Showing Your Mama Some Love

I always thought Hallmark holidays were silly, and I shutter at the thought of how much we spend to support them.

Personally, I would sooner sink my money into a Justin Beiber album than purchase a “Sweetest Day” card. So I was immensely excited last year when I came across ToMamaWithLove.org — a shining example of finding the real meaning and the heart behind Mother’s Day.

To Mama With Love is a collaborative online art project that honors moms across the globe and raises funds to invest in remarkable women who are transforming our world. Scheduled for May 3-8, 2011, the site invites participants to create socially shareable "heartspaces" that include words, videos, photos and investments in honor of mamas they love.

Originally launched in 2010 by U.S. nonprofit Epic Change, To Mama With Love appeared at the top of Mashable's 2010 lists of "4 Innovative Social Good Campaigns for Education" and "9 Creative Social Good Campaigns Worth Recognizing." In less than a week leading up to Mother's Day, the site raised nearly $17,000 in 2010, which was invested to build a children's home in Arusha, Tanzania. Construction is already complete, and children have now become residents of this home built from love.

This year To Mama WithLove is shaping up to be just as successful.

Some of the key highlights from To Mama With Love:

Website
ToMamaWithLove.org is interesting and interactive. On a technical level, the process to sign in and create a “heartspace” to share with the world was so easy it was almost done for you. But the most impressive thing about this campaign is how touching and personal it allowed individuals from all across the world to be. I hear the phrase “tell the story” so often in the nonprofit world, and To Mama With Love understands that concept to a T.