San Francisco-based photographer Laurie Frankel wants to harness the popularity of Instagram to raise funds for critical small donations to charitable causes that can add up. In June, Frankel launched the website for 1Dollar1Love and its first social media fundraiser, The Summer Masked Selfie Challenge. People are encouraged to post portraits of themselves wearing face masks on Instagram, donate $1 to the 1Dollar1Love.org website—and to challenge their friends and social media followers to do the same.
“We’re hoping everyone's social feeds will be filled with masked selfies so that the frontline and healthcare workers will open their social media and feel the love,” says Frankel. All the donations gathered through the 1Dollar1Love are being given to Together Rising, the 501c(3) nonprofit created by author Glennon Doyle, which has been providing groceries, rent and other critical supplies to frontline workers and families affected by the COVID-19.
Frankel said her idea was to make supporting a cause as “easy and simple” as possible: “All you have to do is donate a dollar, and tell your friends and followers to do the same.”
To help realize her idea, Frankel recruited volunteers. She placed a cold call to agency Odysseus Arms, which immediately agreed to help launch 1Dollar1Love and conceptualize its promotion. They also built its website. Designers at Character quickly came up with the 1Dollar1Love logo and branding. Frankel says she interviewed several philanthropies before choosing Together Rising as the recipient of 1Dollar1Love’s first fundraising efforts. “They were helping families in need and not taking anything out for operating costs,” Frankel notes.
Through friends and students she has mentored and helped to find internships, Frankel has developed a network of teens and college students across the U.S. and in other countries. They regularly gather via Zoom to brainstorm ways to help promote the Summer Masked Selfie Challenge. They recently held a sweepstakes for a mask giveaway with artist Skye Schuman and Mask.topia. They are also contacting artists interested in taking over the 1Dollar1Love Instagram feed. “We are getting dancers and musicians, the whole creative community,” says Frankel. “If anyone wants to take over the feed or has other ideas, we’re open. It’s an open call to any creative.” Her former professor at the University of Delaware has asked Frankel to lead the students in his photography and advertising class in a project to build a fundraising and social media campaign around a cause of their choosing.
If the 1Dollar1Love idea takes off, Frankel says, she hopes to carry on similar fundraising efforts for other philanthropies. “We want now to help those most vulnerable in need due to COVID-19. But the idea was to create a movement: If there’s a hurricane or tornado, everyone would know to come together and donate a dollar to help each other.”
—Holly Stuart Hughes
To find out more about Laurie, please visit her website and read our APA interview, “Laurie Frankel: An Eye For The Essence.”
Gallery Credits:
1. © Alea Bone. https://www.instagram.com/aleabone
2. © Mask Therapy. https://www.instagram.com/brainsinking
3. © Carol Moukheiber. https://www.instagram.com/c.mouk
4. © Andrea Guedella. https://www.instagram.com/disparosaguedella
5. © M I V. https://www.instagram.com/elartgentino
6. © Individualactivist. https://www.instagram.com/individualactivist
7. © James Dunlinson. https://www.instagram.com/jamesdunlinson
8. © Miya Turnbull. https://www.instagram.com/miyamask
9. © Ýrúrarí. https://www.instagram.com/yrurari
10. © Alea Bone. https://www.instagram.com/aleabone
11. © Anita Calero. https://www.instagram.com/anitacalerophotograph
12. © M I V. https://www.instagram.com/elartgentino
13. © JC Garcia-Lavin. https://www.instagram.com/jcgarcialavin
14. © Laurie Frankel. https://www.instagram.com/lauriefrankel/