Virtual Event Spotlight: A Write to Education

July 1, 2021

Pledge was honored to power donations for Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation’s virtual event on June 24th: “A Write to Education: My Mental Health Matters,” the capstone of the foundation’s 6-week mental health awareness campaign, “The Unspoken Curriculum.”

Sponsored by Zoom, the event featured a live moderated discussion between award-winning actress Taraji P. Henson and Yara Shahidi, as well as Hip Hop Therapy with Common, Jill Scott and Maimouna Youssef (Mumu Fresh), emphasizing how creating music can be a healthy tool for young people and adults to express themselves.

The event aimed to promote the resources BLHF has developed to support the mental health of Black students and families, and to raise funds to continue offering services such as free therapy, training for educators, and AfterSchool Hangouts.

BLHF’s partner Zoom nearly doubled the impact of the event by matching $250,000 of the $253,138 raised, for a total of $553,138. 100% of donations went directly to BLHF - specifically towards improving the mental health of Black youth in the education system, particularly Black students ages 12-22.


Pledge Solutions

Throughout “A Write to Education,” attendees were able to support the foundation and be kept up-to-date on fundraising efforts through a live donation feed using Pledge’s industry leading virtual fundraising platform, which seamlessly integrates with Zoom, and a custom fundraiser page.

  • We set up BLHF’s text-to-donate campaign with the keyword ‘UNSPOKEN’ to our easy to remember number, 707070.
  • Our live donation feed allowed the total amount raised to be displayed in real time, as well as donors names with the amount donated.
  • We also provided our easily-embeddable donation forms for BLHF’s official website in addition to text-to-donate. Visit BLHF’s donation page to see how Pledge seamlessly integrates into any website.

By utilizing Pledge’s tools, BLHF was able to surpass their fundraising goal, allowing them to continue offering valuable resources and services to the Black community and empowering students to succeed in the classroom while taking care of their mental health.

If you are curious about how to power your next fundraiser or nonprofit event, consider partnering with Pledge to help scale your impact. To learn more and get started, click here. And thank you for joining us in the #PledgeToDoGood!