Have y’all ever had to fundraise for anything? If you have, then you can relate to what I’m about to say. If you haven’t, well hold on tight because you’re in for a real treat.
Fundraising is hard. Like really hard. And it’s definitely not for everyone.
I’ll be completely honest when I say that I don’t care for fundraising all that much. It takes a lot of work. Sometimes you feel like you can’t come up with any good ideas. Sometimes you want to just give up and quit trying. But you know what, you can’t. And you shouldn’t. Fundraising is a part of the World Race. A big part. So big that there’s even a fundraising course that you have to work through when you get accepted. If you didn’t fundraise, you wouldn’t be able to go on the World Race, and clearly you don’t want that to happen. Let me break it down for you.
Over the course of the next 9 months or so, I’ve been tasked with raising a significant amount of money.
$5000 by September 23
Another $5000 by December 16
Then $3000 by February 28
And finally $3,617 by April 30
If you add that all up, that’s a grand total of $16,617. Honestly, that number haunts me in my sleep at this point.
When you are applying and get accepted to the World Race, they are completely honest and upfront about how much money you have to raise. You know what you’re getting yourself into before you even apply. Now don’t get me wrong, there are outside costs that you will incur, but many of those are based on your personal choice. Things such as gear, extra spending money, travel to launch, travel home etc.
I’ve got a few fundraising activities going on, and I’d like to go a little bit into each one and sort of explain why I chose it.
ADOPT-A-SQUARE
This was the first fundraising activity I started. I got the idea from a fellow racer and then shared it with my squad as well. The basic idea behind this fundraiser is that you have 100 boxes written on a poster board (see board below), and people can adopt squares. The number on the square is the amount you donate. For example, if someone adopts square 47, they donate $47 to my journey. I personally love this fundraiser because it gives anyone the chance to donate. There are small amounts and large amounts, and I love that anyone can choose any square based on what they are able to give. It’s not committing anyone to more than they can afford. I’ve had people donating directly on my blog, writing me checks, writing checks directly to Adventures in Missions, and giving me cash that I put into my fundraising account. Another cool thing about it is that in the end it raises $5050 if you can get all the squares adopted. To me it’s crazy that something so simple can raise so much money. I’ve raised almost $600 with 21 squares adopted! I’m hoping I can get the majority of the squares adopted before my first deadline! If every square was adopted, I would have completed my first deadline of $5000!
NOTE: Square 19 has also been adopted; I just haven’t taken a new picture
FUND THE NATIONS
Fund the Nations is a company that creates t-shirts for individuals to sell to raise money for mission trips. Basically you contact them with what you are fundraising for and if you have any specific ideas of what you want your shirt to look like. Someone from the company will contact you with some questions and then will design a shirt for you. It takes about 2 days for them to get the design to you. I love the shirt they designed for me! (See picture below) I am selling them for $20 and so far I’ve sold 24 shirts! The company keeps a small portion of the amount you make since they designed them and then made them for you, but it all depends on how many you sell. The more shirts you sell, the more profit you get to keep. You place an order and they ship the shirts to you and when they arrive you deliver them to whoever bought them. I like the idea of selling t-shirts because then people can wear them around and talk about you and your trip if anyone asks about the shirt. (Side-note: if you think my shirt is awesome and want to buy one and support my World Race, let me know!)
Isn’t this t-shirt awesome? Thank you Fund the Nations for creating this for me!
WORD-OF-MOUTH
The other way I’ve been fundraising is just talking about my trip with people and getting them excited for me! I’ve found that people are more interested in supporting your journey if you talk to them about it and your reason behind doing it. People want to hear your story, and they want to support you if you’re passionate about whatever it is you are doing. I need to start telling my story more and getting people involved in my fundraising process.
OTHER FUNDRAISING IDEAS
Yard sales, partnering with restaurants, sending out a support letter, and adopt-a-country are just a few of the other ideas I’m thinking about. I’ve been trying to find some good ways to get my story out there and get people wanting to support my journey. It’s definitely not easy!
To all of you out there who are in the fundraising process, I’m right there with you. Keep working at it even when it gets hard, and it will pay off in the end! Fundraising is difficult, but I know with lots of work and lots of prayer, we can accomplish this! With the help of each and every one of our supporters, we can raise the funds to be able to go on the World Race!
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
