transport our first collection of ‘Happy Blankets.’
What does rewards-based crowdfunding mean?
Crowdfunding is a way of raising money by asking a ‘crowd’ of people to each contribute a small amount – although obviously you are free to give as much as you like 😊
It’s an approach used by businesses who are starting up, or want to take what they do to the next level, charities looking for funding to support specific initiatives,– and of course social enterprises like us!
A crowdfunding campaign isn’t JUST about the money – it’s also a brilliant way of testing the market.
We’re not interested in ‘pity purchases’. We’ve worked really hard to come up with a product that we hope lots of people will want to buy on its own merit, beyond the social impact we’re creating. And the last thing we want to do is raise expectations among the mothers we’re partnering with that we won’t be able to meet if there isn’t enough demand for our blankets.
What rewards are we offering?
You’ll be able to pre-order a Khushi Kantha through the campaign – and we’ll be offering an ‘early-bird discount’ to the first thirty people who pledge their support!
We’ll also be offering personalisation options – including the chance to design your own Khushi Kantha in collaboration with Rowsa, our Head of Production.
You’ll be able to get your hands on an invite to the launch party we’ll be holding as soon as it’s safe to do so, and take part in a workshop hosted through the brilliant Yodomo platform, to learn how to make a Khushi Kantha yourself!
We’ve had lots of people asking why we’re only offering blankets for babies. Overall, we’re trying to keep things simple while we’re getting started – and our market research has shown us that there are lots of other people offering larger kantha blankets…. But since people are saying they want them, you’ll be able to buy a ‘grown-up sized Khushi Kantha’ through the campaign.
And if you don’t need/can’t afford a blanket, you can still donate – we’d be really grateful for whatever you can spare to help us get started with creating opportunities for mothers in Bangladesh to provide for their children with dignity!
Shout out to our pro-bono heroes!
Thanks so much to our incredible community of pro-bono heroes, like John, Beth, Yvonne, Anna, Kristiana, Surjeet, Helen, Priyanka, Tori, Lucinda, Ena, Steve, Karen, Kathryn, Gill, Kesh, Rahul, Emi, Yu, Roshan....and everyone else who is helping us turn Khushi Kantha into a reality!
Brilliant pro-bono videographer John, who is helping us make a video explaining what we’re trying to do and why – I’d helped to share a sneak preview in this blogpost, but it’s not quite there yet – we love a bit of last-minute pressure 🙂
PR guru Tory, who helped me draft a press release and share it with pretty much the whole world, to spread the word about the campaign – as well as coaching me for the BBC Radio London interview I was so nervous about!
Roshan the all-round superstar, who has supported Khushi Kantha in so many ways for so many months and without whom I would be totally lost!
All mothers deserve the best for their children
To learn more about the story behind Khushi Kantha, click here.
To learn more about our journey so far, click here.
Once the campaign goes live on April 22, you can contribute here.