Strengthen Our Community: Us Guardians Help Fund

Hello!

TL;DR: Every penny of this fundraiser goes to parents and caregivers struggling in the Us Guardians community. We switched last year to one yearly fundraiser (as opposed to monthly) for our community help fund. It's time to raise funds again :)

The Story:

Us Guardians (formerly known as Us Mamas) is a private online community of about 3,000 parents and caregivers who are all over the world. It was started in 2012 when Annie’s kid was a baby and she was tired of the judgemental and harsh environment of most parenting forums. Wouldn't this be great if it was advice from people I trust and love?? she thought late one night, and started the group right then.

In the 12 years since we have watched each others' children grow up together, sometimes without having ever met each other in person. The community is a safe, caring, non-judgemental parenting space with a community that has shown up for one another - through incredible ups and downs of life - with insight, advice, expertise, care, encouragement, empathy, compassion and humor.

Since 2021, we have run a monthly fundraiser for our Us Guardians Community Help Fund. Through that we have raised around $29,000 and distributed every penny of it to 110+ families in our community with no questions asked. (Members can request assistance once per six months).

We have helped families with rent / housing, clothing, utility bills, legal support in DV situations, fleeing war zones, medical bills, self-care, car payments & repairs, adopting new pets, cancer-treatment, installing hand washing stations at a preschool, and more. All requests are confidential to all but our Oversight Committee of 5 moms.

In 2023 we switched to this once-per-year model and have found it much more sustainable. We will raise the funds once a year and continue to distribute them once a month: aiming to have $1,000/month to distribute to the 4-8 families we get requesting help each month. In the unlikely event there are funds remaining at the end of the year, these funds will be added to the next 12 month period. Surplus dollars will be used when we have a higher volume of families requesting support. (Goal amount includes a little extra to account for GFM fees.)

This fundraiser is a chance to put money directly in the hands of our own community - people who are often struggling in silence all around us. People who have hit a hard moment, or who are scraping by with less than we know. This is why we don't make anyone prove their need. We trust our community to only ask when they need, and have found that a good number of those who receive funds, give back to the fund within a few months.

Please note: we are just people coordinating, this is NOT technically a donation. The money flows through me (group founder, Annie Bacon) directly to the community. The Oversight Committee has access to all information about money coming in and out to keep everything transparent.

Thank you so much for showing up for this community.

Best,

Annie Bacon & Lara Zisblatt

& our Oversight Commitee: Leah Katz Ahmadi, Kimberly Babiarz, Iram Rajani, Cynthia Rojas