Help Settle Afghan Refugees

On August 19 I started an (overly complicated) matching donation scheme to encourage my friends to donate. I picked two charities — Afghan Women’s Organization (Canada) and Homes Not Borders (USA) to donate to.

We ended the donation matching five days later (August 24) with a very solid total:

• Donations by us: $46,228.60
• Donations matched: $233,306.20
• Total donations raised: $279,534.80 [USD]

This would not have been possible if I had not already had a community support me via the #cookielife (through which we raised over $300,000 USD).

As an entrepreneur living the Immigrant Dream in Canada (I was 14 when I arrived), I know how scary it can be to start a new life in a foreign country, even when you’re in no actual danger. I can’t fathom how terrifying it must be when you come from a country at war, with no money, no friends, nothing.

My immigrant friends joke that no one works as hard as immigrants, but we were wrong — from experience, no one works as hard as a refugee. If you can help give someone a chance they can only dream about, it will yield the best result of all: a rising tide that lifts all boats.

How it worked

I have previously raised over $400,000 for non-profits, and I am very thankful old and new friends stepped up to help Afghan refugees.

I asked my friends if they would match, and if people collectively donated and exceeded that amount, they would then donate that amount to charity. To say the least, we crushed it.

The matched amounts:

• 26 people agreed to match up to $500
• 62 people agreed to match up to $1000
• 11 people agreed to match up to $2000
• 3 people agreed to match up to $2500
• 4 people agreed to match up to $5000
• 4 people agreed to match up to $10,000
• 1 person agreed to match up to $20,000 (anonymous)
• 1 person agreed to match up to $40,000 (anonymous)
• 1 person agreed to match up to $50,000 (Jim Estill)

Since our collective donation amount exceeded $50,000 — the full amount was matched!

There is still an ongoing need for support — if you can donate, please do so: