The Human, Earth Project has been a process of rapid evolution.
The Project was born from my desire to find my abducted friend M, and to tell her story to as many people as possible. At the time, I had no means to do so. When the Project first launched ten months ago, those words – The Human, Earth Project – referred to little more than myself, a laptop, a set of portraits and a good idea.
Having recently become aware of crowdfunding, I launched a moderately successful campaign from my living room. Friends and strangers from across the globe gave what they could to The Human, Earth Project, because they wanted to see it succeed.
I took a second job over the summer, and worked up to a hundred hours a week to save all I could for the Project. Meanwhile, The Human, Earth Project itself had become a full-time occupation and was expanding rapidly, gaining hundreds of supporters, media attention and – most importantly – a talented cameraman to accompany me on my journey.
I poured over seven thousand dollars into The Human, Earth Project before I even set foot in Asia. Since then, I’ve spent many thousands more on travel expenses and the costs involved in producing a feature-length documentary. Marinho and I still have a long way to go, to find M, to complete our film and to share it with the world.
Once again, I’m asking for your help. This time, however, I’m not alone.
As testament to how far The Human, Earth Project has come in such a very short time, I am now joined by a group of more than fifty volunteers from around the world, who have been devoting countless hours to the planning, construction and promotion of our new crowdfunding campaign.
Chief among them are John Bardos and Barry O’Kane whose work over the past eight weeks has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Ultimately, however, the success of the campaign doesn’t come down to John, or Barry, or myself. From this moment on, only you can make The Human, Earth Project succeed in spreading awareness of human trafficking around the globe, and telling the story of countless children like M who have been taken from their homes and sold to strangers.
The most crucial element of a crowdfunding campaign is building early momentum. When people see that others are sharing or contributing to a project, they’re much more likely to share or contribute to it themselves.
That’s where you, as my core group of contacts, come in. You’re the first point of contact between The Human, Earth Project and the rest of the world, and whatever you choose to do next Tuesday – Day One of our campaign – will have a major effect on its outcome.
The effect of your early Tweets and Shares on Facebook will reverberate through social media, where ideas spread quickly – and disappear just as quickly, if nobody is there to support them.
If you can contribute even just five or ten dollars to the campaign – and you can – we need you there on Day One. The timing of your contribution will be even more important than the amount you give – we just need a little push to start the ball rolling!
If you’ve ever wanted to see a change in the world, if you’ve ever wanted to stand up and make a difference, Tuesday is the day. On Tuesday we can take The Human, Earth Project to the next stage of its evolution, and show that human trafficking is no longer something we’re willing to accept in our world.
Our campaign goes live on Tuesday 28th January – at 7am in Los Angeles, 10am in New York, 3pm in London, and 2 o’clock Tuesday night in Sydney and Melbourne.
If you haven’t already subscribed to The Human, Earth Project, you can do so here!