Do you have a cause you’re passionate about but don’t feel like running a marathon or bathing in baked beans? Do what you do best and hop on the decks so you can fundraise through a livestream.
All you need to get started is a webcam, a Mixcloud Pro subscription and to have Tips enabled with Stripe via your Creator Dashboard. It’s a simple way to receive one-off payments and is perfect for fundraising.
We’ve seen plenty of amazing fundraisers on our Livestreams over the years and had quite a few in the last couple of months. Here are three recent fundraisers that caught our eye.
AAJA and KA (Dance) for earthquake survivors in Burma
AAJA is a record label, online radio station and bar that started in an old railway arch in the heart of Deptford, London. AAJA now broadcasts from its new permenant home, right beneath Deptford High Street. This is a permanent subterranean event, radio and community space. After much moving around, this solidifies AAJA as a permanent, DIY broadcasting and event space for many years to come. You can catch their live shows on weekdays right here on Mixcloud Live.
In response to the Myanmar earthquake, which sadly claimed and impacted thousands of lives earlier this year, Burmese diaspora and heritage musicians Ambient Babestation Meltdown, Izzi Thein, KOSO, and the Aaja team took action. Back in May, Aaja opened their doors to the community for the KA (Dance) fundraiser, and livestreamed their DJ sets on Live. They took donations on the door and various stall holders on the day raised funds. It’s also worth noting that Resident Advisor donated 50% of the booking fees to the cause.
We are a group of DJs who were either born in Myanmar, or our parents were,” says the KA (Dance) team.
“It’s a country we, understandably, have deep ancestral ties to, and when the earthquake hit the region on 28th March we felt compelled to do something. Between raising awareness at the devastation caused and the ongoing conflicts and political turmoil, raising money that can be used on the ground to help those in need, and bringing our diaspora community together, it has meant more to us than we can probably put into words. To be given a platform to showcase our music, food and design on Mixcloud was an honour. We’re definitely discussing further ways to highlight the plethora of Burmese creativity and art on offer.”
Ka (Dance), along with Aaja, chef Robert Khaing, Thamee Club, Red Room Yangon, and Seint Jewellery, raised $3158 for the Earthquake Survivors via Better Burma; you can contribute to this cause via www.betterburma.org
Reform Radio for Prevent Breast Cancer
Manchester-based Reform Radio has always had helping people at the core of their mission. Launched in 2013, they set out to create a station that gave young and underprivileged people opportunities in creative employment. So when Louise and Michelle from the Empowering Women in Business Network reached out to throw a danceathon in their space for Prevent Breast Cancer, Reform thought it best to livestream the whole thing!
“We thought it would be a nice touch to allow people who had sponsored to check in on progress throughout and give them a link to share during the Danceathon itself,” Sam, Reform’s Director, explains. “We had no idea it would explode as much as it did.”
With a £50k fundraising target, Michelle knew it was an ambitious goal. “We knew we needed to use every avenue to promote the danceathon throughout the 12 hour challenge itself,” she says. “We shared the Mixcloud link via social media in advance to build excitement in the run up to the event and to encourage people to watch and donate live on the day. We know from experience the platform is flawless for doing this sort of thing and it was a great way of engaging our existing audience”.
Michelle remembers the day fondly: “At points during the day we could see we had 1500+ people live streaming the danceathon and comments from people all over the world cheering us on which was wonderful. My dad texted me to ask me to give him a wave which was wonderful.”
“We had live feedback from the live viewers saying they appreciated the information about how to check yourself for breast cancer and all of the stories we were sharing were inspirational to the audience,” says Louise.
Sam sees live streaming as adding “value to what you’re already doing and expands your reach outside of those that can physically make it down. Also, when doing a music stream, it’s important to respect copyright and ensure artists are paid if you use their work and Mixcloud handles all that for you.”
At the time of writing this, Reform and Prevent Breast Cancer are only £734 away from their massive target. Donate to their cause here.
Kampire and Darlyne for 32° East, Uganda
The only one of its kind in Uganda, 32⁰ East is an arts organisation and cultural hub in Kampala. Looking to expand, they recently hosted a 24-hour DJ marathon, with best friends Darlyne and Kampire on the decks. Kampire previously hosted her own show on NTS and Darlyne is the Programmes Manager at the venue.
Kampire reflects on the day: “We had a great time, rallied our community near and far and managed to raise $2000+ in one weekend. The week before I was super stressed about what I was going to play, organizing my music every day. At age 38, I love my sleep, and have aged out of nonstop partying and stressing about the logistics of pulling it off. I asked myself why did I have this wild idea; why didn’t someone tell me no!
Then about four hours into the stream, my sister, who is the director of 32⁰ East, told me we had already raised $700 and it was immediately worth it. Because no matter how many emails I send and Instagram posts I put up, I can’t raise $700 in a few hours with words alone. Having a dancefloor to rally people around, physical and virtual, was the perfect mechanism to show what an amazing community we have and that it’s worth investing in.”
Kampire closes with a word on the logistics of the live stream: “In Uganda and other places in the global South there are so many things you can’t take for granted that you have to account for. Like a consistent and guaranteed power supply, a good internet connection and good sound. So again I’m so grateful to the people who put in the time to make sure the stream went off without a hitch. Mixcloud made the process super streamlined and there were clear step-by-step resources to reference on how best to do it. I think it’s important that other creators and DJs from outside of Europe and the USA see each other doing the thing.” If you want to support their cause head to this link.
Thinking of fundraising yourself?
Check out our chat with Miche from three years ago about how to set up a fundraiser. He’s kind of an expert after his 24-hour marathon for Mind, the mental health charity.