Meet Tasha Wahl, Changemaker behind The Butterfly Effect, and Prepare to Get Inspired.
Tasha Wahl is the Founder of The Butterfly Effect, an underground movement redefining philanthropy one “butterfly” at a time by providing individuals the opportunity to give to a cause close to their heart. Harnessing the power of street art, community, and social media, The Butterfly Effect creates a ripple effect of contagious generosity through Butterfly Drops and Social Butterfly Installations, which has resulted more than $100,000 raised for over 400 charities worldwide.
Hi Tasha, tell me a little about The Butterfly Effect.
I’d love to! The Butterfly Effect is an organization founded to inspire people to promote change in their communities by participating in interactive street art. Social Butterfly Installations are our newest and most exciting program, and involve a team painting a huge 12-foot butterfly on the side of a building in a public space with the words, “Be the Change You Want to See in the World: Butterfly Effect.” Passersby can take a picture of themselves inside the butterfly and post it on social media using the #SocialButterfly and #ButterflyEffect hashtags, and then text their picture to our organization with the name of their favorite charity. The Butterfly Effect makes a small donation to that charity in their name and asks them to pay forward the giving, in any way they can. The idea is that interactive street art can inspire micro-philanthropy that continues to fan out and inspire more change, like the beating of a butterfly’s wings.
It’s such a visually stunning — and socially impactful — idea. How did it come to you?
About four years ago, I was sitting around with several neighborhood kids and friends of my teenage sons, explaining the notion of what it means to tithe 10 percent of your income. The concept that they could determine and direct their own giving was new to them. Many didn’t know how they would choose what to give to, even if they had the means to do it, so I asked them two questions: What lights you up? What breaks your heart? Those questions, and the conversation that followed, totally unlocked for them the causes they cared most about: animal shelters, cancer research, poverty among kids their age, etc. It occurred to me that there might be a more systematic yet fun way to help other people feel motivated by connecting with what they care most about. The Butterfly Effect and our Social Butterfly installations evolved from there.
We now have over 200 Social Butterflies across the United States and all over the world. We send out the stencil, provide support, and let communities create their own butterfly in a way that feels individually unique and meaningful.
I’m so excited to be painting a Social Butterfly with a team of 25 incredible women and girls in my community this weekend. Do you have any advice for us?
Have fun! Use the time you are together to talk about why you are doing this and what causes you feel most passionate about. Sometimes when we are working with our hands, especially creatively, it opens up a part of our hearts that might usually be closed. With a paintbrush in hand, hearts and mouths are more open, and you can all talk about what motivates your generosity and what you hope the butterfly will mean for your community.
Solid guidance! Butterfly Effect uses social media to connect and inspire philanthropic giving at a time when those platforms can also feel so loud and divisive. Was this intentional?
It was in a way. Social media is not bad or good — it just is. And it’s the language our kids are speaking, so it’s important to learn it and use it as a vehicle for positivity. It’s the same with graffiti. All street art has a message, and I want the messages the butterflies deliver to be something that people can engage with and be inspired by. So, using social media as the vehicle for The Butterfly Effect feels really important because it is such a powerful connector of humanity and has incredible capacity to inspire and spread positive impact.
It sounds like empowerment is at the heart of your mission. Is it?
Yes. I feel so strongly that everyone should understand their value and be able to access the confidence that they can make a difference. And that contribution, that means of making of difference, doesn’t have to be money — it can be time, talents, or other resources. My hope is that The Butterfly Effect helps awaken people to what they were meant to do, and then encourages them to put that into action. Each time someone texts us a picture of themselves in a butterfly with their charity hashtag, I ask them why they choose that charity and tell them that we hope the experience sparks something inside them to pay forward.
What’s next for The Butterfly Effect?
Right now, we are a self-funded foundation, so we need figure how to grow and be able to bring more butterflies to more communities and inspire more philanthropy through the micro-donations we make in a way that is sustainable. We’re at that tricky adolescent stage as an organization, but I’m hopeful and excited about some creative solutions to get us to the next stage.
I’m sure you had moments early on when you doubted that your 12-foot butterflies promoting philanthropy would dot the map. What would you say to Smart Girls reading this article and wondering how they can overcome doubt as they embark on their path?
I think doubts are best battled when we know ourselves, when we’ve taken time to figure out or redefine our own personal definitions of success. So, I would say to find that thing that lights you up and act on it. But also start small. It can be attractive to think in big ways about changing the world, but the ways we make meaningful impact are usually small and personal. Everything we do, every small engagement with another person — at a grocery store or a traffic light — has an impact. And noticing that impact can give us confidence that we can build on.
Really, that is the Butterfly Effect — the idea that when a butterfly flutters its wings, it moves a molecule of air, which moves another molecule and another and another, and eventually causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. Small things can have non-linear impacts on complex problems. A tiny flap of a wing can really make a difference.
To learn more about whether there is a Butterfly in your town, or how to bring one to your community, visit The Butterfly Effect website, and check them out on Twitter @butterflybtc, Instagram, or Facebook.
