Your Action Needed Now: Be Part of Crush Movement

Our theme for 2025 is: REBEL TOGETHER and I would like to invite you to think about what it means to you, and how you can be part of the Crush Movement. 

This is the beginning of the FOURTH Crush year, and the Crush Event will be held for the third time in May. Yay all of us!

Thank you for being part of something important. 

Recently someone told me (in a pretty snarky tone if I may add):

"I find it so interesting that you are making money with social sustainability." 

Like we are some kind of reverse Robin Hoods (Or Roberta Hoods?), who charge money from those who need uplifting, and then put the money in our fat corporate pockets, and fly private jets for weekends in European metropolies. 

The truth? We have been building Crush without getting paid.

Every single penny has been going to make Crush Event better and grow the movement and the mission we all believe in. 

Partially we are ashamed that we haven't been able to make Crush Event profitable. 

We should have sold more sponsorships.

We should have charged higher ticket prices.

We should have sold the tote bags and books instead of giving them away.

We should have and could have done a lot of things. 

It also feels proud to say how much we have given, done,  supported, and invested in Crush. 

We have poured our love, because Crush is one of the most meaningful projects we have ever worked on.

We have seen the impact we have made.

Crush Movement is now built on a very solid foundation to grow, but Crush Event alone is not (yet) financially sustainable. 

Don't worry, we are not going anywhere, and the Crush Event will happen this year. But we will be making big changes this year. 

We are moving to a new business model that will include much more than just an annual event. 

This is the moment when we ask you truly to join the movement.

• We need volunteers. 
• We need sponsors for Crush Event in May.
• We need paying customers.  

That takes us really to the most important question I have for you today: How can we serve you better?

We have ideas, lots of them.

But we would like to hear from you.

Please fill in this survey.

The harsh reality, and a call for action.

The past year has been very rough for many businesses, and also for organizations doing social good, and the economic situation has proportionally affected many women-owned businesses. 

Many organizations like Crush have gotten funding from the Finnish government, cities, or other public funding instruments. We haven't.

We have been fully self-sufficient and self-funded, and we have been able to host the event thanks to our sponsors. Now there is even more competition for corporate sponsorships than three years ago, and also many of their budgets have gone down. 

At the same time - not just anyone can sponsor Crush. We want to only work with brands that align with our values. 

This will be one of the questions I want to get answered at Crush stage this year: how to heck build sustainable brands when the reality is that you often also have to say no to money in order to be socially or environmentally sustainable. 

We haven't asked people to volunteer sooner because of the very uncomfortable thought of building a movement around equality by asking people to volunteer. 

But I also know many want to help and do more, instead of just buying things like tickets, services, or sponsorships.

This would be the worst time to quit something like Crush, because the need for our work remains, or has become even more important. 

But it's also important that when we work together, we do the right things to support each other. 

Our wish is to build Crush into something that will support you through the harsh times, and celebrate with you during good times. 

Looking forward to 2025 and what we can continue to accomplish together! 

Take the important step, and fill in this survey.

With kind regards,

Katja Presnal