{"id":1201,"date":"2017-04-19T16:35:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T16:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2024-08-22T14:30:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T14:30:16","slug":"tickled-by-trim-tint-or-tattoo-for-twb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/blog\/tickled-by-trim-tint-or-tattoo-for-twb\/","title":{"rendered":"Tickled by Trim, Tint or Tattoo for TWB"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the years I have been with Translators without Borders, I have witnessed and been involved in many exceptional fundraisers. On Our Bikes<\/a> (by TextPartner<\/a>) has always been a favorite, raising funds for our training efforts in Africa, and\u00a0the Localization World<\/a> hike organized by KantanMT<\/a> in 2016 was a huge success. And then came Trim, Tint or Tattoo for TWB, created by Euro-Com<\/a>, designed by Andrew Hickson and held at the Globalization and Localization Association\u2019s GALA 2017<\/a> in Amsterdam. Its success was not just impressive, but also loads of fun.<\/p>\n

Trim, Tint or Tattoo for TWB<\/h4>\n

The goal of Trim, Tint or Tattoo for TWB was to raise much-needed funds for Translators without Borders\u2019 humanitarian work around the world. Translators without Borders<\/a> (TWB) works to close critical language gaps that hinder humanitarian efforts worldwide by supporting the work of hundreds of organizations in the areas of crisis relief, health and education. TWB is a non-profit organization registered in the US and with an operations center in Kenya. It was founded in 1993 to provide volunteer translations to non-profit organizations. Funds from the fundraiser are used specifically to expand the community of translators supporting the effort, offer more training in more hard-to-source languages, and support the organization\u2019s development of a more robust incentive program for the community.<\/p>\n

\"Tattoo
TWB’s Executive Director, Aimee Ansari showing support for TWB at GALA 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ingredients to a successful fundraiser<\/h4>\n

By all measures, Trim, Tint or Tattoo for TWB had all the right ingredients for a successful fundraiser. Andrew designed a fun event in which there were many ways to give: participants could simply buy an orange (the color of TWB and host-country, the Netherlands!) wristband to wear during the event, or have a beautiful braid put into his or her hair, as was done by closing keynote speaker, Istvan Lenygel. But there were so many other ways as well, including getting hair colored, getting henna tattoos and, for the facial-hair group, shaving of the beard. Andrew spearheaded an awareness campaign before the event to get people committed to various activities and cleverly promoted those who had committed ahead of time on a simple yet elegant website<\/a> for the fundraiser.<\/p>\n

\"Feathers\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

That pre-work would have made the event successful unto itself. But it was the excitement that it generated during the event that truly put it over the top, starting with the opening announcement from GALA Board Chair, Jesper Sandberg, that if half of the conference participants contributed with a wristband or more, he would, in fact, get his hair colored. That was enough to get everyone to the Euro-Com table for a donation!<\/p>\n

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\"Waxing
Joseph mentally prepares himself<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then there was Joseph Kubovsky of Memsource<\/a>. Clean shaven, he had committed to wax his legs in order to participate. But the \u2018buzz\u2019 about his smooth legs was not enough \u2013 he then allowed anyone who donated to rip the wax paper from his legs as he grimaced.\u00a0 To top it off, he then had a tattoo placed on the back of his baby soft legs. Brilliant.<\/p>\n

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And then it was time for trimming. Five men and all their hairy glory, took center stage as professional trimmers shaved off all their hard-earned facial hair. It was all captured on Facebook Live!<\/span><\/u><\/a> As one remarked: \u201cEighteen\u00a0\u00a0 years gone \u2013 but it is all for a good cause!<\/em>\u201d
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