An exciting opportunity to double your donation and quintuple your impact!
Dear friends:
Over the past two months, you’ve heard from us with a heightened sense of urgency about the loss of an important grant and how the loss threatens our service to over 100 women and girls. While inspired by some who have come forward to give generously, I remain worried about our ability to make up the shortfall.
I am thrilled to announce that we now have an opportunity for your donation to be matched dollar for dollar! The Moriah Fund—a long-time supporter of the Tahirih Justice Center—has just agreed to provide a challenge grant of $25,000. This means that any donation you make between now and December 31, 2010 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $25,000! Please help us take advantage of their kind support and donate now.
Each time I pass a client sitting in our reception area or meeting with our staff, I am reminded that we are maintaining our current capacity on borrowed time. My anxiety is heightened by knowledge that we cannot replace the funding we lost without your help. Without your support and without Tahirih, many women we serve would have nowhere to turn for help.
Just last week, I watched as a kind man sat in our lobby consoling a baby for over three hours while the baby’s mother met with our staff. Her older son—who looked about 10 years old—also sat there and, with a level of patience and maturity that exceeded his age, he passed the time by mostly staring at the ground with his hands nervously clasped. I learned that they had driven for almost three hours, from a rural area, to receive our services. Her son was taken out of school that day so that he could accompany his mother on her effort to receive justice. I could feel his anxiety as his mother’s case was evaluated by our staff. I thought of the heartbreak his family—and many families—would suffer if we had to further reduce capacity and were unable to serve them.
Please help us make the most of the Moriah Fund’s exciting challenge grant and donate now. And, please remember that, in addition to matching your donation through this campaign, we continue to maximize your money by turning every $1 donated into $5 through our partnerships with over 800 pro bono attorneys and our award-winning pro bono program. In fact, our efficient leveraging of volunteer resources was highlighted as a “best practice” in this month’s Stanford’s Social Innovation Review. This means that your gift of $500 will translate into $5,000 worth of support—which is exactly the amount needed to save the life of one woman or girl fleeing gender-based violence.
Together, we can close this funding shortfall and maintain our capacity to serve women and girls fleeing violence. Please join me in our efforts and make a gift today. Thank you in advance for any support your are able to offer.
Warmest regards,
Layli Miller-Muro
Executive Director
