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WAYS YOU CAN HELP ELLIOTT’S WISHES FOR ANSWERS COME TRUE

In the last 30 days you have helped catapult our campaign into a new league. First there was the outpouring of support and heartwarming wishes from so many that made Elliott’s birthday a joyous time for us and for the growth of our “community”. And right on the heels of that, you blew us away with the effectiveness of your outreach to grow our base of supporters on #GivingTuesday.

We tried to do our part by giving you lots of new ways to share Elliott’s journey:

 

  • the video of Gabi and John on the formation of Wishes for Elliott,

  • sharing difficult and heart breaking setbacks openly,

  • sharing our outrage over the absence of a national commitment – and federal policies to support research on rare diseases generally and Elliott’s rare genetic disorder more specifically,

  • providing our top seven reasons for supporting Wishes for Elliott on #GivingTuesday,

  • sharing  UN-selfies of why we and others were supporting Wishes for Elliott,

  • great new pictures (Day in the Park).

But YOU have been the indisputable key to the success of this campaign. So many of you reached out to share Elliott’s journey, share how you are moved by his cause, and why you participate in and support our efforts to bring real hope to children like Elliott. There are lots of good causes – but some are so neglected that your participation can – and has – shifted the course of science to help bring answers and hope to children and families struggling with rare and undiagnosed neurological conditions. In all cases, it’s the hope for a fuller life – and for some, it’s to get answers before they succumb to this dreadful mystery disease.

 

A wonderful measure of the success of your outreach is that the Wishes for Elliott Facebook page has gained almost 50 new active followers (“likes”) over the last month. That’s an increase of nearly 10% in 30 days.

 

Our focus on #GivingTuesday was “broadening our base” of support because it is clear to us that we cannot reach our goals with our existing base. Most of you have given at least once, and many of you have contributed 3-4 times. That’s just not a sustainable formula for success.

 

So broadening our base was an important first step as we enter the month when most philanthropic organizations receive over half their annual contributions,

 

The next step was to come up with a “end-of-year giving campaign” that would tap into ways you already prioritize your spending in December – first giving gifts to those you love and second making strategic decisions about your overall annual charitable giving.

 

The success of this “end-of-year” campaign is absolutely vital to the continuation of the cutting edge research that has begun, due to all your efforts, hard work, and generosity to date. But the funds that allowed that work to begin were only a down payment – and we need to raise an additional $50,000 by the spring to enable that critical work to continue.

 

More funds are needed to cover researcher salaries, to complete the critical consensus statement of knowledge and future research priorities of Elliott’s rare genetic mutation;

 

More funds are needed to cover all facility and hosting costs for the first ever workshop of clinicians and researchers this spring - most of the leading researchers in the field have already agreed to participate – we just need to cover the costs of hosting the meeting;

 

More funds are needed to fund the nascent bio-registry – a vital component of future research.

 

The elements of our “end-of-year” campaign – and how you can help make it a success – are spelled out in a new “How to Help” summary available on our website.

 

 

Key elements include:

 

1.           The opportunity to give “Holiday Gifts of Love and Hope” with donations to Wishes for Elliott in honor of friends and family.

 

2.           The request that you consider including Wishes for Elliott in your End-of Year charitable giving portfolio.

 

3.           The invitation to directly help us raise funds – in ways that work for you.

 

4.           The request for your help identifying individuals with needed skills or contacts who might want to support our campaign.

So, please check out our “How to Help" page, which includes more details on each of these ways YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

 

 

Elliott’s wishes can ONLY come true with your help. Please consider joining us in one or all of our End-of-Year campaigns. And THANK YOU – you have already made Elliott smile.

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