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Fundraising for travelling and volunteering

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Fundraising for travelling and volunteering

Fundraising for jungle expedition

Name: Michael Adjaye
Age: 22

Hi Michael, how’s it going?
Yeah good thanks, pretty busy these days either working or preparing for my trip which is getting closer by the day. It's all pretty exciting.

So you’re going on a five month project in the jungle- what will you be up to?
I will be based in Belize in Central America and will also spend some time in Guatemala. I will be out there for five months as a volunteer and part of a team of volunteers. I leave 27th January so in just a few months time! The first two months will be spent in the jungle in Belize and I will be working on a sustainable conservation project during that time and sleeping in a hammock every night! Then I go to Guatemala for a month to do an intensive Spanish course. Whilst here I will be living with a local family which I figure will be quite an experience. For the last two months I go back to Belize to teach in a school in a rural area. I’ll be teaching English and then whatever else is needed by the school. Again I will be living with a local family. Last of all I am gonna be doing a PADI diving course which I hear is pretty amazing in Belize so that will be a nice way to finish of the expedition.

What made you want to do this?
Well I’ve always enjoyed travelling and I’ve always liked new experiences. I finished uni in the summer and decided I didn’t want to go straight into a full-time job just yet. I’d thought about just going travelling and backpacking. but then thought it would be good to do something worthwhile. So in June I went to The Gap Year Show at Wembley and went to many of the different presentations of all the amazing things that were on offer as possible gap years. The presentation by Trekforce happened to be my favourite, I think due to the variation of the expedition. You don’t spend all your time doing just one thing, you get to have a go at teaching, conservation, learning Spanish, diving, trekking... Plus I’d always liked the idea of going to Latin America. So after giving it some thought and talking to family and friends, of which some had done similar things, I went for it!

You need to raise almost £4000 for the expedition - what does that go towards (eg: kit, spending expedition...) and how much have you got in the kitty so far?
Well I need to raise £3900 for the registered charity I am going with. This goes towards expedition costs such as setting up the expedition, funding the project, accommodation, food, the Spanish course, in-country transport, medical support, medical insurance, visas and such. However it does not include flights, kit, innoculations, and baggage insurance so all this is on top of my fundraising target. It’s a lot of money. So far, through fundraising I have got about £1400 and then through working and saving I have another £900. So I still have a long way to go!

How have you found fundraising so far? Enjoyable or a pain in the arse?
A bit of both I think. When I am motivated it’s quite enjoyable. It’s not easy though, but definitely worth it. I think you get out of it what you put in.

What has people’s reactions been like when you’ve told them what you are fundraising for? Have they been generous?
Most people are quite impressed and people have been generous, some very generous. At the very least, people have had encouraging words for me which is nice.

Do you think you’ll reach the target? What happens if you don’t?
Well I hope I’ll reach my target! A lot will depend on the next months or so as I’m planning a fundraising event in a few weeks which, if it is a success, then I will be more likely to reach my target. If it doesn’t succeed then I could be in trouble! I’m not sure what happens if I don’t reach my target. I guess it might depend on by how much have I missed it. I’ve booked my flights to Belize now so I guess I just have to do everything I can to make sure I reach that target.

You seem to have some original fundraising plans, what’s your most bizarre idea? We like the sound of eat something rank day - how did you come up with that and how much did you raise?
Well this was quite a simple idea actually for a sponsored task. Basically, I went round asking people if they would sponsor me to eat something rank and gave them a choice of three things. These were a raw egg, a bowl of Guinness and cornflakes (together!) and a glass of milk curded with lemonade. Yummy! And, basically, whichever dish got the most sponsorship money was the one I had to eat. Guinness and cornflakes won and so I ate a bowl of the stuff in front of about 30 people telling me to eat it faster! I tell you now, it was disgusting and I almost gagged, and I like Guinness! Just not with cornflakes though because after a while they go soggy! It was worth it though because I raised £200 doing it and all in the space of about four days.

What’s been your most successful fundraiser to date? How much did that raise in total?
This will be my pub crawl collection. For this I arranged a collection permit with the council to allow me to go round pubs and bars in my town, Lowestoft, to collect money over one weekend. The permit took a few weeks to get and then I got a few friends and my sisters together and we hit the pubs wearing colourful afro wigs and the girls in hula skirts. We all had buckets for collecting and after the three nights we managed a wapping £609. We just told people about Trekforce and what I was gonna be doing and generally, they were really generous and it was good fun too!

What do you think makes a good fundraiser?
I think someone who isn’t scared to ask for money! It helps to be reasonably organised and definitely motivated. A bit of imagination is good to when thinking up ways to raise money. I think anyone can be a good fundraiser as long as you are willing to put the effort in.

What other ideas have you got to raise the remainder of the cash?
Well there are a few things that I have been doing. I’ve made a website about my expedition and I’ve made it possible for people to donate money with their debit/credit cards through Paypal on my website. So far this has got me about £110. Also from my website, I am selling t-shirts and other merchandise. I haven’t sold many items yet, though I have many friends who say they will make a purchase.

I have written to some charitable trusts asking for grants. So far I have received one £200 cheque and hopefully I will hear from some of the others. The next big thing I am doing is a Thai Buffet evening in a few weeks which will feature my Jungle Raffle draw. I’ve been going round all the shops in town asking for raffle prizes and so far I have a good selection including a micro hifi system from Curry’s, books from WHSmiths, sports equipment from Juler Sports, champagne from Pontins, £100 cash prize and many more. If I can sell most my Thai Buffet tickets and raffle tickets then that will be a substantial chunk of my fundraising done. Wish me luck!

What top five bits of advice would you give to aspiring fundraisers?
1. Be motivated and be willing to put in a lot of effort.
2. Allow yourself the maximum amount of time to raise the money you need as now I am in a mad rush to raise enough money which could have been avoided if I had started earlier. I also think it’s a good idea to devise a fundraising plan.
3. Talk to as many people as you can about what you are raising money for. Some will be willing to help or some will know people who are.
4. Make sure you know what it is exactly that you are raising money for so that when people ask you questions you have the answers for them. Some people like to know very specific things so know your stuff.
5. Be enthusiastic and enjoy it. If you enjoy what you are doing, you’re more likely to do it well and besides, it’s more fun that way.

Thanks Michael - loads of luck!

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