Care And Threadless Unveil Innovative Crowdfunding Partnership To Support Women & Girls

100 Percent of Proceeds from Sale of Crowdsourced T-shirt Donated to CARE

ATLANTA, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The global humanitarian organization CARE, in a unique partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and online t-shirt design community Threadless, today announced the chosen design for a new t-shirt to honor and raise money for CARE.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120606/DC19727)

The chosen design "A Mother is a Daughter is a Mother…" was created by artist Shahaf Gurevich. Ms. Gurevich's design was selected from more than 100 submissions in an online vote.  In describing the inspiration for her image, Ms. Gurevich said: "All mothers are daughters and most daughters are mothers to be. All mothers seek a better future for their children. The key to a better future is to empower the daughters of today."

Shirts with the chosen design are $19.50 and 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the shirt will be donated by Threadless to CARE. Available in sizes for men and women, the t-shirts are available for purchase exclusively online at: http://www.care.org/shirt

"'A Mother is a Daughter is a Mother…' was the runaway favorite because it so beautifully evokes the strength of mothers and daughters," said Helene Gayle, CARE's president and CEO. "CARE focuses on empowering girls and women because our experience has shown us that they have the power to transform families and communities. Whether by learning how to take part in a Village Savings and Loan program or as part of a maternal health training, women can join forces to change their lives and their communities."

"CARE and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have made such a deep impact across the globe addressing issues of poverty and gender parity and Threadless is honored to be able to address these challenges alongside them with the help our Threadless community, which has really rallied around these causes," said Christian Picciolini, Threadless' community partnerships manager.

This partnership marked the first t-shirt design challenge between CARE, the Gates Foundation and Threadless.

About CARE:
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. 

Our six decades of experience show that when you empower a girl or woman, she becomes a catalyst, creating ripples of positive change that lift up everyone around her. That's why girls and women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity for everyone. We also work with girls and women to promote social justice, respond to emergencies and confront hunger and climate change. Last year CARE worked in 84 countries and reached 122 million people around the world. To learn more, visit www.care.org. 

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.  www.gatesfoundation.org.

About Threadless:
You are Threadless. You make the ideas, you pick what we sell, you're why we exist.  Everything we do gives you, and all the creative minds in the world, more opportunities to make great art. We started printing on tees and then we realized tons of products make great canvases. We seek out these canvases, so you can continue to make and pick the best art. The weird art. The geeky art. The beautiful art. And every time you buy from us, you're supporting great art too.

We love helping art unknowns become art totally-knowns, which is why every single one of our products carries an artist's name. We support our artist community in every way possible, whether it be through our annual creative awards, our commission-based award system, or simply by tweeting their name to the world. Lots of our artists have even gone on to start their own companies, and we believe that's a success.  We're based in Chicago and have been since we opened our doors in 2000, and we couldn't love our hometown more.  www.threadless.com.

SOURCE CARE