747. How One $14,410 Fundraiser Became a Global Movement - Jeremy Vallerand, Atlas Free
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Possible in Practice, a limited series of case studies from the We Are For Good community: the ask they sent, the risk they took, and what happened next. Eight incredible changemakers share what becomes possible when you stop waiting. Dropping Wednesdays starting this week.
About This Episode
Jeremy Vallerand and a few friends turned a Mount Rainier climb into a fundraiser: $1 for every vertical foot, $14,410 total. It was supposed to be a one-off. It wasn't.
Today, Atlas Free is a global network of 160+ organizations in 67 countries fighting sex trafficking, still fueled by the community hikes and climbs that started it all. 🩵
In this Possible in Practice episode, you'll hear:
How one climb became hundreds of community-led hikes and climbs every year, and the simple idea that made it spread: do what you love to fight what you hate
Why Atlas Free stopped sending Americans overseas and started backing the local leaders already doing the work
Why donors can tell when you only want their money, and why community has to come before the ask
What a $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank taught Jeremy about stewarding every act of generosity
You'll walk away with a blueprint for inviting your community into the mission, not just the fundraising. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:09) Refugees in the spare bedroom and the trip to India that changed everything
(6:52) Climb for Captives: turning a Mount Rainier climb into a $14,410 fundraiser
(9:00) "Do what we love to fight what we hate": how one climb became hundreds
(10:48) From one climb to 160+ organizations in 67 countries
(14:00) Ethical storytelling: what you choose not to say
(17:52) Monthly giving: why community comes before the ask
(20:51) A $1 million gift and an $18.37 piggy bank
(23:39) The one good thing: who you're with matters more than what you're doing
Meet Jeremy: The Corporate Advisor Who Built an Accelerator for Anti-Trafficking Leaders
Jeremy Vallerand is president and CEO of Atlas Free, a global network combating sex trafficking across more than 160 organizations in 67 countries. Before Atlas Free, he built a career at the intersection of business, politics, and faith, earning a degree in diplomacy from Oxford and advising some of the world's largest companies.
Forbes has featured him as a leading social entrepreneur, and he brings that same corporate discipline to how Atlas Free invests in what's working on the front lines. He grew up in a small farm town in the foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains, where his parents opened their spare bedroom to refugees.
Powerful Quotes
"We were the only spot on this map. Not only were we not red, we were green." — Urina
"Workshops and education doesn't work. There needs to be something added that moves the needle." — Urina
"A lot of nonprofits have a baseline because they usually do some type of intake. They just don't leverage it the right way." — Urina
"They will tell you things that they will not tell the person who's running the program." — Urina
"Sometimes that impact isn't immediate. Sometimes the waterfall is much later." — Urina
"That was the big gap for them — they weren't including their digital numbers on anything. Their email list, their social, their website hits." — Urina
"That was a turning tide for them. The report didn't ask for these numbers, but they gave them." — Urina
"You have to have data in order to start telling a data story." — Urina
"Gone are the days where you can just do a poster about your thing and people care about it. People want to see people now." — Urina
"Stay curious and keep asking questions." — Urina
Resources Mentioned
Atlas Free: global network combating sex trafficking across 160+ organizations in 67 countries
Atlas Free Hikes & Climbs (originally Climb for Captives): community-led adventure fundraisers, promoted mostly in spring and summer
The Knight: Atlas Free's kids-oriented story and companion children's book on human trafficking
Atlas Free on social: @AtlasFree on all channels — Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and X
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