Acid attacks, where corrosive acid is thrown on the face of women happens regularly in India. 3 per week on last count. The Government compensates survivors with USD 4800. But multiple rounds of facial reconstruction surgeries cost much more - USD 40,000.

Donate a Face is an ongoing digital campaign by Chhanv Foundation to spread awareness about this situation and generate funds for their facial reconstruction surgeries.

The campaign turned the self-indulgent act of taking a selfie into a tool for those who can’t take selfies - acid attack survivors. To do that, we created the faceless selfie, clicked by covering the face with a paper on which was written the url of our donation site - donateaface.org The idea spread the word on where to donate in a pervasive, cheap and most importantly fast manner.

In just 15 days, 5000 people posted faceless selfies. Celebrities went all out to share the campaign video and post selfies. The campaign was reported by the biggest national dailies, web publishing sites, FM channels and new channels. All India Radio, the national FM channel with a reach of 99.9% population of the country, also covered the campaign.

Generating a social reach of 25 million, impressions of 100 million, over 50 news headlines, free media worth 5 million USD and a 20% increase in donations.

However, the biggest victory was creating the right environment for the landmark Supreme Court directive that made it mandatory for private hospitals to treat acid attack survivors for free.

Initially, an online teaser campaign was used to convince people to click faceless selfies and help acid attack survivors.

2 days before the launch, a call-to-action video revealed how to give up one’s face through a faceless selfie. The video used heart-wrenching images to highlight the plight of survivors and the need to donate.

The video was also shared with local celebrities who retweeted/shared the video, posted faceless selfies and became our influencers.

Each faceless selfie posted by them spread further awareness and led more people to the donation site. Whoever posted the selfie also had to nominate friends to take the selfie next, turning it an ever-growing chain of interaction.

Donate a Face is an ongoing campaign of 2 months and we continue to receive hundreds of selfies everyday. The idea spread the word on how and where to donate in a pervasive, cheap and most importantly, fast manner.

Within the first 15 days itself, 5000 people posted faceless selfies. This paved the way for over 50 news headlines in leading dailies and web publishing sites along with prime time coverage on radio and television. Generating a social reach of 25 million, impressions of 100 million and free media worth 5 million USD.

The ongoing campaign has already recorded a never-before increase in donations - 20%.

However, the biggest victory of the campaign was creating the right public pressure for the landmark Supreme Court directive that made it mandatory for private hospitals to treat acid attack survivors for free.