#Empower100: Educate Girls

Take a close look at this photo: it is not a picture of a father and daughter, but of a husband and wife in the Middle East, where child marriage is one of few options available to uneducated girls. One-third of young women in the developing world are married before the age of 18, elevating their risk of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, sexual assault and genital mutilation. Girls Education International was founded on the belief that education will help provide girls with an alternative to a life of poverty, early marriage and abuse. This fall, we are launching a one-time campaign to raise $21,000 that will help educate 100 girls in Liberia, Pakistan and Tanzania. In honor of these girls all over the world, we’re launching our #Empower100 campaign in time to celebrate and mark International Day of the Girl on October 11. Each week for the next six weeks, we’ll send you updates about our efforts, provide you with stories about the girls’ lives you– our generous GEI supporters–have changed, and ask you to continue spreading the word about this important cause. If you’ve been thinking about making a donation to Girls Ed, now is an excellent time. Our #Empower100 campaign is live on the Global Giving website and we really need your help. An anonymous donor is matching new monthly recurring donations, and US Mobile phone users can text 14765 to 80088 to donate $10 to the campaign. For more details, visit our Global Giving page by clicking here. Make your donation today, before one more girl is married into a life without options.

Help Girls Education International win the Global Giving Challenge

Girls Ed is in 7th place and still has a chance to win the grand prize for most donations received! There are still 10 days left to help!

I just wanted to send you an update on GEI and our progress in the Global Giving Challenge that is currently going on, just in case you haven't heard about it yet! GEI/Girls Education International is the non profit that I helped co-found (www.girlsed.org), which helps bring education to women in under served regions of the world . All money raised from this challenge will go directly to our project in Pakistan.

The Challenge has been pretty exciting so far! I am proud to announce that Girls Ed has raised $5,560 from 72 donors, which meets the threshold for a permanent spot in the GlobalGiving network. Now we are pushing for a chance to win the overall competition. GlobalGiving has offered additional financial incentives for the top three nonprofit organizations that raise the most funds in this challenge - $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 - and the organization that recruits the most donors will get a $2,000 matching incentive. Girls Ed is in 7th place, out of 122 nonprofits going for these matching funds! There’s still time for us to earn one of these prizes!

Ways that you can help Girls Ed win the Global Giving Challenge:

1. You can donate now to Girls Ed at www.globalgiving.org/6242

2. Please spread the word and ask your friends and family to support Girls Education International too:

· a. Post a link to our project page on your Facebook page asking your friends to donate

www.globalgiving.org/6242

b. Call or email at least five friends and ask them to donate


**Be sure to follow our progress on the GlobalGiving Leaderboard at:

http://www.globalgiving.org/leaderboards/global-open-challenge

**Check out our website at http://www.girlsed.org/


Thank you for your continued support!


All the best,

Heidi