Leaders across the world need to learn how to tell a more inspiring story. We  want to help, but we need you.

The Million Person Project (MPP) is a global project about love, storytelling and connecting change makers. MPP was founded by experienced activists come expert storytellers, Heather Box and Julian Mocine-McQueen. We run storytelling workshops and conduct one-on-one story coaching to support the worlds greatest change makers in exploring, honing and presenting their authentic personal stories. We have seen people's effectiveness as leaders, organizers and fundraisers grow exponentially when they are willing to share personally and passionately about who they are and what they do. 

We leverage best practices from storytelling guru and Harvard Professor Marshall Ganz and combine them with our own insights and approach honed with more than 1,000 people from more than 60 countries. We've worked with child-soldiers-cum-community-leaders in Uganda, social entrepreneurs in Vietnam, CEO’s in New York and environmental activists in Brazil. But that is not enough. 

We want our work to spread like wild fire to communities across the world. Your contribution will allow change makers, who do not have access to this type of training, the chance to be a part of one of our workshops -- free of charge.

Every $200 raised will directly result in one more person in the world sharing their personal story to generate change. Give now.

This campaign is run  in partnership with Move The Crowd, the country's first entrepreneurial training company for cultural creatives. MPP co-founder, Heather Box, is a proud member. 

Hear from Million Person Project Change Makers: 

"The Million Peron Project should continue to grow. It brings people together to share their experience, create solidarity, unity, and possible solutions to our challenges through storytelling. Indeed, it can make hearts grow larger and larger."

  - Kiranda Stephen, Kikandwa Environmental Association, Uganda

"Connecting with the Million Person Project was life changing. The work we did allowed me to create a bridge between the visual art that I have spent my life       creating and the formerly silent personal history that I bring to my practice."               

- Callie Curry, Artist name of Swoon, USA. Read Callie's CNN op-ed here.

 "If I could give one gift to all of the activists in my life, it would be the Million Person project experience."

-Cynthia Crews, San Francisco Political Advocate, USA

Dear friends and changemakers making more change. I fully support and believe in this project. @millionperson — Sara Bareilles (@SaraBareilles) November 13, 2014

This "million person project" is worth supporting! Stories are key! http://t.co/ToZoWxh1Z6 — Bill McKibben (@billmckibben)            December 3, 2014

If you believe in the power of storytelling to change the world, here's a good way to act on that belief: http://t.co/lXij5ysXz3— Andy Goodman (@GoodmanCenter) November 24, 2014

Why Is This Work Needed?

Neurological research reveal the power of storytelling. Studies show that the best way to move an audience into action (while retaining critical information) is by telling them a story. (http://1.usa.gov/1iAwMTk)

In social change fields the norm is to present data with little connection as to why the messenger is passionate about the subject matter. (Goodman, Andy. Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.) The Million Person Project is changing that and working to make dynamic communication a central piece of change makers leadership.

Your Contribution Makes a Difference

In 2015 the Million Person Project will go on the road to East Africa and South East Asia to conduct storytelling trainings with over 150 global change makers. Some of these change makers will go on to run the training themselves and train thousands of change makers in their communities. This is how we will reach our million.

• With $25 or $5,000 you are personally investing in someone getting the support their need to powerfully share their personal story and inspire the people that can make a difference in their work.

• The two most common responses from people when they begin the storytelling process are: 1) I don't really have a story. 2) My story is too sad or too hard to share. Your contribution will support these people in exploring, owning and sharing their personal story in a way that gives them power and makes them feel more grounded in who they are.
  

• Your contribution helps the work multiply by funding intensive training for trainers programs abroad. We continue to get requests from countries all around the world to come and conduct our training. It is exciting every time some reaches out, but we want the work to be able to grow without us being there. That is why funding our training for training is critical. The money from this campaign will go directly to support our training for trainer work abroad.
  

What We Have Done To Date

• We have done trainings across the United States and spent a total of 6 months  on the ground abroad in Vietnam, Uganda, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey.

(Our workshop in Brazil that we did in partnership with 350.org)

• We have trained 17 trainers who now conduct the training themselves.
  

(Fenton from Fiji co-leading a workshop with Heather Box)

• Our curriculum has been voluntarily translated by past workshop attendees into French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish and Portuguese.

  How You Can Contribute

We’ve put together an exciting set of perks to help spread love, connection and stories. For all of donors, of any size, we will add your name to our website to demonstrate your support of our growing network of storytellers. We are proud to have such incredible people as donors. Note: If you contribute more and would like to choose the perk from the $25-$100 instead just send us an email and we will get you the perk you want, boxheather@gmail.com.

$25: DJ SUCH N' SUCH GLOBAL PLAYLIST

Global Music Mix - Receive a Sound Cloud file of the mix tape MPP co-founder Julian has put together from the music he collected all over the world while on our Million Person Project trips.

$25: STORY BY HEATHER BOX

Story MP3 - Co-founder Heather Box is a writer and writes riveting and heart warming pieces on the power of human connection. You will receive an email with a one of the Million Person Project stories told by Heather Box. 

$25: MAGICAL SAN FRANCISCO ADVENTURE!
The Million Person Project wants you to explore your personal story, but we also want you to explore the story of the city we call home. For $25 you will get the coordinates for a Goonies' style treasure hunt to six locations in San Francisco that make this the best lil' city in the world! This hunt will have some history, some whimsy, some mystery and a lot of LOVE! PERFECT gift to give to someone this holiday season. Every San Franciscan should have this!!

$35: MUGS MADE WITH LOVE

Co-founder Julian Mocine-McQueen's Uncle, Mike Rosen, is a talented ceramic artist who makes beautiful mugs. They make a perfect gift!

$50:  EXCLUSIVE MPP ART PIECE BY ALEXANDRA HAMMOND

Handmade screen print - This print was custom made for this campaign. It is an 11 by 17 screen print created by the artist Alexandra Hammond exploring meaning of the phrase coined by MPP co-founder, Heather Box, Deeply Unalone. Heather is often pondering, "How can we be so close to one another, so fundamentally similar, and feel so all alone sometimes? Sharing our stories allow us to feel the reality of our interconnectedness. What will it take for us as a human race to accept we are deeply unalone?"

$100: CONNECTING THE OLD FASHIONED WAY

Pre-stamped postcards to mail out - This is one of the most exciting perks, because it requires your participation. We will send you 5 pre-stamped Million Person Project postcards for you to mail out to friends or family. You know how exciting it is to get old fashioned mail these days? We believe in real, human connection and dropping notes to your friends and family in the mail is a great way to help facilitate that connection. We will help you do that as a token of our gratitude. Image below will be on postcard.

$200: GIVE THE GIFT OF MPP

MPP as a gift - With this contribution you will sponsor one change maker to go through the storytelling workshop free of change. Our scholarship fund allows us to offer seats, free of charge, to change makers in every one of our trainings. MPP will send you a personalized video thank you.

$200: CHROME BACKPACK

We are psyched to have the support of Chrome Industries. Chrome makes
some of THE toughest messenger bags and backpacks in the world...period.
They've hooked us up with their Yalta backpack. It's a roll top
(useful and hip) and has a side computer compartment that is entry
protected. Donate $200 and receive the bag. Value $120. Shipping
included. Colors vary.

$400: GO THROUGH THE TRAINING YOURSELF

Reserve your seat in the training while sponsoring someone else - This perk will  reserve your spot in a Bay Area full day training (happens 4 times a year) while sponsoring someone else around the world to attend the training too. We will send you a personalized thank you video.

$600: HAVE DJ SUCH N' SUCH SPIN AT YOUR EVENT

Music connects, hire DJ Such n' Such for your event - MPP co-founder Julian Mocine-McQueen is a professional DJ and will DJ your event (non-wedding, value $1000+) for up to 5 hours. Event must be located in the greater Bay Area. Check out his website here: http://mcqueenevents.tumblr.com/

$1,000: ANCHOR DONORS 

Give $1,000+ in the first 72 hours of the campaign -  By giving at this level and at the start of the campaign you are launching the Million Person Project into our campaign in the most supportive way possible. Indiegogo says $1 in the first 72 hours is worth much more than a $1 half way through the campaign because it sets the campaign up for internal promotion on Indiegogo's site. By giving $1,000 or more in the first 72 hours we will give you a full 90 minute (skype or in person), personalized life mapping session with one of the co-founders. We will also send our anchor donors a MPP package that includes our music mix, Heather's stories, MPP pre-stamped postcards and more.

$3,000: SPONSOR A FULL MPP WORKSHOP ABROAD

Sponsor a full MPP Workshop: For $3,000 you will give the gift of training 15 farmers, environmentalists, young people and activists in East Africa or South East Asia. When you do this we will send you a personal video thank you and a recorded story of one of the change makers we work with abroad. We will also send you a MPP package that includes our music mix, Heather's stories, MPP pre-stamped postcards and more.

$10,000: SPONSOR A GLOBAL TRAINING FOR TRAINERS

Sponsor a week-long training for trainers - Sponsor our international training for trainers program. Sponsorship will train nine change makers to conduct the storytelling workshop themselves. Your contribution helps the work grow exponentially by training trainers across the world. To say thank you we will list you name & your photo or logo on our website as our sponsor and give you first access to an exclusive story compilation we are putting together in 2015. We will also send you a video thank you and a MPP package that includes our music mix, Heather's stories, MPP pre-stamped postcards and more. 

  Frequently Asked Questions

How can I hire the Million Person Project to work with me, my organization or my company? 

MPP offers storytelling workshops and one-on-on story coaching. If you are interested in working with us please email boxheather@gmail.com to set up a 30 minute consult. 

Can I write off my contribution to MPP?

Yes. Our fiscal sponsor is Fractured Atlas, which is a 501 c3.

When are your local workshops where you have tickets for the public?

We do a Bay Area workshop about every four months. If you would like to stay in the loop about our workshops sign up on our website: www.millionpersonproject.org

Can you tell me a little more about the co-founders?

Heather and Julian developed this project out of a simple shared belief that, just as the problems plaguing our planet are inherently connected, so are the solutions. We believe that sharing personal stories is a building block to developing deeper connections between change makers that will help transform the world.

Together, Heather and Julian have more than 15 years of experience in activism, youth leadership, and environmental education. Heather and Julian, are expert storytellers who have led this workshop all over the world. They were trained by storytelling guru Marshall Ganz himself and are members of his Leading Change Network based out of Harvard University. Julian has been mentored by globally recognized orator and green jobs visionary Van Jones and Heather by nationally acclaimed leadership coach and transformational speaker, Rha Goddess.

Our video was produced by our dear friend Ryan Dexter, Founder of Wild Goat Films