TL;DR: I’m hoping to support the important work of an organization that supports young LGBTI+ people in Ireland. If you donate €21 or more to them, I’ll answer your content marketing question or review a blog post. All the details are below.

During Pride Month 2019, I was extremely fortunate to meet some of the wonderful people working in BeLonG To—the organization supporting LGBTI+ youth in Ireland, headquartered in Dublin.

Their mission is to create a world where LGBTI+ people aged 14 to 23 feel equal, safe, and valued. They’ve done invaluable work with one-to-one support, suicide prevention, bullying prevention, and offering fundamental guidance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans young people.

I’ve had the chance to attend some of their workshops. The stories the people they help tell are heartbreaking and eye-opening. For most of us, they’re unimaginable.

The one that hit me the most?

It’s the one in which an 18 year old person says they don’t know what they want to study… Because they never thought they’ll make it to be 18 years old.

Later in 2019, BeLonG To released key findings of the 2019 School Climate Survey with the goal to shine a light on experiences of 788 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans young people in schools across Ireland.

73% of respondents said they do not feel safe at school.

This is why the work of BeLonG To is important. Their goal is to:

• Train and educate professionals, services, and organizations engaging with young LGBTI+ people (like schools and companies)
• Work with national policy and public sector agencies to engage the voice of LGBTI+ young people in policy positions
• Build a strong national network of accredited LGBTI+ youth groups

Check out their Strategic Plan 2019-2021 to learn more about this.

How I hope to support BeLonG To’s hard work:

I am very aware that on my own, I can’t make a big impact. But each one of us can do a little to collectively make a real change.

So to help, I’m donating my time. Here’s how it works:

If you are a content marketer or a freelance writer that wants to:

• Ask me a content marketing/writing related question
• Get me to review a blog post and give some tips
• Get other content marketing or freelance writing advice

…send me a screenshot showing you donated €21 or more to BeLonG To to love@marijanakay.com (along with your question!), and I’ll offer my best tips and feedback to you. It’s that simple! 🙂

To donate, go to: donate.belongto.org.

Here are a few more pieces of information on BeLonG To:

How BeLonG To spends every €1 they receive:

How your donation to BeLonG To helps:

1. €10 provides a listening ear on the phone. Last year, they took over 12,000 phone calls from young people, parents and professionals looking for help, support or guidance. Your gift will ensure that there is always someone to answer these calls for help.
2. €21 provides an action pack to a teacher. This allows them to work to eliminate homophobic and transphobic bullying from their classroom so LGBTI+ young people have more positive experiences growing up.
3. €40 provides one support session. Many LGBTI+ young people arrive at BeLonG To’s door in crisis, so these one-to-one support sessions are a vital lifeline for these young people.
4. €86 will keep a rural LGBTI+ youth service open for a half day each month so that LGBTI+ young people can access the support they need close to home.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I appreciate you. Whether you need content marketing advice or not, please consider donating.

And if you’re not in the position to donate, sharing this post will help a lot with spreading the word and hopefully raising funds that can truly impact the LGBTI+ youth of Ireland.