In this post I plan to tell you about how I managed to fundraise enough money to ensure that our project in Kenya became a reality.
My target was £2000 which I managed to overachieved. Here's how...
Crowdfunding through my "Go Get Funding" Page
Eduet women's group are a local group of women who are doing the best that they can to reduce Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages in their community. They are not a registered charity however so this did limit my options for fundraising websites. I chose to use Go Get Funding because it is a crowdfunding website which can be used for any cause and does not have to be linked to registered charities. They do take a percentage of the money raised, like the majority of sites, however it is a easy platform for people to use therefore I believe that it was worth the percentage lost through the gains we made from more people donating than if we hadn't used a crowdfunding site.
As of Wednesday the 20th December I have £1610 on my go get funding page. For me, Go Get Funding acted as an easy platform to transfer money rather than a way to market our cause. I did share the page on social media and via emails but this did very little to secure much money. The below offer an insight into how I raised the money on the fundraising account.
Emails/Phone Calls to suppliers, offtakers and contractors of the company that I work for
I work for a large waste management company who works closely with a lot of other business. I wrote to our main suppliers, offtakers and contractors asking for donations of cash or raffle prize donations. The response was fantastic and I managed to raise £1060 in cash donations plus received some great raffle prizes such as a Kindle Fire Tablet, a Combi Drill, Beers, Wines and Cakes etc.
Bake Sales
I did 3 bake sales, one at my workplace and two at local community events. The combined events yielded £255. It was a great way of getting a couple of quid from people who might not normally donate but wanted a cake!
Raffle
I wrote and rang around local businesses to secure good quality raffle prizes for a raffle. In the end I managed to secure 23 prizes and many of which were excellent prizes such as local meal vouchers, beauty and holistic vouchers, cosmetics products and drinks gift sets. I sold raffle tickets in my workplace and to my family and friends. My partner, who was working at a public woods at the time, also sold tickets to passers by plus his family and friends. My family also sold tickets. I sold tickets for £2 a strip and ended up needing to sell from 3 separate raffle books. The raffle raised £710. I would highly recommend running a raffle because, like the bake sale, people who might not normally donate were willing to put in £2, especially as there were some exciting prizes!
Rotary Club Donation
I wrote to my local rotary club about the project and was lucky enough to receive a £200 donation based on the promise of delivering a presentation at the club on my return.
Friends, Family, Work Colleagues and Acquaintances
The rest of the money raised was from the goodwill of close friends, family and acquaintances. I did not receive much via social media but I found that by talking in person to people about what we were doing often generated a positive response and people were very generous. I did not do any begging.
Combined Total money raised: £2888
I thought that this was an amazing accomplishment considering that we started fundraising quite late, in September, and we don't have an absolutely huge or tremendously wealthy social circle. Thank so you much to all of the individuals, groups and companies who were so so generous, your help has made a big difference in a much deserving community.
