Fundraising

Some people think that raising money is just a simple case of writing letters to businesses who will then sponsor you all the money you need to go overseas – wrong!

An important point when asking people to donate money is that you are clear about what you are asking people to donate the money for. You must be clear that you are asking people to donate money to help you, for example, go to India to help out in an orphanage or go to Mexico to work on a turtle project.

Fundraising is hard work and requires effort and pre-planning.

The key to fundraising is SUCCESS:

S imple ideas work best
U se fundraising ideas which you know work well
C osts keep them low
C ontacts – ask everyone to ask all their friends and family to join in
E nthusiasm is essential
S hout about your event … get all the publicity you can!
S ay a big thank-you to all involved and let them know how much was
raised

1. Simple ideas work best

Simplest methods are usually the best! A good idea is a simple one that everyone can get inspired by.

2. Use fundraising ideas which you know work well

See our fundraising ideas section click here>>

3. Costs - keep them low

Don't spend lots of money that you have to make back again! Keep things simple and cheap and maximise your fundraising efforts.

4. Contacts – ask everyone to ask all their friends and family to join in

That way your event will be even bigger and you can raise even more money.

5. Enthusiasm is essential

Make sure everyone can take part in the event and give everyone a job to do - and keep the excitement levels up!

6. Shout about your event … get all the publicity you can

Tell everyone in your local community about the event. Send a press release to your local paper, put up posters(click here>>), go on the radio, and generate interest. Don’t forget to send photos of your event afterwards to info@globalvolunteerprojects.org

7. Say a big thank-you to all involved and let them know how much was
raised.

Everyone will want to know how much you raised, so let them know and give them a BIG thank you for their support.

Fundraising ideas

Here are some ideas that have been suggested by previous volunteers, some of them were wild wacky and in some cases probably illegal but hopefully they’ll give you some inspiration. Whatever you decide to do send us pictures or if you have any great ideas please send them to info@globalvolunteerprojects.org.

Sponsored silence – It’s an old one, but a good one and harder for some. A modern take on this is to have a sponsored ‘mobile phone’ silence confiscating everyone’s mobile phone for a time. See who cracks first!

Sponsored walk or bike ride or swim

Cake sale, sweepstakes & quiz

Get your hair cut – do you have long flowing locks? Why not get sponsored to shave them off (this works best if you can have your head shaved in public!)

Bath – again another classic is to sit in a bath of [insert canned good]. Avoid doing this in the summer or winter. The summer because it you will smell bad and the winter because you’ll freeze (and smell).

Car wash – some do this in bikinis. I personally don’t have the body for it!

Bag pack – packing bags at your local supermarket can be extremely lucrative. Ensure you have permission first or you could end up in a police cell.

Ironing or cleaning for family or friends

Baby sit

Ebay is your friend! - Get friends and relatives to give you any vidoes, cds , dvds or anything of value they have lying around that they no longer want and sell them on ebay. – I made £150 selling old DVDs.

Whatever you do with your hair, get sponsored!

Get fit at your gym and fundraise at the same time! - Get all of your fellow fitness fanatics to pay a couple of quid to compete in a time trial challenge on the exercise bike or running machine.

In the office / at school or college

Offer do the filing or some of the jobs that we all hate in the office

Fancy dress/dress down day

Embarrassing picture presentation – invite friends, teachers or colleagues to bring in embarrassing pictures of themselves when they were younger. Add them to a display or presentation and charge to view!

Picture wall - pay a pound to fill a wall with your passport photos (keep it clean!)

Treasure hunt – task groups with finding obscure objects. Do this in a classroom, office, small town or city.

School play – Put on your favourite production of Grease and charge entry

Organise a meal in restaurant for a group of friends. Agree with the restaurant to provide a set menu and collect an extra £3 per person (service not included)

Pub quiz – put on a pub quiz for your friends or colleagues. These can be easily downloaded from the internet or made up yourself.

Lunch money - Instead of nipping out to the local canteen or cafe, get everyone to bring along food and drink to share. Ask them to donate the dinner money they’ve saved.

Make sandwiches for your friends and work colleagues and charge them a couple of pounds.

Loose change - How much loose change do you think you and your family have rattling around your pockets or purse in a week? Why not find out by sticking it all in a pot and donating the lot.

Whatever you decide to do, advertise! You can download a poster from the website and fill in the time, date and details of your activity.

The following ideas were suggested by Gentle Lowe who has recently completed a pub crawl dressed as a Turtle to raise money for her Turtle project in Mexico! Hopefully pictures will be available soon!

Pub Crawl collection in Fancy Dress
Bikini Car Wash
Cake Bake
Sponsored Horse Ride (but u could do walk / run)
BBQ
Fancy Dress Night
Guess How Man Sweets in the Jar
Paintballing
Raffle
Slave Auction
Sponsored Bed Push (people guess how long it takes)

Approaching businesses and charity funds

This is the holy grail of fundraising, and just like the search for the holy grail, it’s hard work. The key to approaching businesses and charity funds is focus.

When you start approaching businesses it’s a good idea to do your research first. It’s a good idea to spend a day or two researching companies and charitable trusts that may be able to help you out.

A useful starting point is a book called The Directory of Grant Making Trusts. The book is available from most libraries and lists hundreds of potential trusts and grant making bodies. Do your research thoroughly as many of the bodies don’t support gap year type projects, apply to people from certain areas or are focussed on particular countries.

Travel trusts and grants

The Directory of Grant Making Trusts is the first place you should look for trusts and grant making bodies. Many are only accept applications from people in certain areas or people travelling to certain countries. For example we have been in touch with the following organisations:

Sir Philip Reckitt Educational Trust (SPRET)

"The Sir Philip Reckitt Educational Trust (SPRET) aims to help people in the East Riding of Yorkshire and Norfolk expand their educational horizons.

The Trust pays grants towards travel & subsistence and helps to fund projects abroad & in the UK.

Projects can be school trips, field trips, community projects, environmental studies & adventure projects, medical, electives, gap year travel or further study etc."

Peter Kirk Memorial Fund

The Peter Kirk Memorial Fund offers funding to those looking to travel to a European country.

Charity begins at home - Think locally

Your first port of call should be to shamelessly approach your employer, your friends employers or your parents employers. Many companies offer match funding, matching the amount that you manage to raise up to a certain level.

Think about your project or destination

Do any of the companies in your local have dealings with your destinations. Do they import cocoa from Ghana, spices from India or textiles from China?

Think small

Many small companies have a budget for donating money so that they can offset the value against tax. However, they are unlikely to sponsor you the whole amount so why not ask for £10, £20 or £50. You are much likely to have 10 companies give you £50 than one company give you £500.

See if the companies can help in any other way. Can they help with equipment of clothing. Do they have free t-shirts, caps, hats or clothing they can give you?

Work out how much the programme costs per day or per week and see if the company will sponsor that day or week.

THANK YOU

Whatever they give you don’t forget to say thank you. A picture or postcard of you on the project goes down very well.

Validate

We will help where we can by providing you with a letter of support confirming that you have been accepted on to the programme and detailing a bit about your project. We’re also happy to provide t-shirts so that you look the part too!

Manage your finances

So you’ve done the hard part you’ve got a job and you’re working hard on the fundraising.

It’s a good idea that you set up a separate bank account to store your hard earned booty. A separate bank account does two things. Firstly it stops you getting your hands on your hard earned cash quite so easily, and secondly it’s easier to see where you are against your fundraising targets and objectives.