ML4 Families – Your help is needed!

Last year, we initiated our annual Fall Families Fundraising asking you to reach out to your families and friends to donate to the ML4 Foundation to support the research we conduct. MLIV research is a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and we cannot do this work without your help. We run this campaign from October 15-November 30 each year. In our first year, participating families collectively raised $60,850 for the ML4 Foundation which went to support gene therapy research at Massachusetts General Hospital. This was terrific and inspiring to us and to the researchers!

It’s time again for Fall Family Fundraising and we are excited for more families to join and for more giving. Again, here is what we know from donation research:

  • People want to give to organizations engaged in purposeful work;
  • People want to give to support your situation;
  • People will give when asked for specific reasons.

We make giving easy for you and your donors! We are using a secure, web-based platform called Kindful for giving: this platform allows for a personal webpage that shares your family story, sets a giving goal, and shares pictures of your amazing child! We will give you a link to share on all social media and in email: sending family and friends to your page to donate is very simple. Even better, ML4 administrator, Laura Willard, will set up your page after you provide her the details that you want included.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU:

1) Fill out THIS FORM to get your page started.

2) When Laura provides your webpage to you BEGIN SHARING this web link on all your social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc). Be sure to share the link and ask people to donate. It can help to ask them to donate a specific amount (“Please consider giving $100”).

3) In addition, compose an email to all your family and friends explaining how important the ML4 Foundation is to your family (see sidebar for examples) and how a donation to help support this organization would be truly meaningful to you. You should share with them that we are a U.S. 501(c)3 organization and they will receive a tax letter for their donation. Include the link to your webpage in your email letter so your donors can go directly to your page for making donations!

4) Share your link repeatedly: people see about 5000 media images a day—your friends and family absolutely need a reminder to click on your giving page during this campaign!

I’ve included a video message below so that I can express to you my excitement about the new developments in ML4 research and to share more about how the money YOU raise will make a difference!

Why does the ML4 Foundation matter to your family?
  • We are the only organization in the world sponsoring research in ML4 science and treatment. No one else is helping find a treatment for your child.
  • We are the only organization in the world funding a doctor studying every aspect of the disease in the children and young adults, and who is making new discoveries about the disease and how to manage it. No one else funds the leading doctor in this field.
  • We are the only organization in the world sponsoring research in gene therapy, and which had created a gene therapy that has been shown to rescue the disease in MLIV mice. No one else is funding development of a gene therapy treatment and working to bring it to patients.
  • We are the only organization in the world funding natural history research in MLIV disease, which is the highest quality research in people with the disease—your children! —to learn how, when, and with what to treat this disease. No one else is conducting research studies in children with MLIV disease with a treatment goal in mind.
  • We are here to answer family questions whenever they come up and to get them answered by the specialists in the field.