Sophie's Legacy

By Anna Guenther

video

PledgeMe.Project

Community,



NZ $10,145 pledged


209 people pledged


Closed


NZ $10,000 minimum target


100 100% Complete

This campaign was successful and closed on 20/09/2016 at 7:00 PM.

Make a Pledge

About

Sophie's Legacy

Project 2016-08-11 12:07:59 +1200

The aims of the Sophie Elliott Foundation are to prevent violence against young people by raising awareness about the signs of abuse in dating relationships.

 

Why? Because 48 per cent of couples at age 21 years old reported as having been involved in physical partner violence (Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Moffitt and Caspi, 1999).

 

What is this campaign for?

The Sophie Elliott Foundation wants to update their website and create online content specifically for young people and their support networks. 

This year the New Zealand Police have either delivered, or about to deliver, the "Loves Me Not" workshops for Year 12 students into 72 secondary schools. The Sophie Elliott Foundation is a partner with police to see this programme delivered.

 

Now that “Loves Me Not” is up and running the Foundation want to create online content, and redesign their website to make safe relationships information more accessible. The estimated cost for this content and the website is $10,000 but any money pledged in excess of this will be used to create more content, fund more programmes, and help more young people. 

 

About the Sophie Elliott Foundation

The Sophie Elliott Foundation was started by Lesley Elliott, mother of Sophie, to help educate initially young women, but then all young people, on what healthy relationships look like. Alongside Foundation trustee Bill O’Brien, Lesley wrote two books and helped police develop the education programme “Loves Me Not”.  Lesley and Bill have devoted the last 5 years of their lives travelling around New Zealand talking to school students and communities on healthy (equal) relationships, and the signs to watch out for in unhealthy (controlling) ones. They are well supported by their fellow Foundation Trustees.

 

They've received a lot of support along the way, but their work is entirely unpaid, and predominantly funded by philanthropy. PledgeMe wanted to help raise money to redesign their website and create content that will be freely available for young people and their support networks online.

 

Who is Sophie?

Sophie had just completed a first class honours degree in Economics at Otago University. The day Sophie died she was packing to leave for Wellington to begin a promising career at NZ Treasury where she had secured a position as a graduate analyst. Sophie was nervous but also excited at the life that lay ahead of her.

 

In January 2008 Sophie was murdered in the safety of her own bedroom by an ex-boyfriend she had just ended a five month relationship with. The relationship had been punctuated with what we now know as typical partner abuse. It encompassed much psychological abuse and, in the end, two episodes of physical violence before Sophie’s brutal murder. She was only 22 years old.

Tens of thousands of New Zealand women could tell a story just like Sophie’s. All end with varying levels of violence, but the signs and symptoms of abuse are hauntingly similar and largely go unrecognised as abuse.

Because abusive behaviours are so common, and so similar, they can be readily identified – if you know the signs. The Sophie Elliott Foundation is committed to enabling young people to identify warning patterns and remove themselves safely from abusive relationships as early as possible.

 

Why is PledgeMe running this for the foundation?

One of our founders, Anna, had an amazing close friend at high school. Her name was Sophie Elliott. Anna still can't believe Soph is gone, and it breaks her heart that New Zealand is number one for reported rates of domestic violence in the OECD. We want to support Lesley, Bill, and their team to raise the money they need to grow their reach online. Anna will personally run this campaign, and cover the success fee so they get as much of the money pledged as possible. 

If you'd like to support this campaign, but can't afford to pledge, we'd love more rewards we could offer. Get in touch with [email protected] to support.

 

  

Comments

Updates 4

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

22/09/2016 at 10:43 AM

To all you wonderful pledgers: thank you.

It really means so much that you supported this campaign, and now the real work begins. Getting the funding to the foundation, delivering your rewards, and delivering the updated website and content. 

I'm going to be in touch with you individually over the weekend to coordinate reward delivery (if it requires coordination) and will be sending out the books that the Foundation has provided from late next week. If you are Wellington based, you are also welcome to come pick your book up from 115 Tory Street between 8:30am-5pm. Just flick me a note to let me know, and I'll have the books waiting for you. I'll even make you a coffee if I'm here.

I'm also working with the foundation to keep you updated as they work through getting their content online and into the world. We really couldn't have done it without you.

If you have any questions, feel free to ping me on [email protected]

Thank you, thank you, thank you again.

Anna

One more day

19/09/2016 at 5:38 PM

Hey Pledgers and Followers,

We've had such a surge of support over the last three days - thank you so much to everyone who has come on board and pledged, shared and offered rewards. We're over 60% funded now. 

We've had a few new rewards added in the last day, including:

  • Cookies from my sister, Jess
  • Adwords help from Ting Zhang (who was a Product Developer for Google)
  • MCing a Wellington event by improv superstar Jen O'Sullivan
  • A custom illustration by Jem Yoshioka

If you have any rewards you could offer, let me know. 


We still need to raise over $3k in the next 25 hours, but it's feeling doable, especially with you all in our crowd. 

Your support really means the world to the team behind this campaign. If you could help us out with one final share with your networks that would be immensely appreciated. 

Thanks again,

x

Anna

Thank you, thank you, thank you

08/09/2016 at 9:44 AM

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone that has gotten on board to support Soph's Legacy. 

It means so much to me, to the Foundation, and hopefully to New Zealand. Imagine a future generation where partner violence isn't a problem. Work like this is part of the solution.  

If you have any tips / tricks / thoughts on where we can share this message further, get support around the plans, or reward ideas, let me know ([email protected]). And thank you for all the sharing you've done so far. We've got 12 more days to get there, and we're 30% of the way to our goal. 

For those of you that don't know, a while back I wrote a poem about Sophs, which I recorded last week. I think it helps explain a bit more about why I'm doing this: https://soundcloud.com/anna-liz-guenther/a-friend-of-mine-from-high-school-is-famous-now

Take care,

Anna

One week in

29/08/2016 at 4:24 PM

Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign so far, it really means so much to all of us that are behind it.

We're almost at the 20% mark, and have three more weeks to hit our goal. 

I'd really appreciate any help you can give sharing this campaign further, and I think that one thing that might help with the "why this campaign?" would be for you to share your thoughts on what a healthy relationship is, and why it's important to have them. 

 

Photo Cred: Jakubowski Foto

 

When I first was asked what a healthy relationship was

I remember when Lesley asked me to be in a video for the Loves Me Not education programme. I thought the film maker was going to ask me about my friend Sophie, but he started asking me about what healthy relationships looked like. I was in my late 20's, engaged to a wonderful man, and honestly a bit baffled about how to respond. I'd never been asked that before. In fact, despite reading my fair share of dating self help books over the years, at first I wasn't able to articulate what a healthy relationship looked like.

The film maker started telling me the responses he was getting from others. He told me that teenagers generally had this Twighlight expectation of their relationships at their own age - volatile, passionate, edgy. But, interestingly, their expectations of a relationship that someone my age would have were pretty on point: loving, balanced, and a bit of work. 

It would be great if by creating this content we could change their expectations of what a relationship at 15 or 19 or 22 years old should look like, which hopefully will also inform how they choose partners for the rest of their lives.

So any help sharing what you think a healthy relationship should look like (or sharing what it does, in fact, look like to you) would be awesome. If you are the twittering type, you could even use this hashtag #sophieslegacy, and the link to this campaign page.

Photo cred: Joanna M Foto 

 

    Pledgers 209

    Anonymous pledger
    24/08/2016 at 9:06am
    Jonathan Marshall
    24/08/2016 at 8:11am
    Anonymous pledger
    24/08/2016 at 8:06am
    Thomas Beagle
    24/08/2016 at 8:00am
    Anonymous pledger
    23/08/2016 at 9:37pm
    Sophie Mann
    23/08/2016 at 9:29pm
    Janine Thomas
    23/08/2016 at 9:10pm
    Tara Robinson
    23/08/2016 at 9:09pm
    Alison Loughrey
    23/08/2016 at 8:58pm
    Sarah
    23/08/2016 at 8:51pm
    Anonymous pledger
    23/08/2016 at 8:47pm
    Cavi House Auckland
    23/08/2016 at 8:37pm

    ":-)"

    Anonymous pledger
    23/08/2016 at 8:28pm

    "Thanks for the great work you do."

    Jessica
    23/08/2016 at 7:54pm
    Rachel Shelley
    23/08/2016 at 4:29pm
    Anonymous pledger
    23/08/2016 at 3:21pm
    Peter Stockman
    23/08/2016 at 10:55am

    "Keep up the good work."

    Sue Peoples
    23/08/2016 at 8:39am

    "Kia Kaha to Sophie's parents and Anna G. St. Hilda's young women and women everywhere thank you for what you are doing."

    Veronica
    23/08/2016 at 8:24am
    Amie Parker
    22/08/2016 at 8:39pm
    Marian
    22/08/2016 at 8:20pm
    Chris Haig
    22/08/2016 at 6:08pm

    "Great programme that does so much good. Let's keep it going."

    Macaela Ward
    22/08/2016 at 4:48pm
    Anonymous pledger
    22/08/2016 at 4:42pm
    Bridget Cassie
    22/08/2016 at 3:57pm

    "Awesome awesome cause!!!"

    Anonymous pledger
    22/08/2016 at 3:20pm
    Richard Simpson
    22/08/2016 at 1:20pm
    Ian Simpson
    22/08/2016 at 1:14pm
    David Powell
    19/08/2016 at 6:58am

    Followers 4

    Followers of Sophie's Legacy

    Sophie's Legacy

    Project 2016-08-11 12:07:59 +1200

    The aims of the Sophie Elliott Foundation are to prevent violence against young people by raising awareness about the signs of abuse in dating relationships.

     

    Why? Because 48 per cent of couples at age 21 years old reported as having been involved in physical partner violence (Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Moffitt and Caspi, 1999).

     

    What is this campaign for?

    The Sophie Elliott Foundation wants to update their website and create online content specifically for young people and their support networks. 

    This year the New Zealand Police have either delivered, or about to deliver, the "Loves Me Not" workshops for Year 12 students into 72 secondary schools. The Sophie Elliott Foundation is a partner with police to see this programme delivered.

     

    Now that “Loves Me Not” is up and running the Foundation want to create online content, and redesign their website to make safe relationships information more accessible. The estimated cost for this content and the website is $10,000 but any money pledged in excess of this will be used to create more content, fund more programmes, and help more young people. 

     

    About the Sophie Elliott Foundation

    The Sophie Elliott Foundation was started by Lesley Elliott, mother of Sophie, to help educate initially young women, but then all young people, on what healthy relationships look like. Alongside Foundation trustee Bill O’Brien, Lesley wrote two books and helped police develop the education programme “Loves Me Not”.  Lesley and Bill have devoted the last 5 years of their lives travelling around New Zealand talking to school students and communities on healthy (equal) relationships, and the signs to watch out for in unhealthy (controlling) ones. They are well supported by their fellow Foundation Trustees.

     

    They've received a lot of support along the way, but their work is entirely unpaid, and predominantly funded by philanthropy. PledgeMe wanted to help raise money to redesign their website and create content that will be freely available for young people and their support networks online.

     

    Who is Sophie?

    Sophie had just completed a first class honours degree in Economics at Otago University. The day Sophie died she was packing to leave for Wellington to begin a promising career at NZ Treasury where she had secured a position as a graduate analyst. Sophie was nervous but also excited at the life that lay ahead of her.

     

    In January 2008 Sophie was murdered in the safety of her own bedroom by an ex-boyfriend she had just ended a five month relationship with. The relationship had been punctuated with what we now know as typical partner abuse. It encompassed much psychological abuse and, in the end, two episodes of physical violence before Sophie’s brutal murder. She was only 22 years old.

    Tens of thousands of New Zealand women could tell a story just like Sophie’s. All end with varying levels of violence, but the signs and symptoms of abuse are hauntingly similar and largely go unrecognised as abuse.

    Because abusive behaviours are so common, and so similar, they can be readily identified – if you know the signs. The Sophie Elliott Foundation is committed to enabling young people to identify warning patterns and remove themselves safely from abusive relationships as early as possible.

     

    Why is PledgeMe running this for the foundation?

    One of our founders, Anna, had an amazing close friend at high school. Her name was Sophie Elliott. Anna still can't believe Soph is gone, and it breaks her heart that New Zealand is number one for reported rates of domestic violence in the OECD. We want to support Lesley, Bill, and their team to raise the money they need to grow their reach online. Anna will personally run this campaign, and cover the success fee so they get as much of the money pledged as possible. 

    If you'd like to support this campaign, but can't afford to pledge, we'd love more rewards we could offer. Get in touch with [email protected] to support.

     

      

    Comments

    Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    22/09/2016 at 10:43 AM

    To all you wonderful pledgers: thank you.

    It really means so much that you supported this campaign, and now the real work begins. Getting the funding to the foundation, delivering your rewards, and delivering the updated website and content. 

    I'm going to be in touch with you individually over the weekend to coordinate reward delivery (if it requires coordination) and will be sending out the books that the Foundation has provided from late next week. If you are Wellington based, you are also welcome to come pick your book up from 115 Tory Street between 8:30am-5pm. Just flick me a note to let me know, and I'll have the books waiting for you. I'll even make you a coffee if I'm here.

    I'm also working with the foundation to keep you updated as they work through getting their content online and into the world. We really couldn't have done it without you.

    If you have any questions, feel free to ping me on [email protected]

    Thank you, thank you, thank you again.

    Anna

    One more day

    19/09/2016 at 5:38 PM

    Hey Pledgers and Followers,

    We've had such a surge of support over the last three days - thank you so much to everyone who has come on board and pledged, shared and offered rewards. We're over 60% funded now. 

    We've had a few new rewards added in the last day, including:

    • Cookies from my sister, Jess
    • Adwords help from Ting Zhang (who was a Product Developer for Google)
    • MCing a Wellington event by improv superstar Jen O'Sullivan
    • A custom illustration by Jem Yoshioka

    If you have any rewards you could offer, let me know. 


    We still need to raise over $3k in the next 25 hours, but it's feeling doable, especially with you all in our crowd. 

    Your support really means the world to the team behind this campaign. If you could help us out with one final share with your networks that would be immensely appreciated. 

    Thanks again,

    x

    Anna

    Thank you, thank you, thank you

    08/09/2016 at 9:44 AM

    Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone that has gotten on board to support Soph's Legacy. 

    It means so much to me, to the Foundation, and hopefully to New Zealand. Imagine a future generation where partner violence isn't a problem. Work like this is part of the solution.  

    If you have any tips / tricks / thoughts on where we can share this message further, get support around the plans, or reward ideas, let me know ([email protected]). And thank you for all the sharing you've done so far. We've got 12 more days to get there, and we're 30% of the way to our goal. 

    For those of you that don't know, a while back I wrote a poem about Sophs, which I recorded last week. I think it helps explain a bit more about why I'm doing this: https://soundcloud.com/anna-liz-guenther/a-friend-of-mine-from-high-school-is-famous-now

    Take care,

    Anna

    One week in

    29/08/2016 at 4:24 PM

    Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign so far, it really means so much to all of us that are behind it.

    We're almost at the 20% mark, and have three more weeks to hit our goal. 

    I'd really appreciate any help you can give sharing this campaign further, and I think that one thing that might help with the "why this campaign?" would be for you to share your thoughts on what a healthy relationship is, and why it's important to have them. 

     

    Photo Cred: Jakubowski Foto

     

    When I first was asked what a healthy relationship was

    I remember when Lesley asked me to be in a video for the Loves Me Not education programme. I thought the film maker was going to ask me about my friend Sophie, but he started asking me about what healthy relationships looked like. I was in my late 20's, engaged to a wonderful man, and honestly a bit baffled about how to respond. I'd never been asked that before. In fact, despite reading my fair share of dating self help books over the years, at first I wasn't able to articulate what a healthy relationship looked like.

    The film maker started telling me the responses he was getting from others. He told me that teenagers generally had this Twighlight expectation of their relationships at their own age - volatile, passionate, edgy. But, interestingly, their expectations of a relationship that someone my age would have were pretty on point: loving, balanced, and a bit of work. 

    It would be great if by creating this content we could change their expectations of what a relationship at 15 or 19 or 22 years old should look like, which hopefully will also inform how they choose partners for the rest of their lives.

    So any help sharing what you think a healthy relationship should look like (or sharing what it does, in fact, look like to you) would be awesome. If you are the twittering type, you could even use this hashtag #sophieslegacy, and the link to this campaign page.

    Photo cred: Joanna M Foto 

     

      Anonymous pledger
      24/08/2016 at 9:06am
      Jonathan Marshall
      24/08/2016 at 8:11am
      Anonymous pledger
      24/08/2016 at 8:06am
      Thomas Beagle
      24/08/2016 at 8:00am
      Anonymous pledger
      23/08/2016 at 9:37pm
      Sophie Mann
      23/08/2016 at 9:29pm
      Janine Thomas
      23/08/2016 at 9:10pm
      Tara Robinson
      23/08/2016 at 9:09pm
      Alison Loughrey
      23/08/2016 at 8:58pm
      Sarah
      23/08/2016 at 8:51pm
      Anonymous pledger
      23/08/2016 at 8:47pm
      Cavi House Auckland
      23/08/2016 at 8:37pm

      ":-)"

      Anonymous pledger
      23/08/2016 at 8:28pm

      "Thanks for the great work you do."

      Jessica
      23/08/2016 at 7:54pm
      Rachel Shelley
      23/08/2016 at 4:29pm
      Anonymous pledger
      23/08/2016 at 3:21pm
      Peter Stockman
      23/08/2016 at 10:55am

      "Keep up the good work."

      Sue Peoples
      23/08/2016 at 8:39am

      "Kia Kaha to Sophie's parents and Anna G. St. Hilda's young women and women everywhere thank you for what you are doing."

      Veronica
      23/08/2016 at 8:24am
      Amie Parker
      22/08/2016 at 8:39pm
      Marian
      22/08/2016 at 8:20pm
      Chris Haig
      22/08/2016 at 6:08pm

      "Great programme that does so much good. Let's keep it going."

      Macaela Ward
      22/08/2016 at 4:48pm
      Anonymous pledger
      22/08/2016 at 4:42pm
      Bridget Cassie
      22/08/2016 at 3:57pm

      "Awesome awesome cause!!!"

      Anonymous pledger
      22/08/2016 at 3:20pm
      Richard Simpson
      22/08/2016 at 1:20pm
      Ian Simpson
      22/08/2016 at 1:14pm
      David Powell
      19/08/2016 at 6:58am

      Followers of Sophie's Legacy

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 20/09/2016 at 7:00 PM.