A new movement called ‘Yes Women Monaco’ has just launched in Monaco with  plans to change how charities gain visibility and funding. Adapting to the modern world, they aim to use the power and reach of social media, with their inaugural gala already scheduled for December 1st at La Môme Monte-Carlo.

The initiative, founded by Nicole Dionne and Sophie Girone, will honour two female charity founders each year while implementing an innovative “one woman, one euro” fundraising model.

“Yes Women Monaco is an innovative movement to honour and to give the possibility for two associations to have visibility all year around,” Dionne told Monaco Life.

The initiative operates on three levels: an annual gala recognising one Monaco-based and one international female founder; a year-long social media campaign promoting their causes, and a viral fundraising drive asking for just one euro per person.

“We said to ourselves – perhaps we can find a way through social media, because there are many women and girls with a lot of followers,” Dionne explained. “We figure if we ask them for one euro, it’s not a lot, and after a year, maybe we can raise more money than by just having a celebration.”

This year: the fight against AIDS

For its inaugural year, Yes Women Monaco focuses on AIDS. The December 1st gala, held on World AIDS Day, will honour Princess Stéphanie of Monaco for Fight Aids Monaco, which she founded over 20 years ago to support people living with HIV, and Christien Roos for Penduka in Namibia.

“Today, 53 per cent of people living with HIV are either women or girls,” said Christophe Glasser from Fight Aids Monaco at the press conference. “An adolescent girl has three times more risk of being affected by HIV than an adolescent boy at the same age.”

Penduka, meaning “wake up”, was founded in 1992 by Dutch occupational therapist Christien Roos and Namibian Martha Muulyau. The association helps women build independence through learning crafts after being excluded from their communities due to HIV, tuberculosis and other illnesses. Beginning with nine women, it now has 320 females learning skills, with a total of 500 having used what they learned to establish themselves in their villages.

“Even if they’re excluded from their community, they take back possession of their lives,” Dionne said.

Small donations with big impact

Rather than expensive galas, Yes Women Monaco bets on viral giving. “We all have contacts on Instagram, between one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, sometimes a million,” said Sophie Girone. “If everyone just gives one euro, we’ll manage to raise a substantial sum.”

The December 1st gala itself costs 200 euros – deliberately affordable for Monaco – with two thirds of restaurant proceeds going to the associations. “Most events in Monaco are always at quite high prices,” Girone noted. “So we said: we’re going to do a meal that’s not too sumptuous.”

For anyone interested in attending the gala taking place on December 1st at La Môme Monte-Carlo, tickets can be purchased through this link: https://my.weezevent.com/diner-de-gala-yes-women-monaco

To support and follow them on their instagram page, visit https://www.instagram.com/yeswomenmonaco/

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Main photo credit: Monaco Life.