Ignite the Light Fundraising Drive
This spring, as our campaign built momentum, we asked ourselves, what will it take to win ten thousand jobs? Our strategy includes pulling new supporters together, spreading over a wider region, and integrating new tools and resources available to our volunteer organizers. This has led us to envision a bold new effort: Ignite the Light, raising $100,000.
Ignite the Light will raise $100,000 by October 2016, transition EQAT into a new structure, and show PECO how far each of us will go to Power Local Green Jobs. This fundraising is all about integration: organizing our communities to come together and move the work forward, each of us trying out new roles, and targeting PECO at the same time that we build our power.
We are pressing PECO, southeastern Pennsylvania’s utility company, to secure 20% of the electricity it sells from local solar by 2025. We are firm that PECO must center this development in neighborhoods with high unemployment such as North Philadelphia, which could generate over ten thousand new jobs and step towards racial justice. Further, this will rapidly reduce the devastating health and environmental effects of fossil fuels.
Direct action works: this spring, PECO created a Solar Stakeholder Collaborative in response to our 12 actions. But PECO has still not increased solar energy or generated new solar jobs. We’ve gained an inch, now is the time to take a mile.
EQAT is a grassroots team of volunteer organizers taking on a powerful and entrenched utility. We nurture our volunteer leaders with a slender staff, organizing resources, and a collective braintrust of strategic thinkers. In this campaign, our action teams will need the support of a campaign director, a field organizer, a communications manager, and an administrative assistant. This will give EQAT the structure we need to shine — and to win.
To reach this goal, we will need your pluck, your generosity, and your creativity. Ignite this growth by:
- Giving generously to EQAT this summer.
- Pledging your support if you can’t give now.
- Reaching out to family and friends to join you.
- Holding a fundraising event.
If you are able to help Ignite the Light, please contact Christy Tavernelli and join the effort!
