Update: Donor Jon Shearer later rounded the total to 140,000.
The fourth annual Maovember campaign wrapped up with events in Beijing and Taipei and a fundraising total of rmb139,644.4 or nearly 1.4 million mao. The money will furnish reading rooms at underfunded schools via The Library Project and train late-teen orphans for jobs in the coffee trade via Good Works. The site maovember.com will include updates as the funds are put to use.
The six-week campaign began at XL Bar & Restaurant in Beijing on October 14 and ultimately involved dozens of venues in six cities, including Kunming, Shanghai, Tianjin and Wuhu, helping move Maovember beyond the capital. Two events— MaovemBeer with 14 venues in five cities and Mystery Wine Party with 11 partners—particularly showed the power of teaming supporters. The campaign was capped on November 30 at Beer Mania in Beijing with a contest to decide the fate of the owner’s beard: it raised rmb20,000 and saw him sacrifice his facial hair.
Maovember, first held in 2013, is a play on mao, a coin worth one tenth of a yuan (1.5 cents), and Movember, a global health awareness drive that sees men grow mustaches. The general theme is small donations can yield big results. Most events raise money through a drink or food deal and an activity such as a quiz night, a wine tasting, or a beer pong, corn toss, poker or other tournament. Maovember also raises funds through personal donations and selling pins.
This year’s venue and events sponsors include Arrow Factory Brewing, Beer Mania, Beijing International Ice Hockey, Beijinger Pizza Cup, Boxing Cat Brewery, Cafe de la Poste, Caravan, CHEERS Wine, Dirty Duck Pub, Eton Beijing, Faith Bar, Fubar, Great Leap Brewing, Hockey Bar, Jing-A Taproom, Irish Volunteer, Migas, Paddy O’Shea’s, Panda Brew, Pop-Up Beijing, Q Bar, Q Mex, Slow Boat Brewery, Taihu Landmark Tasting Room, The Turtle, Tiki Bungalow, WE Brewery and XL Bar & Restaurant.
Pin sponsors include Beer Mania, Beijing International Ice Hockey, Cafe de la Poste, Caravan, CHEERS, Irish Volunteer, Home Plate Barbecue, Paddy O’Shea’s, Punjabi and Sherpa’s.
Product and service sponsors include 1421 Wines, Australian Natural, Baozza, CHEERS, Grape Wall of China, Grissette, Jameson, Kentucky Ale, La Cava, Le Sommelier International, Myth Monkey, Omer Beer, Pasion, Ponty, Seina, Shangri-la Beer, Sherpa’s, The Beijinger, The Foxes Rock and The Green Room.
And individuals making substantial donations include Ailish, Dustin Merrett, Hannah, James Shepheard, Jen Ambrose, Keith Robinson, Kelvin Tam, Martin Winchell, Mike Peters, Neil Holt, Patrick Cranley, Peter Spiranac and Steven Schwankert.
(If I have missed listing anyone, no offense. Please let me know at nihao (at) maovember.com and I will update the list.)
The Maovember 2016 steering group included Paul Rochon (Paddy O’Shea’s), Zach Lewison (Irish Volunteer), Edouard Simon (IT), Alex Jennings (education), Steven Schwankert (Beijinger and Sino Scuba) and Jim Boyce (overall coordinator). All members are volunteers.
Note: The total might fluctuate slightly based on updates of pin sales and late donations but should be at least ~1.4 million mao.
Maovember focuses on quirky events for good causes. Our 2022 partner is Library Project, which has furnished thousands of reading rooms in rural schools. Learn more about Maovember here. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.