500 for 500 – Empower Migrant Workers

Fundraising campaign by Michael Manio
  • HK$10,650
    raised of HK$250,000.00 goal goal
4% Funded
12 Donors

No more donations are being accepted at this time. Please contact the campaign owner if you would like to discuss further funding opportunities

Help this ongoing fundraising campaign by making a donation and spreading the word.
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SITUATION:

In Hong Kong, there are more than 390,000 domestic workers, representing 10% of the city’s working population. Many are mothers who leave their families, working six days per week to provide for their loved ones. By supporting Hong Kong families, they are the hidden force that makes so much of our city’s success possible.

Many of these women aspire to more than being domestic workers but often lack opportunities to further their education while in Hong Kong. It’s time we give a little back and help them reach their goals! For every HK$500 donated, one domestic worker will receive 6 months’ worth of education – an incredible value, and an incredible impact!

WHAT WE DO:

EmpowerU is a nonprofit educational and empowerment platform. At EmpowerU, we firmly believe that these workers deserve better. And since most of these workers are the main earners for their families, helping them access education will have a cascading effect.

We created EmpowerU to help connect domestic workers with opportunities to learn from top education partners, including NGOs, companies, and even top university professors. Our program is held at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and many of our facilitators and instructors are HKU professors and students.

Through EmpowerU, participants have exposure to practical knowledge necessary to improve not only their own lives, but also their employers’ well-being. Additionally, we focus on aspirational knowledge that makes life beautiful and worth living - literature, arts, culture, etc. We also hope to help them prepare for the future, whether in domestic work, a different career field or even as an entrepreneur.

The courses offered include:

CPR & AED Training (certificate granting) Fire Safety and Prevention (certificate granting)
Entrepreneurship & Leadership Business and Finance
Information Technology Science & Environmental Studies
Public Health & Nutrition Child and Elderly Care
Arts & Literature Media Studies
Public Speaking Law

EmpowerU is unique in that it offers a multi-year curriculum developed by HKU professors. The program is led by Dr. Michael Manio MD, MHPEd, PhD, of the HKU Faculty of Medicine, Lindsay Ernst from the Faculty of Law, and David Bishop from the Faculty of Business and Economics. All classes are held on weekends at The University of Hong Kong campus, with online courses coming soon.

WHERE YOUR DONATIONS GOES

We are the only migrant worker program that is developed and taught by university professors on a university campus. Although we have tried to keep our expenses at a minimum, in order to run EmpowerU it does require that we charge participants a fee. Currently, eacensive and cheaper than any other program out there.

We are trying to provide 500 students with a 50% scholarship of HK$500 each. Your financial support is essential for these highly driven and motivated students - the funds from this campaign will be distributed among the following expenses:

  • Support lecturers and facilitators - 20%
  • Curriculum development - 18%
  • Online learning platform and content creation - 35%
  • Course administration - 15%
  • Course materials - 6%
  • Events and venue - 6%

FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT US:

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.EmpowerU.io

Facebook: EmpowerU

*Tax Deduction Via Fiscal Sponsorship and USD Donations:

Donations above HK$100 are tax deductible. However, please note that although EmpowerU has been operating in some capacity for several years, we have not yet established our own charitable entity. For that reason, in order to ensure donations are granted a tax exemption, EmpowerU has entered into fiscal sponsorship agreements with some of our charity partners wherein your donation will go to them directly, and then be provided to EmpowerU afterwards. Hong Kong donations will be processed by Soap Cycling Limited, one of the charities with whom we work closely.

For anyone from the United States, please contact us directly if you would like a US$ tax exempt donation. We can provide details for how to donate via our US partner. Should you need an official receipt or more details, please contact us at [email protected]


Fundraising Team

  • Michael Manio
  •  
  • Campaign Owner
  • Siyi Fan
  •  
  • SVM Intern
  • David Bishop
  •  
  • Director

Donors

  • Guest
  • Donated on Apr 28, 2019
  • I am not a rich man I earn my money thru the roughness and dangers of the high seas. But because I believe in your cause and you are helping women who are supposed to stay at home and care for their babies instead they are the one who is perspiring blood to keep their family alive and well, that’s the very reason that I am sharing my humble gift to you. More power to your cause.

HK$500.00
  • Florence Lau
  • Donated on Apr 19, 2019
  • Thank you for the amazing work EmpowerU - all the best :)

HK$2500.00
  • Guest
  • Donated on Apr 19, 2019
HK$50.00

No updates for this campaign just yet

Donors & Comments

12 donors
  • Guest
  • Donated on Apr 28, 2019
  • I am not a rich man I earn my money thru the roughness and dangers of the high seas. But because I believe in your cause and you are helping women who are supposed to stay at home and care for their babies instead they are the one who is perspiring blood to keep their family alive and well, that’s the very reason that I am sharing my humble gift to you. More power to your cause.

HK$500.00
  • Florence Lau
  • Donated on Apr 19, 2019
  • Thank you for the amazing work EmpowerU - all the best :)

HK$2500.00
  • Guest
  • Donated on Apr 19, 2019
HK$50.00
  • jane mcbride
  • Donated on Apr 13, 2019
  • Let’s help all migrant workers in HK have a better future

Amount Hidden
  • Colleen Navarro
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
  • I may not have enough but I want to share to my fellow workers. We can make a big difference and one day our lives will be better.

HK$100.00
  • LRT Ladies of the Round Table
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
HK$250.00
  • STAR Samahang Tarlac
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
  • All the best EmpowerU.

HK$250.00
  • Andrew Dunn
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
  • Thank you Ms. Josie for introducing me to EmpowerU and I am happy that you spend you day off productive and meaningfully.

HK$500.00
  • NORTOPS
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
  • At my age of 60 I never thought that I would be inside the University and learning things. I have been to Hong Kong for 25 years and thank you EmpowerU for making our off meaningful.

HK$500.00
  • Gladys Liu
  • Donated on Apr 12, 2019
  • Happy to see so many people benefit from this initiative. Quality education should be for all

HK$500.00
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Followers

5 followers
Florence Lau
jane mcbride
sara shimabukuro
Angela Daly
Michael Manio
HK$10,650
raised of HK$250,000.00 goal
4% Funded
12 Donors

No more donations are being accepted at this time. Please contact the campaign owner if you would like to discuss further funding opportunities

Help this ongoing fundraising campaign by making a donation and spreading the word.