Show Her The Money Screening and Fundraiser February 13
As we have learned since Hurricane Helene, flexibility is a crucial element in the WNC Recovery. And although we were so looking forward to hosting the screening of Show Her The Money on October 11 and tried to rally for a December 4 screening, the timing just isn’t right. Our community has shared loud and clear that we’re all trying out best to hold on through the holidays with many events being canceled, postponed, or moved online. We want to ensure ample time to make this a special and impactful event that doubles as a fundraiser to support the WNC small business community, and we are going to work hard to get as many sponsors, investors, and venture capital firms involved as possible.
With that being said, we are going to make our exclusive screening on Thursday, February 13 really special. We will have producer Catherine Gray and other members of the documentary crew on hand for a digital panel after our exclusive screening, and by day, there will be a Woman-Owned Expo and educational events. And the documentary crew has generously offered to waive the licensing fee to support this event doubling as a fundraiser to help support our region’s recovery.
The documentary—recently named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 11 finance films of the last decade—showcases the fact that women only receive 2% of venture capital funding, so we are going to work to partner with investors and venture capital firms to support our nonprofit Mad Genius Foundation’s WNC Recovery Fund. This fund will invest $10,000 At A Time into small business owners in Western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene that need support to pivot, grow, add a new revenue stream, or launch a new business.
To be considered, please share a link to your Instagram or YouTube video highlighting 3 things:
What your idea is and who you serve
How you have been recovering and/or supporting the recovery
How this support will be utilized
We know the endless paperwork, forms, and documentation are very taxing, so we wanted to create an opportunity for our reeling small business community to apply via video and have fun helping us make noise around this effort. Send your link (we recommend just going live and being yourself!) with the subject line “WNC Recovery Fund Video” to hello@madgeniusstudios.com. Your videos will help us gain more support and more funding, so submit right away. Prefer to be interviewed? You can be on our WNC Recovery Podcast and share your story that way, just reach out.
You can support this special event in four ways:
Donate a raffle item and/or buy raffle tickets
Purchase a bundle of tickets for your company, community, or business besties OR buy a bundle to donate and we will give the tickets to budding high school and college entrepreneurs or nonprofits
Become a sponsor for food, drinks, or gift bags
Donate to the WNC Recovery Fund. We hope to announce several $10,000 At A Time winning businesses on the day of the screening! We are especially looking to partner with venture capital firms, investors, and mentors that want to do more than just donate funds but also actively help support and guide winning businesses as they navigate this challenging recovery.
Predictions say that it will be a 5-10 year recovery totaling more than $52 billion. We are working to make a dent in this need and combat the statistic that 60% of businesses close after a natural disaster through the WNC Recovery Fund.
Please email hello@madgeniusstudios.com if you’d like to get involved as a volunteer, sponsor, expo vendor, or sponsor.