The ONG Techo is a charity that builds houses for the poor. In Peru the dollar and the nuevo sol —the local currency— smoothly coexist. So we created a new currency: the solidario. Then we made the currency available at exchange offices and banks throughout the country. People who wanted to exchange nuevos soles or dollars now had another option: they could exchange their money for solidarios. A full-fledged donation disguised as a cold financial transaction. The originality and pervasiveness of the solution, miles away from the usual volunteers walking around with donation cans, impacted the media and turned this direct campaign into a true PR hit.

The creative execution succeeded in connecting two seemingly opposite concepts, cold money exchange and donations to a charity, so that part of all that cash that being exchanged was channeled toward Techo. The new currency was made available at banks and exchange offices throughout Peru for two full days.

The new currency was widely covered by the Peruvian media and last year’s fundraiser was the most successful in Techo’s history. In 2013, 75 houses were built with money raised by volunteers. In 2014, the year of the solidarios, 192 houses were built, well above the initial goal of 150; all with a campaign budget of $5,000.