I've said TOO MUCH.

Dear Friends,

We have less than 32 hours left in our crowd-funding campaign. And I find myself with too much to say--that's because I want to leave it ALL on the table. I want to make sure you can make an informed decision about if you will join the others who have said "I'm going to do my part to help Moms as Mentors® raise girls' confidence and strengthen the critical bond between moms and girls.

So... here is TOO MUCH about Moms as Mentors, including:

  • Chief Program Officer Mandy Hickling speaks about the powerful moments that happen at our programs

  • How I want to answer the question, "When's the next program??"

  • Where your contributions will go

  • What's our Impact On Moms?

  • What's our Impact on Girls?

  • Get a peek inside our programs...

  • What do moms say is most powerful about our programs?

  • What do girls say about our programs?

  • Promoting confidence and bonding beyond our programs

  • Our most Important and revealing blog posts

  • In their own words: What Moms as Mentors® means to...

 

For however long you join me on this EPIC post, thanks for coming along.

(NOTE: Too busy to read anymore but believe in our work? No problem! Just click the purple button)

Chief Program Officer Mandy Hickling speaks about the powerful moments that happen at our programs

How I want to answer the question, "When's the next program??"

Margot helps out a mom and daughter with their project.jpg

Where your contributions will go

Your contributions will mean the difference between our running a small handful programs a year in a very limited number of communities, without adding in anything new for the people who've already attended our existing programs and our being able to meet the demand for: 

  • more frequent programs in a wider group of communities (by recruiting and training more skilled program facilitators)
  • new programs in our three content areas (STEM, business & social-emotional learning) so past program participants can continue to attend programs
  • more program formats (including running more series of weekly or monthly workshops)
  • more frequent "moms'-only sessions" to provide moms with more tools to help raise confident girls and opportunities to join a supportive, diverse community of moms that can be invaluable sources of support, both for parenting and other personal and professional matters.

What's our Impact On Moms?

These are the kind of off-the-charts positive feedback we typically receive after our programs.

The Mother-Daughter Relationship

  • 96% of moms achieved their goals for attending our programs (most common goals were to “have fun with my daughter” and “strengthen our relationship”)
  • 92% reported feeling a stronger bond with daughter (even those that already had one before) 
  • 93% felt they left with tools for helping their daughter through adolescence

As “Money” Mentors

  • 100% of moms said our program lay the foundation for familial conversations about money
  • 100% of moms said the program sparked a new interest/enthusiasm for their daughters in entrepreneurship

As “STEM” Mentors

  • 100% of participating moms said our program gave them tools for being a “STEM” mentor for their daughter

Unexpected Positive Impact

  • While not an explicit goal of our programs, 75% of participating moms felt their OWN leadership skills improved    

What's our impact on the girls?

Girls in kindergarten through 8th grade report feeling closer to their moms, more confident and excited about STEM and business as a result of our programs.

Mother-Daughter Relationship

  • 98% of girls achieved their goals for attending our programs (most common goal was “have fun with my mom”)
  • 93% of girls reported feeling a stronger bond with mom (even those that already had one before) 

On Leadership and Confidence

  • 82% reported feeling more confident to face difficult situations in adolescence (e.g. gossiping, bullying)
  • 76% left feeling they had more tools to be a leader among their friends

On STEM

  • 100% of participating girls reported that our program “made science and engineering fun” 

On Money and Entrepreneurship

  • 100% of participating girls reported that our program “made money and business fun”

Get a peek inside our programs...

It's hard to truly capture the special moments that occur between moms and girls at our program, even on video. But here are just a few moments we caught on camera of moms and girls working together (warning: contains raw footage-my video editing skills are a work in progress!).

What do moms say is most powerful about our programs?

  • The uninterrupted time together: “The best part of the experience was getting to enjoy spending time with my daughter and vice versa in a fun, no stress environment. It's sometimes easy to forget how much fun it can be to just hang out with her. I have several younger children and it was so awesome to spend some one on one time with my daughter doing something that was educational and empowering.”
     
  • Working together: “The program brought us closer together and imbued a sense of curiosity and "working together" in our relationship that has carried forward, mostly in doing normal household tasks like cooking, cleaning, preparing for holidays, and running errands but there is lots of love & joy in those shared day-to-day experiences. That is what life is really about.”
     
  • Instilling curiosity and a love of learning:     "We look to our schools, teachers, enrichment classes, sports programs to help our children achieve their fullest potential, but it really has to come from us, and nothing is more powerful than instilling curiosity and a love of learning. This program is a great reminder of how important it is to do that, and how we can all do that."
     
  • Learning new things about each other:  “We brought my daughter's grandmother and we all related to each other in a way we really have never had the chance to do. We collaborated together, and respected each other's ideas, and even learned new things about each other!”
     
  • Instilling confidence:  “One of my proudest moments as a mother was during the activity where the girls name the job matches the woman in the picture. The first one she went to was the picture of the professional African-American woman and she wrote "president." All the activities that day were reinforcement to my daughter that she can do anything she wants to, up to and including being the president. “
     
  • Providing positive opportunities with STEM and business that carry on at home:   "I really walked away with a commitment to ensuring my daughter has the same opportunities to explore STEM. She was so excited to help build a roller coaster and I realized I subconsciously had not been thinking about engineering projects for her nearly as much as I do for my son. "
     
  • Lasting Memories:  "Finding time to spend with my daughter is hard, finding time to spend with my daughter where we are both doing something fun and challenging and where we both learn something new is very rare in deed. In our normal day to day life I spend time organizing, doing drop offs and pick ups for my children’s activities and our conversation is focused on what they did today. By taking part in a Moms As Mentors program we get to spend time having fun together and grappling with a challenge - we share an experience that lives beyond the program."
TRANSLATION: "THIS IS THE FUNNEST ACTIVITY I HAVE EVER DONE

TRANSLATION: "THIS IS THE FUNNEST ACTIVITY I HAVE EVER DONE

What do girls say about our programs?

  • “Best day ever!”

  • (MOM:) "She kissed me and told me she loved me over and over and kept saying what a great morning she had.  We went out for lunch and continued talking about the bracelets and the activity. She was skeptical about coming out of her pjs on her day off but was so glad she had!"

  • “Wow!...! I had such a great time and I learned so much about my mother.”

  • "Super fun"

  • (MOM:) My daughter is always asking what can we do next with moms as mentors

  • "I would recommend this program because I want everyone to know, so they come too!"

  • "self-empowering"

  • (MOM:) "She is constantly talking about her "business plan" to others.”

Promoting Confidence and Bonding Beyond Our Programs

Just one example of the unique perks we are offering as thank you gifts for our donors

Just one example of the unique perks we are offering as thank you gifts for our donors

For our campaign "perks" or thank you gifts we are offering many unique items, many of which  are not usually available to the public. Our perks were carefully selected and designed to raise confidence in and foster stronger bonds between children and adults, beyond just the mother-child relationship.These items can be found on the right side of our campaign page, which you can find by clicking HERE

Highlights include:

  • Mom-Daughter Bonding At Home These downloadable activity guides features an art or STEM (donor's choice) activity carefully designed to foster bonding and empowering moments for moms and girls. The guide includes an activity sheet and “Mom notes." Great for any adult and child (Pre-K-8th grade). 

  • Bonding At Home + Mentor Tools In addition to the At Home activity guide listed above, donors will be sent resources on how to be a mentor for their daughter/girl in their life. (normally just available at our in-person programs)  

  • X-Large Bonding Bundle Guaranteed to bring you and a special girl closer! This bundle features our At Home activity guide with our 2 activities, in addition to our mentor tips and resources, PLUS a copy of the book “How Girls’ Thrive” by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D. (with Dory Adams) 

Our most important and revealing blog posts:

In their own words: What Moms as Mentors® means to...

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER JESS WEINER "Moms as Mentors makes a difference in the lives of so many mothers and girls through confidence building workshops...and by encouraging girls to explore roles in STEM and Business... By supporting Moms as Mentors, you are supporting their valuable programs that work to build strong and lasting effects for the women and girls involved." 
(Jess is CEO of Talk To Jess, Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador, best-selling author, social entrepreneur and one of Inc.'s "21 Thought Leaders Every Entrepreneur Should Follow in 2016")

Cynthia W., Derry, NH (Mom participant) "This is a wonderful and empowering experience...There is no other program out there with this unique female-empowering and mother-mentoring approach.  It's something that all mothers and daughters should be able to experience." 

Kerry P., Redding, CT (Mom Participant) "It's a chance to bond with your daughter on serious topics. Through the topics we discussed, my daughter actually related to me on a very respectful level and I was able to see how smart she is! It really opened the dialogue for more serious conversations!"

Megan P., Sherborn, MA (Mom Participant) "We look to our schools, teachers, enrichment classes, sports programs to help our children achieve their fullest potential, but it really has to come from us, and nothing is more powerful than instilling curiosity and a love of learning. This program is a great reminder of how important it is to do that, and how we can all do that.""

Delilah K., Holliston, MA (Mom Participant) It's an awesome program to get behind and really support. It's so important to support our young women and encourage them in areas that we might not think, to like STEM. There really are a lot of subconscious attitudes in our culture that steer young girls away from feeling confident in math and science and engineering. The moms as mentors programs tackle those preconceived expectations and make it fun at the same time. This is a great avenue to help the moms as mentors group to develop even more programming."

Moms as Mentors® Make It Count! Facilitator: "As a community educator and as a woman, I cannot stress how important these opportunities are for mothers and daughters to connect in the unique way that Moms as Mentors offers. It simply doesn’t happen organically as often as it should. A recent study by the Girl Scouts showed that mothers are still trailing fathers in confidence when it comes to giving advice about money matters, jobs, and leadership. Despite that, the same study shows that girls are still choosing to ask their mothers for this advice more so than their fathers. Opportunities like the ones I’ve been privileged to facilitate with Moms as Mentors are immensely important chances for women of all economic backgrounds to connect with their daughters in a meaningful, confidence-building way. They should be available to all women! "
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LAST CHANCE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE "MOM MATCH"

Your gift will be matched 1:1. Whatever you donate will make DOUBLE THE IMPACT.


Well you've reached the end...two ends more accurately. You got to the end of this post (you get a gold star for that!) and also THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN.

TIME IS ALMOST UP. If you want a guaranteed way to make a difference and help create the next generation of confident, influential women leaders, don't wait another minute.

Make a contribution now. 

Leslie Coles