Ibu Into Action
2020 will be a year to remember for many reasons, but for the Ibu Foundation, it was a particular standout. Our donations went up by 15% and our outreach strengthened. While many businesses and non-profits struggled to survive, your support helped the Ibu retail store thrive, and enabled the Foundation to uphold our mission. This year taught us again and again that nothing can dampen the power of beauty and the strength of women determined to rise into their own sovereignty.
Despite pandemic challenges, the Ibu Foundation pushed on with many projects, including funding a workspace in Nigeria and one in Pakistan, offered virtual design training sessions in both Turkey and South Sudan, and provided sewing supplies and marketing equipment to women in Syria.
Most of all, your support allowed us to shift our mission in response to Covid-19 and provide $36,000 in emergency relief to 10 different artisans partners, and over 1,000 women including:
- Mask supplies for 250 women and their families in Mexico, Cambodia and Colombia.
- Salaries for 288 artisans to stay afloat in Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey.
- Food and water for over 465 women and their families in South Sudan and Colombia.
- Assistance with rent for a new partner in Kyrgyzstan who would have been forced to close their workshop had we not been able to help.
In 2020, we doubled the Ibu Foundation’s grants to artisans, and also added 6 new artisan cooperatives, including artisans partners in: Pakistan, Nigeria, Colombia, Mexico, Morocco, Cambodia, South Sudan, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Turkey.
n a fluke of auspicious timing, we celebrated International Women’s Day and toasted to the One-year Anniversary of Ibu Foundation launch on March 8, right before Covid-19 shutdown. The event brought together many of our beloved friends and allies, and raised $94,120, and the memories of it remind us how much we miss and need one another. We can’t wait to gather together in person again as soon as it is safe and wise to do so.
Speaking of, our plans for an unforgettable Moroccan-themed event at The Dewberry, with artisans joining us to speak, had to be postponed, but we shifted gears, and hosted a virtual MasquerAID event and auction. We loved bringing Ibu artisans right to your computer screen and engaging in live conversations with our partners in Morocco, South Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria. If you missed any of these conversations, you can view each of them below!
