As organizations that regularly seek funding to support our documentation and archival work, WITNESS and our partners at Texas After Violence Project (TAVP) – have seen how “traditional” funding requirements and guidelines often become significant impediments to our work, despite funders’ best intentions. With this in mind, we drafted an open letter that highlights five key challenges and offers constructive recommendations to center community and care in archives grantmaking.

Join us in adding to this conversation and making funding for community archives more impactful! One of our hopes for this open letter is to spark conversation within community archives across the country on how to advocate for this work. Head over to the Sustainable Future’s blog to read all recommendations. We encourage you to share it and welcome your thoughts.

Explore some of WITNESS’s archiving resources and projects below:

• People’s Database for Police Accountability with Berkeley Copwatch
• Policing the Police with El Grito
• Rohingya Genocide Archive with Rohingya Vision
• Should I Collect and Archive These Videos? tipsheet, co-created with Texas After Violence Project
• Activists’ Guide to Archiving Video

In their commemoratory article, they write of WITNESS, “They’ve trained over 7,000 people across 108 countries, reaching 1 million people in the last year with their resources.”

In addition to the donation, Mainframe also plans to “…collaborate with a number of [the organizations] on future projects.” We are excited to continue to spread our message and thank everyone who has helped us continue to seek justice through video.

To read more about WITNESS and Mainframe’s Proof of Heart, click here.

*UPDATE: We’re no longer taking applications to join the WITNESS team, please contact development@witness.org to stay informed about future opportunities.*

Fall time in New York is beautiful. Holiday cheer is in the air, coffeehouses are brewing your favorite seasonal beverages, and everyone is collectively enjoying the aura of being in NYC in November. The most exciting thing happening that month, however as any true New Yorker knows, is Marathon Day.

Even the toughest, most unsentimental New Yorkers can’t help but be swept up in the marathon spirit, as 50,000 courageous runners blaze through the streets to the thunderous roar of an adoring city.

WITNESS is proud to be an official charity partner in the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon for the ninth consecutive year. On Sunday, November 4, five dedicated runners will represent Team WITNESS and run for human rights change– and you can be one of them!

WITNESS welcomes runners of all levels and backgrounds, from dedicated multi-marathon champions to first-time runners. Cumulatively, our past teams have raised close to $100,000 in support of human rights defenders everywhere. They have empowered thousands of activists and everyday people to use video for change on some of the most pervasive human rights issues of our time – from war crimes in Syria to police brutality in the United States to sexual and gender-based violence around the world. And they did this while running the race of their lives…sometimes multiple years in a row!

We hope you will follow in their footsteps and join Team WITNESS in the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon.

Why WITNESS?

WITNESS makes it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend human rights. With millions of people empowered to film injustice – often with just smartphones in their pockets, we make sure that they are equipped with the right tools, guidance, and techniques to make sure that their voices are heard.  By joining us, you become a witness to human rights.

How It Works:

• Register with Team WITNESS. Registration for charity partners opens after the official lottery drawing on February 28 and closes on September 13. Note that spots are limited and will go quickly – so the sooner you reach out, the better!
• Pay the registration fee ($255 for NYRR members, $295 for non-members, $358 for non-U.S. residents)
• Meet your fundraising minimum by November 30 – with help from our amazing fundraising team. Each runner commits to raising $3,000 in support of WITNESS’ programs. But you don’t have to do this alone! You’ll have the full support of our in-house fundraising team, who will help you out with strategies, tips, and additional assistance.
• And lastly, run your heart out in the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon!

As a member of Team WITNESS, you will receive:

• A guaranteed spot on the starting line on November 4;
• A personalized WITNESS jersey;
• Fundraising tips and strategies to help you meet your goals;
• An amazing team of human rights defenders to train and share your journey with.

Interested in joining the team? Contact development@witness.org to learn more and secure your spot today.

This funding will support our Mobil-Eyes Us (MEU) project which uses live-streamed video storytelling plus task-routing technology to connect the right “distant witnesses” – people who care about the struggles of communities facing rights violations but may not be physically present – to meaningful experience and action. Turning witnesses into engaged actors, MEU seeks to disrupt the bystander effect and mobilize a collective empathic response to human right violations. Initially, the project will focus on telling (and changing) stories from Brazil’s urban favelas, where solidarity and pressure can make all the difference. Most recently a small-scale pilot of the Mobil-Eyes-Us project launched during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The pilot in Rio involved collaboration with frontline activists in communities affected by human rights violations to share a series of live-streams and provide ‘distant witnesses’ with the opportunity to witness directly what was happening, and move from being viewers to active witnesses taking action in support of frontline communities.

MEU is a cross-cutting project part of the Tech + Advocacy program at WITNESS, led by Sam Gregory, Program Director.

To learn more about our Mobil-Eyes-Us Project and Tech Advocacy, please click here.

To read more about the Flex Fund, please click here.

Don’t believe us? Check out this highlight reel from last year’s event. We challenge you not to get a little misty eyed.

WITNESS is proud to be an official charity partner in the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon for the eighth consecutive year. On Sunday, November 5, five dedicated runners will represent Team WITNESS and run for human rights change– and you can be one of them!

WITNESS welcomes runners of all levels and backgrounds, from dedicated multi-marathon champions to first-time runners. Cumulatively, our past teams have raised close to $100,000 in support of human rights defenders everywhere. They have empowered thousands of activists and average citizens to fight for change on some of the most pervasive human rights issues of our time – from war crimes in Syria to police brutality in the United States to sexual and gender-based violence around the world. And they did this while running the race of their lives…sometimes multiple years in a row!

We hope you will follow in their footsteps and join Team WITNESS in the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon.

Why WITNESS?

As images of refugees, police violence, and attacks on civilians flood our social media feeds and shape our reaction to current events, it is impossible to deny the power of visual imagery for human rights. That’s why WITNESS is making it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend human rights. With millions of people empowered to film injustice – often with just the smartphones in their pockets – we make sure that more videos lead to more rights. By joining team WITNESS, you are helping us make it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend human rights.

How It Works:

• Register with Team WITNESS. Registration for charity partners opens after the official lottery drawing on March 2, and closes on September 14. Note that spots are limited and will go quickly – so the sooner you reach out, the better!
• Meet your fundraising minimum by November 30, 2017 – with help from our amazing fundraising team. Each runner commits to raising $3,000 in support of WITNESS’ programs. But you don’t have to do this alone! You’ll have the full-support of our in-house fundraising team, who will help you out with strategies, tips, and additional assistance.
• Run your heart out in the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon!

As a member of Team WITNESS, you will receive:

• A guaranteed spot on the starting line on November 5;
• A personalized WITNESS jersey;
• Invitations to special WITNESS events;
• Fundraising tips and strategies to help you meet your goals;
• An amazing team of human rights defenders to train and share your journey with.

 Interested in joining the team? Contact natalie@witness.org to learn more and secure your spot today.

These seven individuals are helping WITNESS make it possible for anyone, anywhere to use video and technology to protect and defend their human rights.

Thanks to team members Sarah, Sam, Alessandro, Bridgette, Sean, Bryce, and Carolina.

WITNESS staff will be stationed around mile 8 of the race with a big sign. We will be standing in front of Mo’s Bar & Lounge on 80 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, starting at 10:30AM.

Come join us and cheer on our runners, who will be wearing WITNESS orange jerseys!

If you can’t make it to our cheer zone, let us know if you’ll be stationed in a different location and we’ll make sure our runners look out for you. Here is a map of the route.

Or, consider donating to our runners’ fundraising campaigns here. 

See you on race day!

But we can’t do it without your support.

Between now and June 30, an anonymous donor is matching your gift. That means for the next two weeks your support goes twice as far.

Give to WITNESS and enable people around the world to #WITNESSTRUTH.

Real Business has a good story about the challenges and opportunities involved in this type of fund raising. For example, Team in Training has raised some $1.4 billion over the last 25 years.

With success like that, other nonprofits are turning to sporting events but in doing so it’s hard to get your voice heard when trying to recruit volunteers to join.

Says WITNESS’ Hannah Ayers in an interview with Real Business:

As an organization, we do experience the challenge of getting our message through the noise, but that encourages us to be more creative and compelling in our messaging. I imagine we’ll see the same thing with charity marathon teams: Organizations and the runners themselves will discover that they need to be more creative to get the attention of potential supporters.

Visit Real Business to learn more about how nonprofits and volunteers are participating in marathons, triathlons and other events in order to support their causes.

You can see photos of WITNESS, our volunteers and supports from this year’s New York Marathon on Flickr.