2020-07-24 Matching Donation ending

It has been said that there are three kinds of people in the world.
* People who make things happen
* People who watch things happen
* People who ask, "Hey! What happened?"
 
We had some people who made this Matching Donation Challenge happen! These are the people who will storm the bastille with you! Our fans at the University of Alabama issued TNKR a challenge--and TNKR met it!
* Donor Participation! We had almost 500 donations overall. At times we had so many donation notifications coming through that our Alabama fans felt like they were under attack! As I stress--participation. So many people seem to be embarrassed about the amount they donate, but I make it clear when I donate, as I slam the money down on the table. "And you're lucky you got that!"
* Fundraising! We raised about $42,000, a few donations are still pending, so please wait before declaring the final amount, I will announce that after we RECEIVE it.
* Sharing! I sometimes hear people say they don't want to talk publicly about their volunteer work or donations. That is a nice irrelevant out-of-date sentiment that is now a dead-end street in this social media age. Don't worry about the "humble brag" complainers. Sharing and talking about your activities can get others involved, which helps raise awareness for organizations and causes. And many people did share this Matching Donation Challenge, resulting in others donating. Plus, when people did public donations, their family and friends were likely to see it, resulting in more donations. Probably the top sharer, as usual, was TNKR Fan Club president Eben Appleton. 
* * *
Of course, there are many to thank, but I would like to highlight the top fundraisers who made it happen, each raising $1,000 or more.
Casey Lartigue, $28,000
Yeonmi Park, $2,800
Choi Shi Yong, $1,800
Nadia $1,500
Eunhee Park $1,033
 
Yes, two of the top five fundraisers are North Korean refugees. Three of the top five fundraisers were born on the Korean peninsula.
The next top five fundraisers:
TNKR Global High School Union Moms $832
Eugene Chung $832
Michael Downey $779
Joanne $625
Brooke Chong $400
 
(The world is a funny place, people who don't do anything feel comfortable analyzing people who did do something. So my rule about fundraising: Only analyze the fundraising totals of people who raised less than you did.)
If you were just an observer this time...what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?
As a result of this effort, TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee (temporarily) released her tight grip on the neck of our budget, allowing me to make two hiring decisions I have had in mind for quite some time. We have hired two TNKR students as staff members, bringing the overall total to three North Korean refugee staff members. 42% percent of TNKR paid staff are TNKR students who have all been with us since 2015. And yes, I have some more ideas for hiring and expansion, and look forward to us having more money to make them a reality.
This particular fundraising challenge has come to a wonderful end, but of course TNKR's opportunities for growth (and the bills that come along with that) are never over, so you can always donate to www.lovetnkr.org/donate
It is a little tricky with mentioning donors by name, many feel uncomfortable being highlighted. I would like to mention, however, the Haanong company. They hosted a small event for TNKR. The founder of the company was so inspired by what he heard that he offered a donation of $7,000 on the spot.
Thanks to those who helped make the Matching Donation Challenge happen. Last night I messaged with the Matching Donor and the main team members from the University of Alabama, the Matching Donor confirmed that he is thrilled to match the amount that we raised. So they made this entire fundraising effort possible.

Three Kinds of People
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2018/05/137_249649.html
 
What if I hadn't checked my spam folder?
http://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2020/07/23-what-if.html
 
Support TNKR
www.lovetnkr.org/donate
https://linktr.ee/caseylartigue

2020-11-12 Nothing compares to TNKR

www.lovetnkr.org/donate I was delighted to host Eunhee Park at a speech last week to graduate students. Eunhee has spoken at the Asia Liberty Forum, the Oslo Freedom Forum, given a TEDx Talk, and also won local English speech contests. She is the kind of speaker who is ready to a thoughtful speech, to answer any questions, and to even ask questions of the audience. Some audiences aren't ready for a speaker like her ready to engage them! Many audiences just want to passively listen. I gave a speech to them about a month ago, then invited Eunhee to follow up. ***************************************************** Nothing compares to TNKR A few years ago, when high school students applied to volunteer with TNKR, I was like the old neighbor yelling, "You kids get out of my yard!" After experiencing enough high school kids expecting to get a volunteer certificate for volunteering for a few hours then never contacting us again, I wrote them off. We were trying to build an organi

2020-10-31 Those wonderful moments...

That wonderful moment when your organization gets featured by a huge government office. In this case, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I am sure they did research about us or have been watching us for a while. http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=mofakr&logNo=222130813183&redirect=Dlog *********************************************** That wonderful moment when a staffer in your office buys you a drink after she has run an errand. Sharon has been a student at TNKR since 2015 and a staffer with us since2018. She and TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee work together closely. *********************************************** That magic moment when donors pledge their support for TNKR. Some donors want to know that an organization is barely surviving and the donor will be the one to save the organization. But Haanong wants to support us and to know that we are growing and getting stronger. *********************************************** That wonderful moment when you go to an

2014-11-01 Teach North Korean Refugees "Female Teachers Only" session,

Teach North Korean Refugees earlier today hosted its 20th English Matching session. We have now matched 124 refugees, 174 volunteer teachers, and 9 South Koreans working for NGOs or helping NK refugees in some way. Special thanks to Nina Hong, Katie Yuk, Claire Jessica Tighe, Kristen Lefebvre, Gabrielle Wray, Angela Miller, Noa Sunyoung Lim, Hannah Gzik, Nicole Kahansky, Suzanne Atwill Stewart for joining TNKR. It was a particularly sweet session--7 North Korean refugees, 10 volunteers, 1 reporter, 1 Ambassador, 2 co-directors, 1 cameraman, and 1 donor--and a partridge in a pear tree! Because of rumors of dating, we banned male tutors from this session ( as I explain in more detail at the bottom of this post ). One refugee was clear. Her English wasn't that great, but she said: "I want strict teacher." We want to create a project so serious students like her won't have volunteers trying to get her to go hiking or hanging out. I got criticized by

2020-10-19 Breaking News: TNKR is busy busy busy!

Last week was a busy time, many meetings both in-person and online. In this blog post: Partnerships Interviews Volunteers Speech ______________________________________________ 1) Partnerships New TNKR board member This is significant, a former Supreme Court justice has agreed to serve on TNKR's board of directors. This is important, it shows how TNKR has become a more mature organization. During 2021, we hope to develop more partnerships with organizations and individuals who can help raise TNKR's profile and impact. Meeting with a huge organization They have a huge building and many projects going on. They could fit all of TNKR in a corner and not even notice. Even our budget could disappear into their budget without them noticing until an auditor pointed it out. Despite that, they would like to partner with us. This is another sign of TNKR's maturity as an organization. Years ago, we would not have dared to meet with them, we were a fly-by-night group with no apparent pa

2019-11-02 Hana Foundation Youth English Speech Contest

The Hana Foundation held its third Youth English Speech Contest. I was delighted to be a judge for the third consecutive year and for TNKR volunteers to also mentor many of the contestants. ******** From A-B-C to T-E-D * Eunhee Park , grand prize winner of the Young Adults category, is a TNKR student and ambassador. It didn't take long for the judges to conclude that she was the winner yesterday. It is hard to believe that four years ago, she was at the ABC level. People naturally focus on the winner of a contest, but one thing I try to stress in TNKR is the process . Eunhee competed in three TNKR English speech contests before she won, going from honorable mention, to 2nd place, to Grand Prize winner last year. She is fearless, thoughtful, so she probably has an advantage over others who fear the stage. That's also why she was the NK refugee to be co-MC of a TNKR English speech contest. She has now started a YouTube channel ( SUBSCRIBE! ) and be sure to ch

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