Johannesburg, April 2015 – Cotlands has announced the start of their fundraising campaign for their Early Childhood Development programmes which will run for a year launching on 1 April 2015.
As a non-profit Early Childhood Development organisation, Cotlands is focused on addressing the education and social crisis by establishing early learning playgroups and toy libraries in poor communities to serve vulnerable children aged birth to six.
The concept behind the ‘Donate your birthday’ campaign is one that speaks to addressing these essential foundational years in a child’s life by affording individuals, corporates, as well as social or charitable clubs the opportunity to raise funds for Cotlands’ Early Childhood Development programmes in a fun yet meaningful way.
Thanks to the creative minds of our pro-bono agency Lesoba Difference, donating your birthday to Cotlands is as simple as visiting cotlands.org and signing up as one of our birthday donors or donating on behalf of someone else’s special day. This initiative provides a great way for family and friends to contribute to creating a better start and brighter future for the children involved in our ECD programmes.
This campaign is based online and uses the Cotlands website to house a unique campaign page where donors can register and create a mini-profile. They can then rally their friends and family to click on this profile and donate whatever amount they choose. Whether it’s R50 or R500, it’s a gift from the heart that will go a long way in helping us cement a firmer future for our children.
Singer/songwriter Connell Cruise has already pledged his birthday, happening on 15 May, as part of our ‘Donate your birthday’ campaign and we couldn’t be more excited to have him on board.
“I’m very proud to be a part of this campaign. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t come up with it myself,” Connell said in an interview with Cotlands.
“I used to study psychology at Wits and one of my majors was childhood development and since those early days I’ve always been fascinated with how important the first six years of life are. That’s why I’ve followed Cotlands so closely. I love the fact that Cotlands has these programmes, and are helping children who have been abandoned by the world and who now have a chance to make a meaningful contribution,” he says.
Cotlands’ National Communications Manager Lois Moodley weighs in on the importance of having someone like Connell on board: “We are thrilled to launch our ‘Donate your birthday’ campaign with Connell Cruise. This is an exciting campaign that will not only help us raise funds for early learning programmes but also raise awareness of the importance of play in Early Childhood Development.”
She continues: “Connell really gets it. He understands the work we do and the importance of Early Childhood Development. We are grateful to him for choosing to celebrate his special day with us and hope that he will inspire many others to donate their birthdays as well.”