How far would you go for charity? Would you strip naked for it? That’s precisely what Nelfie, a UK-based project, wants you to do.
Here’s how it works. Participants take a “nelfie” (short for “nude selfie”) and post it on social media. Although that sounds absolutely terrifying, it’s actually not that bad. For one, the photos aren’t actually nude. Participants tactfully place an object over their private parts. It’s still risqué though, as it certainly leaves little to the imagination.
Now here’s where the fundraising part comes in. When a participant first posts the photo, it is highly pixelated—too pixelated to even see anything. Participants incentivize their friends to donate to charity by de-pixelating the image as more and more contributions are made. The more people donate, the clearer the image gets.
It’s fun, it’s spunky, and it’s definitely novel. Tom Wren, who founded Nelfie in 2015, is quite literally leading by example when it comes to his unusual fundraising technique. He posted his own “nelfie” in support of Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization centered on human rights.
In an interview with Startacus.net, Wren said that he originally started the company as a way for normal, everyday people to raise massive amounts of money for charity.
“I’m frustrated that typically the amount of money we can raise is limited to how many friends and co-workers we have, and they don’t have much fun donating to a static page. It’s sad that it seems only celebrities can raise huge awareness for what matters to them with a single tweet.”
And that’s how Nelfie was born. Wren wanted to put the FUN back in fun-draising. And he’s done a phenomenal job so far; Nelfie is just now starting to take off, with countries from all over the world participating in the challenge.
“For those not quite ready to nelfie, we’d really appreciate the support of this community in helping grow our impact and supporting our live campaigns, whether it be supporting with a donation, a share on social media or even just spreading the word,” Wren stated.
Here at Philanthropic People, we’re not quite courageous enough to take a nelfie. However, we’re proud to say we did our part in spreading the word.