Start building up your cash with events
A good fundraising event can generate thousands of dollars, often enough to cover most, if not all, of the cost of your placement.
Above applying for grants and scholarships, and trying to find a sponsor, fundraising events are the best weapon in your fundraising arsenal.
On this page, you'll find out about:
- Hosting fundraising events
- Running sales
- Getting sponsored
- Holding competitions
Sales
This one is straightforward — find or make things and then sell them.
Vintage clothes, cakes, anything goes. You could even hold a bring-and-buy sale, where people can bring their own items to donate to your sale.
You’ll need to think about where you’re going to hold your sale. You might be able to do it out of your parents’ garage if you’re at home. Or if you’re at uni, you can likely book a room through your student union. You could also go to a local car boot sale and purchase a stall.
Telling people about your sale is easy. Get on relevant campus social media pages, stick up posters, and ask faculty to send out emails. If you want more information, you can check out our article about how to get your message out.
Events
Another great way of generating some funds is to host a ticketed event.
Dinner parties, film nights, open mic nights, fancy dress — whatever you think people would pay to attend.
If you’re prepared to put in the legwork, these can be fun to organize and even more fun to host. One of the best ways to do this is to keep is small-scale, but don’t be shy with the ticket prices. Selling 100 $5 tickets to a film night is much harder than 10 $50 tickets to a party.
Quiz nights can be fun too. You can find plenty of online resources offering quiz questions, and you can tailor your quiz to a certain topic, like healthcare. You can incentivize people to come along by offering a prize and a few drinks for your contestants.
Give Something Up
It's absolutely worth trying to get people to sponsor you for giving up something you love for a few weeks.
It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it feels like a challenge.
One of the great benefits of the sponsorship angle is that people can give you whatever they think it’s worth — no one is excluded from donating on account of being short on cash.
Competitions
There are endless options when it comes to competitions and raffles. Your best bet is to get online, search through ideas and pick ones you like the most. Make sure you’ve got some attractive prizes — you might be able to persuade local organizations to donate them if you offer to give them a shout out — and charge a small fee for competition entries.
think outside the box
There are plenty of weird and wonderful event ideas that will grab attention.
Fundraising has a long history of wacky fundraising campaigns, and they're usually the ones that make the most money. Baked bean baths, dying your hair, bungee jumping — you name it. The more eyebrows you raise, the better.
If you don't like the idea of hosting a fundraising event, you could try to find someone to sponsor your placement, or apply for grants and scholarships, and learn how to be a master of budgeting to raise the money for your trip.
