One of the industry’s leading supermodels is supporting the Black Lives Matters movement in her own way. After announcing her commitment to donate 50 percent of her salary this year to organizations advancing racial equality and justice, the model is now launching an online platform to help others do the same.
With Donate My Wage, Smalls is helping individuals make financial commitments to social justice. Using a simple online calculator, users can select their potential donation based on their yearly salary. Suggested donation amounts can be a month, week, day, or hourly wage, although you can also enter a custom amount. Once selected, donors will then be directed to the organization’s donation page to complete the commitment. The 11 organizations hand-selected by Smalls span a range of focus areas, from education and women’s empowerment to inclusivity and media. The founding organizations are Black Women’s Blueprint, Black Visions Collective, Bld Pwr, Color of Change, Equal Justice Initiative, Gideon’s Army, Innocence Project, Know Your Rights Camp, The Marshall Project, Until Freedom and United Negro College Fund.
The Donate My Wage movement was initially started by female leaders in the Nashville music industry in response to #BlackoutTuesday to provide a resource for the music and creative community to donate their day’s wage in support of the BLM movement. Smalls is expanding its footprint to the fashion and entertainment industry, by partnering with the Nashville-based entertainment marketing agency FlyteVu and Aardvark Brigade to revamp and customize the site to be used for ongoing donation efforts.
In solidarity, IMG Models has already pledged a founding donation of $250,000 to support their longtime client.
“I knew that I wanted and had to do more,” said Smalls. “Donating a portion of my salary will make an impact but I wanted to do something that gave anyone and everyone the opportunity to act and donate. My hope is that Donate My Wage will help educate those that are interested in being an active participant in the Black Lives Matter movement and bring needed attention to organizations that require monetary support to continue their important work. This is just the beginning and together our impact can be so much more.”
For more information and to donate, visit DonateMyWage.org.