CanDo Action helped set up the world’s first crowdfunded hospital, Hope Hospital in Syria, after raising over £250,000 through the People’s Convoy.
Inspired by this amazing show of public generosity, and the urgent need for a fresh new approach to humanitarian aid, CanDo went on to create a crowdfunding platform (similar to Kickstarter but for humanitarian causes).
I was approached to define the message for the platform launch which would be translated visually by their designer. I worked directly with CanDo’s marketing and communications director, along with the founder and TED fellow Dr. Rola Hallam.
CanDo believe that collective action solves problems. Inspired by their ethos, victories of past social movements, and the momentum of this ever-evolving organisation, ‘our time to move’ shows the crowd has the power to rewrite history.
Here’s how I summarised the spirit of the campaign:
We used powerful references to past movements across social media, to demonstrate the power of the crowd.
CanDo’s Twitter cover art referenced Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
You can see an Instagram post featuring Emmeline Pankhurst from the women’s suffrage movement.
‘Our time to move’ helped guide the narrative of CanDo's new platform and email communications.
The concept formed the foundation of Dr. Rola’s opening speech at the launch event, and influenced the choice of entertainment – Syrian folk dancing.