After a volunteer trip to Kenya, Lauren knew that she wanted to make a powerful, positive impact for women and girls’ education. She came back to Australia, launched a successful crowd-funding campaign through ING Direct Dreamstarter and created her social enterprise, Words with Heart. Words with heart is empowering stationary that funds education days for women and girls in the developing world.
We’re thrilled to have Lauren as a part of #RadLivin this weekend in Sydney. She’s partnered up with ING Direct Dreamstarter to create a Words with Heart notebook for attendees – each notebook will be funding a day of school!
Where are you in the world?
I live in Brisbane – such a fantastic city to be based for start-ups at the moment. There’s lots of creative energy and innovation here and some awesome people doing cool world-changing things.
How do you follow your bliss?
I’m a big believer in tuning inwards and listening to what your body/mind/spirit is telling you. For me right now, empowering women, social enterprise and activism is what makes my heart sing. My bliss at the moment is actually planning, talking or doing in this space. It’s work – but it’s also my passion. I also love/need to have a creative outlet of some sort to feel truly blissful.
When did the inspiration for Words with Heart first come about?
I was on a three month volunteer trip overseas, and was spending the last leg of my journey working at a school in Kenya. It was here that I really became aware of the challenges that women and girls faced in their quest for an education – so many of the girls in my class were at risk of dropping out at any time, largely because their families couldn’t afford the school fees. There was one girl in particular, Esther, who was incredibly bright and ambitious, but wasn’t going to be able to continue the next term because the orphanage where she lived just didn’t have the funds to send her. I ended up paying her fees for the next year (which was a small amount in Australian terms) but I worried about who would pay for the next year, and the year after that – and of course who would pay for all of the other girls like Esther across the world who have a right to an education? I came back to Australia determined to find a way to provide sustainable funding for these girls’ education. After discovering the concept of social entrepreneurship, the idea of starting a stationery social enterprise came to me. I realised it was the perfect fit – women and girls buying stationery products for school or work, to fund education and training for other women and girls in the developing world.
How did you select charities to partner with? If someone wanted to partner up with a charity how would they go about doing that?
There are so many great charities doing awesome things for women and girls – so it wasn’t the easiest choice! We partner with CARE Australia and One Girl, and chose them because they are two of the best, and Australian based. When it comes to partnering with charities I’d suggest really doing your research and find the ones that you believe would be the best match for your social mission and can give you the kind of reporting and information you need. Get in touch via email or with an introductory phone call and a proposal, and then set up a time for a longer skype chat for face to face meeting. Be sure to bring to the table a clear outline of what you can offer them and what you’re requirements are in return. From there, set up a partnership agreement so everything is clear and on paper.
Why did you choose to go the social enterprise route rather than starting a non-profit?
Originally, after coming back from overseas I had the idea of starting a non-profit. I’d never heard of social enterprise before! But what I love about social enterprise is that you get the best of both the business and charity worlds, which can enable you to really maximise your impact. With the heart of a charity and the mind of a business, you can invest in things like marketing and people (the things that make a big difference to the success and growth of an enterprise), while still having a social purpose as your true reason for being. It’s exciting to see the number of social enterprises in Australia just growing and growing – the sector is really taking off.
You really got going once you did the ING Dreamstarter campaign. How did you first discover it and what was starting a crowd funding campaign like?
The Dreamstarter campaign is actually what launched Words With Heart – so it was absolutely instrumental in getting us started! I found out about Dreamstarter through the School of Social Entrepreneurs and I thought that a crowd-funding campaign would be the perfect way to launch our social enterprise by pre-selling our first stationery range. I knew that to be price competitive we were going to have to print alot of notebooks in order to keep the price per unit down, and that’s a risky investment when you are just starting a business. Launching the campaign was a lot of preparation, but it was an incredible buzz to see the idea spread as more and more people supported it. We built a wonderful community of customers and supporters in 30 days, and Dreamstarter really did give us the best possible start. We’ve been able to grow that success ever since.
What advice could you give to someone who would like to crowd-fund their own dreams?
Just start! Don’t wait until everything is perfect with your business or project – if you have a compelling product and story you can inspire people to believe in the change you’re dreaming of creating. Also, really utilize your existing friends and networks. If you can bring on even just 5 people as ‘campaign soldiers’ who will spread and share your campaign amongst there networks consistently, it will have a huge impact. Work your social media every day over the course of your campaign and put together a plan of action for marketing it – media releases, possible competition etc.
Were you ever scared to put your dream out there into the world and ask for financial support in making it happen? If so, how did you overcome it?
Absoloutely. I was scared that people wouldnt believe in my idea, or that friends I asked to support me would feel uncomfortable. But it was something I was so passionate about and I believed that would show through. And as it turned out, 99% of my friends were really happy and felt valued when I asked directly for their support in a zero pressure way. People want to be part of something bigger and contribute to change in the world.
What’s been the most surprising thing that’s happened to you since starting Words With Heart?
Probably being approached by one of Australias largest retailers who were/are interested in stocking our products! Even though I believed my business model and concept were really unique and great, it was still a big surprise to realise that a big company like that did as well.
What would your biggest dream for Words with Heart be?
Our biggest immediate goal is to fund 1 million education days for women and girls in the developing world by the end of 2017. Achieving this kind of social impact and empowering women and girls with the opportunity of education is the dream that gets me up and keeps me motivated every day.
