How The Breakfast Club Raised Over $100K With Help From MoonClerk

Allysa Bassir, founder of The Breakfast Club, talks with us about how MoonClerk has helped her nonprofit raise of $100,000.

Can you tell us a little about what your organization does?

The Breakfast Club is a nonprofit organization in Northern Ethiopia. We exist to give hope to children and families in poverty stricken countries by providing basic necessities and the tools needed for a sustainable future. Basically, we feed some really cool kids. Each day 100 kids come to the program before school for breakfast! We also provide lunch, tutoring, life skills training, family support, daycare and a safe place for kids to play. We also have a second program for boys who were once orphaned or abandoned living on the street. They live at the program full time - we provide a cozy place to sleep, eat, learn, and be a kid! 

What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

I actually run the program from my home in San Diego. I travel back and forth to Ethiopia about 5 times a year. We have an amazing Ethiopian staff that manages the day-to-day activities. My day-to-day responsibilities while in San Diego include fundraising, following up with the staff, marketing, organizing new ideas for the program, etc… While I’m in Ethiopia, my days are filled with meetings & hanging out with the kids! 

How did your organization get started?

I was working in the rural villages of Ethiopia educating on human trafficking when an Ethiopian friend had told me about kids in his town that were fainting, crying, and failing in school because they hadn’t eaten in days. I immediately went home and started fundraising. I was 22 years old with no knowledge of running a nonprofit but I had to do something. Thus, The Breakfast Club was born. We started out with 35 kids getting bread and milk before school. 8 years later and we are in the process of getting land in Ethiopia and on our way to feed 1000 + kids. 

What have been some key factors in your organization’s growth?

Simplicity. It’s not hard to feed kids. $15 will feed a child 2 meals a day in Ethiopia for a month. When people realize how simple it is to make a difference, they’ll give.

Also passion. Not just the “Oh I’m passionate about this..” kind of passion but that deep-rooted, I cannot sleep, eat or think about anything else type of passion…. That’s how I feel about these kids. They deserve all that life has to offer. They deserve to dream, to learn, to be healthy, to eat….

What do you use MoonClerk for?

To fundraise! All of the funds for the program go through MoonClerk!

What problems did you have with other payment platforms?

With other payment platforms it was difficult to connect them to our websites and they didn’t seem as legitimate to donors.

What made you finally decide to use MoonClerk?

It was simple to use and the price was fair! 

What was your experience when getting started with MoonClerk?

Great! MoonClerk was easy to connect to our website, simple to use on the back-end and simple to use on the front-end for donors. We were able to get donations flowing quickly.

What specific feature do you like most about MoonClerk?

Recurring donations and crowdfunding have been SO HELPFUL for us! Donors can easily set up a $15 monthly donation and we can set up a crowdfunding page for specific goals!

And, MoonClerk is very easy for me to use when I want to connect with donors. The dashboard isn’t complicated.  It’s straightforward and I REALLY appreciate that.

Also it's super helpful during tax season. I can easily go to a donors giving page, see what they gave and what date. It makes it very helpful when sending end-of-year statements.

How has MoonClerk helped your organization?

I mean, we raised $100,000 last year! MoonClerk played a huge role in that. The payment forms they have available make it easy and quick for donors to give.

Would you recommend MoonClerk to others?

Definitely! Especially for non-profit organizations, MoonClerk does the work for you when it comes to creating donation forms and they have so many options available! I am so grateful!